Pretty sure one of the horses is one I was watching in a sale earlier this year. Very fancy and was going to tune up to be an amazing hunter, so this is just the start of his career.
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The super chrome-y bay?!
My mouth just started watering 
oops my error
What happened during Madison Ramsay and Kylie Wilson’s rounds?
Some are quite fancy actually. They do not spend the kind of money our hunters cost though. And remember welsh’s are from the UK originally. There’s obviously multiple sections, from chatting with her it sounds like most of ours are what would be considered Section A and B’s for the most part. They have a lot of natural coups but also more jumper looking jumps. I saw a course set there. If our kids had to compete against theirs sadly ours wouldn’t have a chance imho. They’re pretty insane to watch. And like the girl I was riding with was saying if they don’t ride like that, they’d never get a ribbon. And yes the showing is very celebrated there, neck rosettes and sash ribbons, it’s a big deal. They also just don’t show the way we do in the states, as she said showing is not a “business”. She had a word for how they refer to Americans in the hunter sport and I can’t remember the exact word but they don’t have a lot of respect for us sadly. She also mentioned how there’s testing from level to level and how horses have more rights (or as many) as people. What is going on in our sport here would just never fly there.
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Exactly. And some are very impressive to watch. Has anyone seen the kids in Australia that have been floating around on videos riding their ponies in shows on social media? They’re incredible riders and ponies/horses.
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Actually the young grey with all the chrome. Rodrigo Almeida rode for Emily’s team. Very fancy but green. Didn’t have all it’s changes in order.
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I think Madison’s horse had a few trot steps and Kylie’s got quite strong with leaving out strides and some hairy distances.
From what I’ve heard the bottom dropped out of the sell-to-America market in the last 6 months. It’s completely dead.
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A friend of mine had three or four horses at a show last week that he just imported. So I would say the market must not be completely dead.
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I’ve heard the same. A friend of mine in Germany in the business who is really good friends with one of the top exporting companies was telling me that exports from Germany to the US are down 60% 
. Between tariffs and I think a lot of just general uncertainty with the market is my guess 
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There’s a reason why she didn’t come back to commentate at Wellington this year
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I think it’s also been slowing down for a while now just imperceptibly because the American warmblood breeding program has been becoming much stronger. There’s starting to be less prestige around importing. There’s certainly still a lot of horses coming in from Europe but I think some trainers have realized it’s easier to ‘shop local’ and know what you’re getting for the hunter ring then go overseas and try to figure out which one can mentally do the hunter ring.
It’s unfortunate the commentary has been so subpar for the event because it really takes a very special skilled horse and a talented rider to make cantering up and jumping over the entire garden section of Lowe’s look easy.
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Madison trotted a change.
I think they need at least one commentator who has a clue about how the scoring works. Like, those trot steps = 55. And some of the ugly cross canters don’t have to be dinged as badly as fixing the lead through the trot. That’s not something that necessarily makes sense even in comparison to other disciplines that are scored.
For Kylie’s round, after it was scored they were like well yeah I guess that’s because she left a stride out. Not explaining that leaving a stride out in that situation is a big fault.
They were really fixated on the changes. But also didn’t explain to anyone how one horse’s quiet late behind change is considered just as good as another horse’s quiet and clean change. And then they were criticizing some who got clean changes despite the horse being difficult like that was bad. No, the horse wanting to leave the ring was a little bit bad but look at how good the rider did at managing the track and horse and getting the change done right and trying to make it look like they were still on the track…in comparison to those who had similar issues with the gate and turned hard anyway and cross cantered.
They also did very little to explain which horse had good style and why compared to some they said had good potential but needed more schooling to the hunter job. Or why the scores were good but not exceptional for a horse who went around in a very even rhythm and good expression with good riding, but who also looked totally unimpressed by the jumps. Compare that to the score an exceptional jumper is capable of…with John French’s ride being a good example of earning those extra points. I could go on…
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I’m still laughing. But that is a very accurate description.
I only had the chance to catch a few snippets of the live stream today.
Did it seem like they had planned intermissions between the different sections of riders? Or did it seem like it was a technical glitch or two?
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Owing to the jet stream, perhaps we need to search the Outer Hebrides for such a monument?
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I hear you and I agree which is really good for our program. It also has to do with pricing - the typical places in Europe we’ve primarily imported from (Germany, holland, Belgium) want more and more $ for the same quality. Thus why you see a lot of horses being bought from France.
I agree, however, there’s so many pharmaceuticals being used by the group they brought over in the Baran that idk what I trust or don’t tbh. One of those people they refer to as euthanasia boy. I will tell you with first hand experience (I was not aware before), horses are VERY DIFFERENT to ride when they’re on considerable pharmaceuticals. I was one that figured it out with a BNT I rode with. It’s remarkable and scary.
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JFC. Barely 6 am and I am already physically sick.
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