Yeah, had the same thoughts as all of you guys. The SJ round was too slow, the horse too noisy, and everyone rides too many Friesians. Actually, if you watched any TV show set in Britain, you might think the place was hoaching with Friesians. I yelled angry things at the screen during the two episodes of Outlander I saw (for many reasons), but Friesians in the Scottish Highlands in 1745 (or ever) was one. LOLOLOL. They wouldn’t last five minutes. The only thing that survives up there are furry, tough Highland ponies. But I’ll give the Crown credit for using a real Highland to carry a deer off a mountain on the Balmoral estate (except it was filmed at Ardverikie, on the other side of the Cairngorm Mountains from Balmoral, but nevermind).
The “ride to a lovely picnic spot and then have a Very Important and Intense conversation while your horses graze totally unsupervised, with their reins on the ground” seems endemic in the entertainment industry. They did this very thing in a 5th season episode of Jane the Virgin, along with dozens of other shows. There seems to be an assumption amongst filmmakers that horses are like cars. You can park them and they stay put; you can drive/ride one away from its pals and it doesn’t care; you never see one refusing to move, screaming for its mate, biting, bucking, taking off, or spooking at nothing. Also, everyone travels everywhere at a flat-out gallop, regardless of footing.
And everyone owns a Friesian.