Ah, thanks.
FWIW, the 5* ground jury was Christian Steiner (AUS) president, Peter Gray (CAN) and Anne Mette-Binder (DEN). 4* GJ was Andrew Bennie (NZL), president, and Bea di Grazia (USA). I haven’t looked up all of their credentials, but that seems to be a pretty accomplished group.
In my very limited experience with ground juries, in a competition without the camera coverage this one had, the members along with the TD would fan out around the course where they had access to and eyes on potentially trickier parts of the course, while checking in with Control frequently. Good fence judges and Area Stewards (and I would imagine there were great ones in KY) notice and mention anything untoward without dramatizing.
I have it on good inside info that Calvin was being “followed” on course, if not physically then by whatever means were available. The vet box was attentive to his horse which recovered quickly. Everyone did their jobs and operated within the rules and definitions of the sport.
Me? I’m just very happy that neither the horse or human ambulances had to be deployed.
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You mean they didn’t grab someone’s grandma with the lure of a free T shirt?
At an event of this size even the “jump judges” basically monitor a TV camera on auto.
I do not know the full answer to this, but I can describe what I have observed:
Fair warning-- I’m probably going to mix up people’s official titles or use the incorrect one. Apologies in advance.
But there are members of the ground jury/stewards/officials posted around the course communicating via radio throughout the entire ride. I also ASSume they have people monitoring the live video from what I have overheard, but I don’t know for sure where they are (not the riders tent, probably in an office). I know they can review video replays as well if there are any questions. The live video feed captures every fence and much (all?) of in between, more than what is shown on the fan broadcast.
If there is a concern about a competitor, the member of the officiating staff posted at the closest location will be notified to intervene.
So if something concerning is happening on course, they are already communicating it to everyone who needs to know.
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Hypothetically speaking …
Let’s say that at a 5* in the U.S., a competitor had a rough landing to the same degree as Calvin – enough that (some) observers might be surprised that they continued. Rider & horse recover and continue.
Would at least some members of the ground jury be able to immediately review the video a few times to get a better idea of how serious the rough patch might be?
One look live, as it is happening, is not nearly enough to parse all of the likely consequences. It happens fast. Plus the observer(s) might not have a good angle of view.
If available - A video with a decent view angle can be viewed more than once, in slow motion, etc. That would be a good aid to making a decision if this is worth pulling the pair off course. Of course the review needs to be done immediately for a ‘continue or not’ decision.
Is that often done at a 5* that is as fully wired as KY 3DE?
Yes, they have access to all of the information like in the riders’ tent. They are essentially able to see every fence. I believe there needs to be some objective standard in place, laying out specific guidelines to what is grounds for getting pulled up. If a rider jumps, say 4, jumps at a speed or balance that is considered unsafe, that is grounds for pulling up. Riders and horses have gotten hurt or even killed jumping small fences from great distances. The top 5 fastest horses of the day never looked like they were even in a hurry, so there is no reason that you would not be able to perform at your best, safely and competitively, with a watchful eye over you. The same principles are applied in dressage, horse appears uneven, you are done. An issue we have, though, is how to communicate quickly out on course with the rider. There needs to be a communication system in place either through jump judges or designated stopping points. This is a 5*, the risks are far too high, and being “qualified” doesn’t make you qualified as we see far too often.
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If they cannot already, there is no reason they shouldn’t be able to. I think another determining factor here is that it was obvious CB is the reason the horse fell. It’s not like they jumped through the combination brilliantly and the horse tripped on landing. The control room is what you would think an NBC news camera center looks like, they can see everything. I’m just not sure why we couldn’t have a XC Safety Panel or some-thing of a few people who exclusively watch monitors of live feed to measure the safety and status of the round in real time. Does this need to be applied below the advanced level, probably not. If you can’t make it through a 5* cross country without jumping the majority of combinations safely, you have no business riding at that level- or they have the option to safely do alternative routes with beautiful execution.
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Slight correction, Christian Steiner is Austrian (AUT), not Australian (AUS).
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My friend, language is fluid and very subjective. We are also never past change - I had a supervisor once you kept saying he was “to old to change” when I disagreed with his leadership style. He kept telling me I should bend because he was to old to do it. He is about 3 years younger than me.
So, going back to tough…there are 8 definitions for the word tough…stubborn is one of them. Stubborn to a fault, one may say. So if Tua is so stubborn he’s going to keep playing NFL football despite it being against his and his family’s best interest. Then yes, he’s tough.
If Calvin (or any rider) is so stubborn about completing a course they are willing to risk their own and their horse’s life and limb, then yes, they are tough.
We could also, be agents of change and start working on using different vocabulary that emphasizes partner and understanding that this is a sport, this is a pleasure activity and there is no fault in stepping down, stepping back, or stepping off.
That is the last I will opine on this sidebar.
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This just reminds me of the “If You’re Gonna be Dumb, You Gotta Be Tough” as used on the Jackass movies by Roger Alan Wade 
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OK, another new question, because I volunteer at events, but not events of this level.
Do all upper level events have this riders tent with full camera coverage of all the riders at all the jumps?
At what level is this a required feature?
She wasn’t re-routing. The plan was always to go to Badminton and once they had the stop she opted to save him for that. I have the utmost respect for her as a rider and a person and truly to pull up in the heat of the moment in order to give your horse chance at success another day is what we should all be striving for.
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So the plan was always to go to both with the same horse? The criticism seems to be that she is doing both with FE Lifestyle, and that it’s a lot for one horse.
Having personally never ridden at the upper levels, nor travelled overseas with a horse I really have no sense of how much recovery a horse needs from running a 5* course (or half of one), or how much recovery the horse needs from flying overseas so I can’t really be one to judge that. Was just providing context for someone else’s comment.
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Oops. Thank you.
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She was already entered for Badminton and I can’t speak for her, only to my understanding (I spoke to her briefly on Sunday after stadium and she was in great spirits despite having a challenging week in KY). He was entered at Badminton, but I believe if he had finished KY well they would not have gone on, it was just not his day on XC so after he was thoroughly checked by vets and given the green light she decided to move forward to Badminton with him. He’s already there actually. Sorry if there was any confusion in my prior post and I cannot say if he would have run Badminton if he completed K3DE, but it did not sound like it, Badminton was the backup plan.
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This would really only be at the 5* competitions.
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Gotcha! That’s the way I understood it as well-just meant rerouting in that she was already signed up for Badminton but presumably was not going to go if she ran xc at Kentucky, but pulled up and decided to complete a full run at Badminton instead.
Just thought initially that you meant she signed up for both intending on completing both.
I believe in the press conference after the event, there was some laughter when Michael Jung made a joke about going straight to Badminton with his horse.
Which to me, made it sound like that would be a crazy idea. But that was just my impression from that exchange.
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It does seem like it would be a lot. I’d be less concerned about running the xc a second time for Jennie since she didn’t finish at Kentucky, and more about just all of the traveling time after shipping to KY and doing half of a 5* course there. But I am not experienced in these things so maybe it’s not as big a deal as I would think.
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It would be absolutely preposterous. Even without the classic format, no one runs to five star longs two weeks apart. People enter both in order to be able to make a decision closer to the competition based on the horses fitness how it’s going the ground and weather conditions and, yes, to have the option to reroute when there is a problem early in the cross country course.
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