I wonder if any of them condition their horses by leading them on foot while they go for a run.
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I doubt there is enough hours in the day to get both yourself and your horse fit enough for something like this without doing that at least part time.
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There was a woman I met five or six years ago who was trying to ride her horse across the country by herself.
And it sounded like she would occasionally get off the horse and lead him for a bit instead of just being on his back the entire time. It was pretty interesting.
Conditioning yourself for a 100 mile race is a serious effort. I can’t imagine awkwardly running beside a horse is the best way to do it. (I defer to the expertise of people in the thread who have done so, but when I’m running a 20-miler training for a marathon, drinking water while running is all I can manage.)
Riding cross-country, versus running an ultra with a cutoff time is a little different. And remember, people are not doing the 100 mile running and the 100 mile race on the same year!
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Actually, a lot of endurance riders and people that do Ride and Tie are quite proficient at running alongside their horses!
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I can do a few laps around an arena to see if a horse is sound or to get a stubborn pony to trot for a kid, but definitely couldn’t train for a 100 miler running on foot with a horse! Another skill to work on! 
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I wasn’t training to run on my own, but when gearing up from trail riding to an endurance race I’d walk and trot behind my horse. I had a long cord that ran from the bit through a stirrup to me so I could control his pace. On any kind of hill I’d grab a handful of his tail and he’d half pull me up. Poor dude, he had to deal with such a potato as me. 
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I think this is a well thought out and very educated post! The only thing I would add to it, is that as you mentioned the horse didn’t appear to have any desire to be pulled to a trot. On my experience, forcing a horse who’s galloping well to break their rhythm (especially in the Pete’s hollow part of the XC- top of the long slow pull) is often more tiring than just letting them run. I agree with you completely that the horse just seemed to gallop off where as the rider who had a similar situation at the badminton water, that horse righted himself trotting so it was a natural progression to allow him to continue trotting to check his wellbeing. I think the social media backlash is embarrassing and disheartening and if these people feel this way, would love them to call up CB and have a respectful conversation about it.
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I am guessing this is a testament to the stallion’s temperament, but the farm I work at has 6 horses from the same farm. No handling, no vet care, no farrier care until 8, 9, 10 years old. Pretty much none could lead, all were unbroken. All delivered in a trailer and run into a paddock. Two others by different stallions. One of those mares had more handling as she made it through approvals and had been backed.
Most of these horses are used in lessons by intermediate students and the pony jock. One is routinely used for advanced beginner children even though he is 16.2h. Great minds. Horrible feet due to lack of care.
Most of these horses run up to you in the field. One mare is like, nope, I like the field living thank you. Oh, peppermint, you can catch me. She is sensitive but her idea of a spook is a hard flinch.
It is a shame they didn’t have the appropriate care during their informative years
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Remember Ruffian? Her leg was no longer attached to her body by bone and her jockey had to fight to pull her up.
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They pretty much always want to get up. People are the same. When I broke several bones in my foot my trainer told me to stay down while she ran to get her vehicle to take me to the ER. By the time she got back I had crawled on my hands and knees to the arena wall to try to get up.
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