Interested to know if any of the top dressage horses out there have a history of being difficult and getting eliminated during their tests. Are there specific horses that have a reputation for doing this?
I don’t expect they would be top dressage horses if this happened very often.
Why are you asking? Are you bringing up a dressage horse that’s a handful or are you wondering about interpreting DQ among the DQ?
9 Likes
why?
Most eliminations are due to the rider, not the horse.
5 Likes
Legolas was eliminated at the 2015 World Cup for blood on his side. I was very impressed with how Steffen Peters and that whole team handled the situation.
Manure happens.
2 Likes
I agree that a horse that was difficult enough to develop a reputation for being eliminated would not likely become a “top dressage horse” in the vein of a team CDI horse. There is too much at stake to regularly risk being eliminated for disobedience.
That being said - on a amateur level if you’re wondering if there are particular lines to stay away from due to the sensitivity / potential attitude? Yes, there are lines that are considered “pro” rides, and lines that are considered more amateur friendly, though of course there are outliers that don’t follow what their breeding says they should be. Don’t ask me what those lines are, but I know there are plenty of bloodline experts on here that could tell you what those are.
1 Like
Yes, there are. I can think of a current breeding stallion who fits this. Some uber talented but mentally easily frazzled horses need time in the ring. The odds of not being difficult is related to their time in the ring or their attitude about being pushed as youngsters when they aren’t mentally ready. Or their attitude about handling new things in their environment. Some horses mentally can’t handle the pressure.
3 Likes
Even if a horse is uber talented, if it can’t handle the pressure to the point where it is often eliminated, it can’t be a top competitor. If it gets past its issues, becomes a reliable competitor, and moves up the levels, then I guess it has a history of being eliminated. Maybe that’s what the OP is asking.
1 Like
Charlotte Dujardin’s Mount St-John Freestyle in the 2019 Fei European Championships in Rotterdam.
Edward Gal’s Undercover in the 2016 FEI European Dressage Championships in Aachen.
(He fell off of Sir Schenkenberg at home while walking - he spooked because of a tractor)
David Marcus’s Capital in the 2012 Olympics.
Riders can ask to be excused, they can decide to retire or withdraw. So « eliminated » is not recorded.
It happens to the best. It’s not a crime or a shame.
It’s training and riding.
7 Likes
I read the OP’s question as whether there were any upper end CDI level horses that have a relatively current and more than a one-off history of getting eliminated. Not that they were difficult youngsters that had a prior history or eliminations.
I think we can all agree that poop sometimes happens with horses and can get eliminated or ask to withdraw during a test. I don’t know if they were looking for horses that got eliminated once in their upper level career.
OP has not come back to clarify what they were looking for with the original question
3 Likes
I read the OP’s post the same way, as not looking for one-off examples, which are plentiful and don’t point to a history of the behavior.
1 Like
I think there’s a not insignificant number that are consistently difficult. Even Verdades, fabulous as he was, was apparently quite the handful when younger. And I can’t think of his name (and I’m too lazy right now to look him up) but the chestnut Dutch horse that couldn’t get through an awards ceremony and broke his rider’s back? arm? something. But difficult apparently does not equal eliminated for the ones we know about.
I can’t imagine any FEI rider of any stature that would put up with a horse that was consistently eliminated for very long. Bad for the reputation and too many other horses more worthy of their time and effort. Just my humble, hacker dressage rider opinion. Hell, if I were that good I sure wouldn’t put up with it except for a very exceptional horse. Which the two examples above clearly are.
ETA: It was Parzival, I think. We saw him at WEG 2014 and there was no victory lap for him! I thought he was going to teleport right out of his hide!
1 Like
That’s why riders do retire during or withdraw before the ride so not to get the « eliminated » recorded.
And indeed, if the horse is too crazy, they won’t even risk being eliminated.
BNT know their job - they present horses in levels they know that they can win.
ETA: It was Parzival
He was indeed one hot one!
Carl Hester’s Nip Tuck is not an easy horse as well.
OK this will be vague, but I read a story maybe a year ago about a talented upper level horse that had been basically retired because of misbehavior. Then when he was 17 or thereabouts some youngish pro, after working with him for quite a while got him back to the show ring. It might have been a COTH article.
1 Like
I would be interested in that if some sleuth here can find a link??
Perhaps you are thinking of Wilton and Anna Buffini? A neat story without a final chapter yet, about dealing with a very talented but difficult horse on the horse’s terms, not the rider’s.
4 Likes
Yes! Thanks
1 Like
