I think Liz has a great chance. She made a good point in a recent interview, that she’s used to running 24hr races in Europe in extreme heat under extreme pressure. Race cars in hot climates can get… well hot as hell. If anyone can handle the conditions, it’s going to be her. Don’t underestimate how the riders fitness is going to play a huge part. I think BM is a gamble for that reason, but that’s just mpo.
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I think the problem is this exactly. Too many times, the team has gone for broke and failed to complete as a team, which then meant lack of qualifications and a scramble at the Pan Ams/WEGs to get those qualifications back. To me, the team looks safer this year. As long as they don’t try to go for broke, they should complete, and just completing could mean a spot on the team podium.
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I think what the list shows is that Boyd was going to be the team no matter what. Given his rash of injuries the last several years, its probably more of an issue keeping boyd sound versus keeping the horse sound.
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No disrespect to any other riders, but he needs to be on the team no matter what. Who else has that many horses consistently winning/placing at advanced? A rider being able to sub in a horse of almost equal quality is a huge advantage in my eyes.
I do think it is unfortunate that the teams were reduced to 3 riders this year, because I think it is a very tough call between Liz, Doug, and Tami. From my vantage point as nothing more than a fan, I think all 3 could and would produce similar results, yet there wasn’t room for all of them when in years past there would have been.
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Yeah, we’re probably all discussing something that will be moot pretty soon.
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100% agree with your first paragraph. Boyd has beaten every other U.S. rider in every major competition for the past two years (Pan Ams, Kentucky x2, both 2020 4-Ls). It’s really is remarkable and he’s more than earned his spot in my eyes.
The more I think about, I think the selectors are saying “Boyd’s going, we think it’ll be Luke, but we’re making sure it’s easy to sub in one of the other two if the horse doesn’t keep blowing us away in the lead-up.” As others have mentioned, there’s almost always a few pieces that move around between announcement of the team and the start of the competition. Great Meadow is the next chance for things to shift around a bit.
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Liz does, who won more Internationals than any other rider last year… and is like 3rd or 4th on the all time list lol
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She’ll be there shortly. Huge Liz fan, but a lot of those FEI wins were sub 4*. She hands down has the nicest string of young horses in the U.S. and that Cooley Moonshine horse is going to be a super star.
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I’m a bit surprised to see Vandiver on there, as he was spun a couple times at Sunday jogs in the past. It hasn’t happened recently, but just wondering…
IIRC, after the last time he was spun (@ KY a few years back), I’m pretty sure I read they did surgery to clean up the issue.
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Good to know. Last thing we need is another Otis Barbotiere disaster… 
Correct (and good memory!) Spun at horse inspections at Kentucky in 2017 (second) and Tryon at the WEG test event in 2018 (first). Stifle joint flush immediately thereafter (details in link below), came back and no further horse inspection issues of note that I can recall.
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That was pretty clear from the interview Erik did on the USEA podcast right after Kentucky, I feel like – I think he even came out and said like, I’m not worried about any impact from his Kentucky performance on his team prospects, or something to that effect.
I have a kinda silly question: does anyone know why the team is limited to 3–4 people per team? Looking at other sports, it seems like we have room to expand. For example, Badminton has 7 members, Golf has 7, Fencing has a whopping 17. (Source)
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According to the source you linked Equestrian has 12 team members. Which is correct because there are 3-4 members for each of the 3 Olympic equestrian disciplines.
Similarly the number of team members for other sports is linked to how many divisions/“disciplines” they have such as men’s and women’s teams, type of blade in fencing, singles vs doubles vs teams in various racket sports, etc.
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They are running the horse sports under a new set of rules with fewer team members. Too complicated for me, but someone can explain, I’m sure.
I am honestly not sure about the impact on the total number of traveling horses. It would seem the spare has to go as well, to be available. But it trims the number on each team.
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Fewer riders on a team mean more nations can compete, if they can qualify.
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That would imply a finite number of riders.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ would be my guess. It costs a lot to provide facilities for horse sports.
