I have not had a chance to watch the feed at all today. But how crazy is it to have the results of the Medal final posted just after 10:30 in the morning?!? What a wacky year!
Congrats to the winners! 
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I saw on North Run’s Facebook that Sam broke his collarbone 4 weeks ago. Makes his rides yesterday and today even more impressive.
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I agree- saw a few who never let go of the face- really bugged me
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He did what the sam hill. Ouch! That had to be unpleasant to ride with.
[QUOTE=supershorty628;n10749599]Some portion of the test involves dropping their irons and jumping a fence. I’m not sure I love that - if you’re going to have them drop irons, do it for the whole test so they can be taken off instead of banging the horses in the sides…[/QUOT
I promise not one of those horses cared, I actually encourage people to get their horses used to it. YMMV
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A friend of mine broke his collarbone many years ago and was showing again within one or two weeks. I’m not saying the doctor cleared it. I’m also not saying it was a good idea. But he did it.
Well, sure. We’re horse people. We do all sorts of dumbass things. I legged up horses for foxhunting with a broken foot, so without stirrups out in the back 40 for hours. I remember Jacob Pope riding around with a broken tailbone as a teenager (paraphrased: “I like two-point.”) But that doesn’t mean it’s fun.
[quote="“mroades,post:105,topic:472551”]
Um, okay? Not sure if you’re being snarky or if I’m reading too much into your words. Either way, I was brought up in the school of “always cross your irons,” which these riders weren’t given the option to do (wasn’t there a rule at some point where they had to be given the option?). I thought they rode great. Doesn’t mean that I can’t have the opinion that the test wasn’t my favorite.
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Definitely not doctor cleared but us equestrians tend to views doctor’s orders more as “guidelines” :lol::lol:
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[quote="“supershorty628,post:108,topic:472551”]
The dropping irons was done after/during the halt, correct? I think that it would have been acceptable to stay in a halt and cross irons had anyone chosen to do it, right?
I was never taught to cross my irons and only learned that was something that people did when I started riding IHSA. I would also think it would be safer to keep them down if the test included jumping, but that’s just my unsolicited opinion. 
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If you translated this into Latin, we could put it on the Horse World’s family crest (assuming all we riders had a family crest)
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I had a student whose pony slipped and fell on her the morning of a local medal finals. Broke her collarbone and insisted on showing in the finals that evening. She ended up with a top placing, but I certainly didn’t encourage her to show - that decision was between her and her mother,. .
Here’s the video of the winner’s test.
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:lol: Love it. I only speak pig latin. Can anyone around here do the honors?
Google translate gives me “Equi homines sumus. Et equus populum dumbass rerum omnium copia rerum.” Apparently there is no Latin translation for “dumbass”
My Google Translate offering (obviously requires a large handful of salt since mine is different than Indy’s). But it is a slow day at work… I just used “dumb” in my attempt
Erant equi populo. Non facies muta sunt.
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[quote="“To the MAX,post:110,topic:472551”]
I wouldn’t do anything in a test that wasn’t specifically stated in the instructions given. My trainer always drilled that into us too (lessons where we worked on tests always felt like the equestrian version of Simon Says :lol: ). You could ask for clarification, though, last year’s Medal winner did during the final test if I remember correctly.
[quote="“supershorty628,post:117,topic:472551”]
Myself also (though it’s been a long time since my Medal-Maclay days).
I remember that it was normally announced as “drop your stirrups. You may cross them if you like.”
If I hadn’t heard that second part, I would not cross my stirrups.
[quote="“Darkwave,post:118,topic:472551”]
Fair, and I didn’t ever do any Big Eq so I’ll defer to those with more experience. But, the way the rule reads is this … “Ride without stirrups, riders must be allowed option to cross stirrups.”
To me, that doesn’t mean it has to specifically be announced that they have an option to cross them, it just means that no one can be penalized for doing so. I would assume that if you’re riding at that level, you would know the rules pretty well and make the right choice for your situation. Just like when they don’t specify what type of simple lead change, it’s understood that you can either change through the walk or trot, and you choose the best option for you/your horse/the test in question.
I just updated the email I have on file with USEF and got the notifications to the right place, which meant I caught some of the rounds on the first day. I watched almost all of the work offs and final tests yesterday. What a group!
In the end, everyone went beautifully and it seemed the judges would have to split hairs for the top spots. I did love Taylor’s winning round. That bold canter into the 7-stride line?! So perfectly showed her ability to adjust her mount.
Btw - I just LOVE Ally Manoog’s horse Carollo. I saw her first round as well as her go yesterday. What a cute expression, and I’m such a sucker for a flaxen chestnut <3
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