The Equestrian Thread

[Burgey]

Neigh.

I swear, if one of them brings back Equine Influenza and spoils the Spring Carnival there'll be hell to pay.....

[Perm]

I don't mind watching the Cross Country, but I've never had any idea about the Dressage. Completely baffles me as to how that is a sport.

[Mister Wright]

I remember the cross country in Sydney being a lot more exciting.

[NUFAN]

neigh.

[Johnners]

Disappointed by the lack of British support for Daisy Dick.

[pasag]

Bit of a bittersweet night for Australia. Silver in the group jumping where we could have gotten gold and Megan Jones fails on literaly the very last hurdle for a medal chance in the individual. Still, one of the best sports in the olympics, IMO. Agree with Perm wrt Dressage though.

[_Ed_]

Originally Posted by pasag

Agree with Perm wrt Dressage though.

Yeah me too. However, an excessively camp commentator makes a huge difference. The Dressage this afternoon was highly entertaining. "Oh super!"

[Burgey]

?

[roseboy64]

Had our first ever competitor in this. Just missed out on the jumping final in eventing.

[Flem274*]

Originally Posted by Perm

I don't mind watching the Cross Country, but I've never had any idea about the Dressage. Completely baffles me as to how that is a sport.

Dressage is pretty dificult and challenging (debate me on that and I'll invite you to have a go/give me a laugh ), though its definitely not a sport for spectators, which is what generally starts people questioning its validility as a sport.

Dressage in eventing isn't purist dressage as such, its just a test to see if you can control the horse plus do a few fancy things that you see alot more of in purist dressage. Purist (specialist) dressage is generally more interesting, and alot more dificult. Though still not a sport for spectators, just the rider and the horse.

Pretty gutted that Nicholson ****ed up again tbh, he and and Lord Killinghurst were on fire. Good to see Taranaki and FDMC lad Kirk Webby get the late call up from the reserves for the Showjumping.

[Perm]

Originally Posted by Flem274*

Dressage is pretty dificult and challenging (debate me on that and I'll invite you to have a go/give me a laugh ), though its definitely not a sport for spectators, which is what generally starts people questioning its validility as a sport.

I'm not denying it's difficult, but I've got nfi what it's all about. To me it just looks like a guy on a horse trying to look like an uppity bastard.

[Flem274*]

Originally Posted by Perm

I'm not denying it's difficult, but I've got nfi what it's all about. To me it just looks like a guy on a horse trying to look like an uppity bastard.

I'm not sure of its origins, but I think in terms of eventing, it started off as an advanced horsemanship test to check that the rider was capable to compete at that level before the real stuff (i.e. jumping).

The scores in Dressage are not as important as Cross Country or Showjumping penalties. Unlike the Cross Country, if you make a mistake you can recover and keep in contention, but its always a good idea as a rider to be an excellent dressage rider in order to get high up on the leaderboard.

And yes, Dressage is extremely old fashioned, so they do look "uppity." However, looking uppity means you do well.

[Smudge]

A theory put forward by a guy at work who (I may have mentioned before) rode professionally in Europe, was that we in NZ put far too much emphasis on the cross-country when really we should be looking at tidying up the dressage and showjumping, particularly the latter. Thoughts, Flem?

[Flem274*]

Originally Posted by Voltman

A theory put forward by a guy at work who (I may have mentioned before) rode professionally in Europe, was that we in NZ put far too much emphasis on the cross-country when really we should be looking at tidying up the dressage and showjumping, particularly the latter. Thoughts, Flem?

I'd definitely agree there. The Showjumping should sort itself out in time, alot of riders at our club love showjumping and one has gone to South Africa a few years back for showjumping, so thats coming right hopefully. The big issue with that is all the top showjumpers will be specialists, and the not-so-goods will go to eventing.

Its also very dificult to find a horse/rider combination that are amazing at both CC and SJ. Eventing horses tend to leave their feet drooped down, not pick them up like a Showjumper. Thats why eventing showjumping has smaller jumps (I'd estimate 1.30-1.40m) compared to showjumping with around 1.60m. Also eventing horses and riders are less fussy than showjumpers because on the Cross Country jumps are obscured and varied so when things go wrong they are trained to make the best of it whereas showjumping riders are genrally control freaks due to the accuracy needed because there is generally very little chance of improvisation/recovery. They'd go mad on an Olympic Cross Country course because its almost impossible to be pinpoint accurate. Also showjumping horses don't like to hurt their tootsies, which is why they tuck up their legs so well, and in cross country theres alot of feet skimming solid objects and going into water of unknown depth etc, which horses don't like to put their feet in.

So basically slightly different skillsets are required. Only slight but its enough at the top level. To do both exceptionally you'd need a control freak rider that can hack Cross Country and a horse that lifts its legs up well that isn't worried about solid objects.

Dressage needs a big tidy up, whilst its not the be-all, end all of eventing its always good to be up the leaderboard early.

Apparently Heelan Tompkins mount Sugoi, hates TV cameras, probably because he wouldn't have seen many in his career so far so he isn't used to them. Could have contributed to her Dressage struggles, along with the issue that he expects every arena to have jumps in it so he hypes up.

EDIT: I talk too much, I've written an essay.