Badminton 2023 thread

[splashgirl45]

I really thought OT had learned from his warnings and have been happy with his riding lately and before the jump he straddled he was riding well according to the commentators, SS seemed to suddenly stop and after the next jump I wanted OT to stop and hoped he had of his own accord, but sadly not and once again he has been stupid.. on a positive note I was impressed with Emily K and thought she made a very mature decision… Ros made the course look easy and she is such a balanced cool rider who is a credit to the sport.. I also enjoyed the Irish chaps round , the horse still looked full of running at the end, also loved seeing WFP get round ok… and many of the riders acquitted themselves well ..

 

[claracanter]

OT’s recent charm offensive doesn’t sit well with me. I’m trying not to be cynical but the piece about how BC is his best mate that recently appeared in H &H smacks of damage limitation by his PR company. It’s a shame I feel like this because I’m sure he is genuine in his feelings for the horse. It made me smile when seeing this article on H&H Facebook as so many of the posts underneath were negative. I feel sorry for his trial by social media but it was a bit naive of his people to think they could just brush it all away with one magazine article.

 

[equinerebel]

That’s not what I was implying - I was simply highlighting the difference, aka double the number of mentions, between the person who stands out on a years long record, and then who follows next.

None of it is good, ideally a rider would learn from their first mistake which becomes their only mistake but alas. I’d struggle to justify anyone’s behaviour over a couple of incidents, let alone double figures.

For me, I’m talking about Oli because this is a badminton thread and his round on SS was terrible after the table. I haven’t seen Tim Price’s yet but I haven’t heard the same said about his round

 

[TheOldTrout]

According to Eventing Nation, OT was given a Recorded Warning, not a yellow card.

 

[ester]

Yes that’s what’s been said here

 

[Kat]

I’ll talk about any rider who is receiving as many warnings as Oli is and/or very clearly pushing on a tired horse beyond what is fair.

I don’t think “but Tim Price is the next big name” is a good argument to make. Oli presumably still has more warnings against his name?

My point was Oli may have the most warnings but if you take into account the number of starts does he have the most warnings per ride?

If he is still noticably above others then some action against him is indicated. If in fact it is much closer to other riders record then the issue is a more general one that needs to be tackled on a sport wide basis.

I don't know whether there is a "totting up" penalty for riders with repeated warnings but if not that would be a sensible step to protect horses.

If tired horses are a more general issue then maybe a wider solution is needed to protect horses, perhaps a heart rate taken before and after xc and penalties given if it doesn't return to normal within a specific time. There is precedent for that type of thing between endurance and the old ten minute box monitoring. That might have the advantage of making the xc more influential, encouraging riders to have their horses even fitter and possibly a return to the more blood eventers we saw in the long format days.

 

[teapot]

For me, I’m talking about Oli because this is a badminton thread and his round on SS was terrible after the table. I haven’t seen Tim Price’s yet but I haven’t heard the same said about his round

Tim P’s round doesn’t need to be mentioned as it was a good one!

I simply mentioned him to highlight the gap between the number of times people sadly appear on a publicly accessible list of warnings/yellow cards given out by the sport’s governing body. Regardless of who it is was, I’d have posted it to reinforce the point that double figures on said list is nothing but a negative.

 

[Crazy_cat_lady]

View attachment 113326

A lot of abuse of horse/excessive use of whip there...

Jockeys get "totting up" bans if they keep breaking the whip rules. Perhaps this is something which needs implementing

It looks like he'd cleaned up his act, but then I'm guessing of those 4 years where there's a gap, at least one was cancelled due to COVID?

Yet he's never short of rides?

 

[Tiddlypom]

Was speaking to a very experienced equine vet today.

They have seen the footage of OT and SS. They were horrified that a. he didn't retire after the lake and that b. he only got a recorded warning, not a yellow card.

 

[Bobthecob15]

View attachment 113326

This is awful! I think his impression of "not being a team player" should be the least of his worries!

 

[equinerebel]

My point was Oli may have the most warnings but if you take into account the number of starts does he have the most warnings per ride?

If he is still noticably above others then some action against him is indicated. If in fact it is much closer to other riders record then the issue is a more general one that needs to be tackled on a sport wide basis.

I don't know whether there is a "totting up" penalty for riders with repeated warnings but if not that would be a sensible step to protect horses.

If tired horses are a more general issue then maybe a wider solution is needed to protect horses, perhaps a heart rate taken before and after xc and penalties given if it doesn't return to normal within a specific time. There is precedent for that type of thing between endurance and the old ten minute box monitoring. That might have the advantage of making the xc more influential, encouraging riders to have their horses even fitter and possibly a return to the more blood eventers we saw in the long format days.

Tim P’s round doesn’t need to be mentioned as it was a good one!

I simply mentioned him to highlight the gap between the number of times people sadly appear on a publicly accessible list of warnings/yellow cards given out by the sport’s governing body. Regardless of who it is was, I’d have posted it to reinforce the point that double figures on said list is nothing but a negative.

thank you both, I agree. It’d be very interesting for someone with the time to do a deep dive comparison of that list.

 

[Upthecreek]

Was speaking to a very experienced equine vet today.

They have seen the footage of OT and SS. They were horrified that a. he didn't retire after the lake and that b. he only got a recorded warning, not a yellow card.

It is difficult to understand why he didn’t get a yellow card. Does anyone know what is the point of the recorded warnings? Do they lead to a harsher sanction if a rider gets a certain amount? If there isn’t a serious consequence there is no incentive to change the behaviour.

 

[splashgirl45]

Such a shame that all focus is on one idiot when there were so many excellent rounds and also examples of good horsemanship where riders opted to pull up , on the whole I thought it was a good badminton which has been spoiled by Ollie’s behaviour and the tragic outcome for Fiona’s horse… he has done the horse world no favours by pushing an obviously tired horse and putting eventing in the spotlight for the wrong reason… I had been warming to him slowly after his previous bad behaviour but I’m afraid he has lost any support from me now

 

[shortstuff99]

It is difficult to understand why he didn’t get a yellow card. Does anyone know what is the point of the recorded warnings? Do they lead to a harsher sanction if a rider gets a certain amount? If there isn’t a serious consequence there is no incentive to change the behaviour.

Riders who receive three or more recorded warnings within any two-year period are automatically suspended for two months.

 

[Upthecreek]

Riders who receive three or more recorded warnings within any two-year period are automatically suspended for two months.

Thank you.

 

[marmalade76]

View attachment 113326

Note that two of these entries are warnings on two rides on the same day so could we call that 13 warnings rather than 11?

 

[Spotherisk]

Reading Emily King’s post about her horse I am very surprised that a horse should tire with another 4 minutes of the course ahead. Is that horse simply not fit enough then?

Of course it is not all about the physical fitness, I understand that, but tiring only halfway through the course is quite a shock.

 

[Escapade]

Note that two of these entries are warnings on two rides on the same day so could we call that 13 warnings rather than 11?

It looks like an error on the spreadsheet, a number of entries are repeated

 

[myheartinahoofbeat]

Reading Emily King’s post about her horse I am very surprised that a horse should tire with another 4 minutes of the course ahead. Is that horse simply not fit enough then?

Of course it is not all about the physical fitness, I understand that, but tiring only halfway through the course is quite a shock.

This will be because of the ground. I'm sure the horse was fit enough but just not able to go on the ground. Take racehorses, some operate in soft ground and some prefer good ground. If one is pulled up in a race so often it is the ground condition that didn't suit them not a lack of fitness

 

[Bobthecob15]

Reading Emily King’s post about her horse I am very surprised that a horse should tire with another 4 minutes of the course ahead. Is that horse simply not fit enough then?

Of course it is not all about the physical fitness, I understand that, but tiring only halfway through the course is quite a shock.

Yes ground conditions. We were there, it was incredibly wet an boggy in places on the course, total energy zapping. Lots retired or were withdrawn largely due to them not wanting to risk it.

 

[teapot]

Reading Emily King’s post about her horse I am very surprised that a horse should tire with another 4 minutes of the course ahead. Is that horse simply not fit enough then?

Of course it is not all about the physical fitness, I understand that, but tiring only halfway through the course is quite a shock.

Course was almost 12 minutes, so she was 3/4s of the way round, in punishing conditions. She made the right call!

 

[Spotherisk]

Course was almost 12 minutes, so she was 3/4s of the way round, in punishing conditions. She made the right call!

I’m not saying for a moment that it wasn’t the right call.

 

[Upthecreek]

Reading Emily King’s post about her horse I am very surprised that a horse should tire with another 4 minutes of the course ahead. Is that horse simply not fit enough then?

Of course it is not all about the physical fitness, I understand that, but tiring only halfway through the course is quite a shock.

So many events cancel due to bad weather and ground conditions that most horses these days are not used to running on heavy ground. Some horses just hate it and don’t cope well at all. Some will plough on regardless.

 

[LEC]

Reading Emily King’s post about her horse I am very surprised that a horse should tire with another 4 minutes of the course ahead. Is that horse simply not fit enough then?

Of course it is not all about the physical fitness, I understand that, but tiring only halfway through the course is quite a shock.

I walked the course on Monday before it started raining and was shocked at the ground from rail to drop to Mars M - it was deep. I saw footprints which were 4 inches into the ground. It looked like little holes so must have been incredibly hard work for them along with the attrition of jumping big jumps. Before that point and after the ground was incredible and the footprints didn’t go into the ground at all which is why a lot after the lakes looked a lot better as could get 2nd wind.

 

[PoppyAnderson]

I've just looked through the Fei eventing list. So many entries on it. I'd be absolutely ashamed if my name were to appear on a list for animal abuse. Imagine if it were a list of who has abused their dog. There would be a very different attitude towards it. Why is it so readily accepted and tolerated because it's horses and sport.

 

[Bernster]

On the fitness thing, the ground was really draining. It was an odd kind of mud, not wet so much but like thick glue and very sticky in places. That would have really sapped their energy.

 

[eggs]

I walked the course on Monday and thought at first that it was good, easy to walk on and very few hoof marks but then as LEC says it changed and became much wetter with some very deep prints. I also noticed how much more tiring it was to walk on. I am not at all surprised that some of the horses found it very hard work despite being very fit.

 

[Tiddlypom]

The going had been surprisingly good when we walked the XC on Friday, the first dressage day. The grassroots course seemed to have held up very well and was barely cut up.

Then the heavens opened for all of Saturday .

 

[Michen]

Pippa Funnells post- direct at OT I think, at the end!

 

[Supertrooper]

Pippa Funnells post- direct at OT I think, at the end!

I thought that also