Badminton XC - feeling slightly underwhelmed

QR In the 50th anniversary book it mentions that the post-Olympic year is generally a bit easier and then it builds up to the Olympic year in a cycle. Is this still true?
 
I know what you mean, it's all just slightly too polished, manicured and perfect.

Back in the day it wasn't so primped, and riders worried about going later in the day because ditches would be wider thanks to the already raggedy edges being broken down.

Also seemed to be a lot of the old crowd missing from the entries, I know there's natural attrition but seems to have happened more so that normal this year
 
Badminton was indeed always regarded as THE premier event with Burghley close behind. Like many of you I've never seen the Lake easier than it appeared (watching all day on TV). I do think there ought to be some more of what Frank Weldon, in charge for so many years, called rider-frighteners.
The commentators regularly made the point about the cameras not showing the true picture of the Hexagon Hedges, so surely they should have made sure there was a short sequence made during course-walk, to show the size of the ditch.
 
In the build up they had various riders talking the cameras through some fences, it certainly made the bank and the hexagon hedges look big enough. I think the old footbridge was a more demanding accuracy question than today's skinnies, plus boldness, plus scope! Badminton's trouble is it's an institution, change too much and there's an outcry of losing the original badminton, change too little and we say it's getting boring. One fence I thought was totally unnecessary was that 3-part combo on a left turn of 270 degrees.
 
Very true. The Derby course is basically unchanged, but the Devil's Dyke was lowered a good few years back and they trim back the privet oxer so that horses are far less likely to try and bank it. And when the weather was so bad that they nearly cancelled it, some of the widths were reduced. Sadly, there have been far fewer top-class pairings taking part for the last 15 years or more than was the case in the earlier years.
 
I live next door to Badminton park- and being a bit of an eventing nerd have all the dvd/vids back to the 80's! And I have to argree that this years course was boring and uninspired. The constant needless turning and jumps around a 360 degree turn were pointless and punishing on the horses. And takes away from the enthasis of forward xc riding! Looking back on previous Badders course - there was not a single proper bounce fence ( exp bank) this year! Bring back the footbridge, the fairbanks drop etc etc! Or perhaps get rid of Hugh Thomas and get a fresh new aproach to the course!
 
yep completely argee! I've just watched a video of Ginny doing badders in 1986 and not once does she stop riding the horse forwards to the fences instead of wrestling and hooking it around endless turns! The changing xc is one of the reasons i've stopped
frown.gif
eventing and teamchase and point to point instead now.
crazy.gif
 
It's also a fairly well known fact, that Badminton is always easier the year after an Olympics!!
Working up to being at its hardest the year of an olympics.
So yes, this years did look "easier" than most, but i'm sure it'll be back to scaring us all sh!tless again sometime soon.
 
FWIW I thought it was exactly what the sport needed - a wide open field, some good people having problems but not horrific 'are they ok' ones, and horses and riders finishing safe and sound, and the competition still wide open going into the final day. I honestly think if it had been carnage this year that would have been dreadful for the sport.
 
[ QUOTE ]
I really enjoyed being there and watching this year as there wasnt that horrid feeling where you're just waiting for the next horse to fall.
It was the bounce into the lake 5? years ago where we just sat there waiting as you knew that every 1 in 5 or so competitors were likely to have a messy jump and possibly fall. Thats not what the sport is about.



[/ QUOTE ]

I totally agree with you, but I must say that it saddens me that Burghley's harder than Badminton...
 
QR: I just do not think you can have it both ways - either you want the sport safer but still competitive, and this years Badminton was an excellent advert for that, or you want it to be dramatic and 'entertaining' for the spectators, which by the sounds of it seems to mean people and horses parting company - not what I want to watch at all.

I thoroughly enjoyed Badminton this year, the fences all looked big enough and difficult enough to me, and it was nice to see well-prepared horses and riders tackling a big course well and finishing with horses not exhausted. I am clearly in the minority though, and as I only pootle about being rubbish at Novice level what do I know!!
 
[ QUOTE ]
It's also a fairly well known fact, that Badminton is always easier the year after an Olympics!!
Working up to being at its hardest the year of an olympics.
So yes, this years did look "easier" than most, but i'm sure it'll be back to scaring us all sh!tless again sometime soon.

[/ QUOTE ]
Yeah that's what I said, it'll probably be tougher in 2012! And didn't they always say it was going to be less tough than last year, anyway? I enjoyed it this year.
 
I don't think it is always easier the year after an Olympics, but i'd have to quiz a 4* rider to be sure, it certainly hasn't looked it in the past.
a lot of top horses don't do Badminton and the Olympics, so i can't see why it would be biggest in an Olympics year, either.
hmm, will have to ask around...
 
In the 50th anniversary book is says (although this is on the page about 1965
tongue.gif
)

"It is probably not so evident today, but certainly in the past it was felt that the 'post-Olympic' Badminton should be, and usually was, quite a kind course, with the severity gradually increasing over the following three years so that the course was at its most difficult n the Olympic year".

It also goes on to say that the prize money changed depending on the cycle, how strange.
 
not that i want falls etc, but i thought it was definitely 'soft' compared to other years.
they now have skinny's for accuracy, like fence 6, but horses are sooooo good with skinny's now that at 4* they are irrelevant really. very very very few had problems at fence 6...

and the water was far to 'easy' for badders.

not that i can talk, as ive only ever done novice, but the huntsmans close was one of the only really really technical hard and proper 4* this yr....
 
After watching the x-c I felt a tremendous relief that there were no hideous accidents and was impressed that the course gave a good flowing gallop but I have to admit to feeling the teensiest bit disappointed in the general scale of it. Also I noticed that I didn't ride the sofa Wayne's world style round the course!! Not once! After reading Tina Cook's comment in H&H this week I still have to say that I was pleased that so many did go clear, certainly it is a testament to how good the riders are now, but I did miss the big rider frighteners of the ancient past. On one hand the course produced a couple of surprises - catching out Toytown and Zara, and made for an exciting show-jumping climax. The best thing was that the course flowed and was not cluttered up by so many technical combinations that need show jumping round - huntsman's corner provided little trouble compared to last year - was this because the gallop suited the horses better than constant checking for a technical fence after technical fence? Perhaps the horses were more alert after having a proper run? Big up to Ollie tho for a fantastic performance throughout and of course, William, will he ever have a horse I don't want to pinch!!?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top