Badminton XC thread

[OrangeAndLemon]

There was one other occurrence which gave me anxiety through the cross country and no one else has mentioned it.

Yes, Austin O'Connors hat silk! It was slipping back slowly all the way around and I was willing it on to make it the the finish line. It did make it but it was defying the laws of physics. The peak was vertical half way around the course and pointing backwards at a 45 degree angle by the time he finished. Brilliant performance from the hat silk (or a demonstration of smooth riding by Austin)

 

[Wishfilly]

FWIW, I really enjoyed the rounds of some of the badminton first timers- a lot of them showed real class and maturity to ride a safe clear around a hugely challenging course. Especially Felcity Collins who also managed a clear inside the time showjumping!

Laura's whole badminton was just amazing, and I loved her final interview.

And yes, in future it might be good to keep discussion of the event on one thread, and debate on another, but I don't know how that gets managed!

 

[Supertrooper]

Really enjoying the XC actually, especially when Piggy & Tina were commentating

 

[RachelFerd]

The thrills and spills Badminton 2022 you tube video linked to earlier in this thread seems to have been taken down.

Such videos have their place, but including the clip of Nicola Wilson's fall was in very poor taste and should not have happened. Though I don't know if that is what led to the video being taken down.

Hopefully a successful copyright claim - because poor taste is one thing, but the fact that it was breaking copyright law was indisputable.

 

[Caol Ila]

Watched the parts shown by the BBC today. I was too cheap to pay for Badminton TV. Really enjoyed the riding, but Ian Stark's commentary deserved a drinking game. Take a drink every time he said "full of running" (maybe it's eventing jargon but it is irritatingly terrible English..."running" is not a noun!!!) or "masterclass." You would have been hammered by midday.

 

[clinkerbuilt]

Watched the parts shown by the BBC today. I was too cheap to pay for Badminton TV. Really enjoyed the riding, but Ian Stark's commentary deserved a drinking game. Take a drink every time he said "full of running" (maybe it's eventing jargon but it is irritatingly terrible English..."running" is not a noun!!!) or "masterclass." You would have been hammered by midday.

it's Old English!
Þere ofte he travaylede wylde bestes and took hem wiþ swifte rennynge

 

[fetlock]

Watched the parts shown by the BBC today. I was too cheap to pay for Badminton TV. Really enjoyed the riding, but Ian Stark's commentary deserved a drinking game. Take a drink every time he said "full of running" (maybe it's eventing jargon but it is irritatingly terrible English..."running" is not a noun!!!) or "masterclass." You would have been hammered by midday.

Good job he lives slightly further North than Newcastle or instead of full of runnng he'd have said "gaanin like the clappers"

 

[Caol Ila]

As per drinking game rules, you should also down an entire bottle of wine when a TV announcer repeatedly calls a mare "he" during her test or round, especially in stallion/gelding-dominated sports like eventing or dressage. Ian was guilty of this with Vanir Kamira's XC, and whoever commentated on the Olympic dressage was guilty indeed with Dalera's GP test.

 

[Lexi_]

I always tick a square off the bingo card when they refer to someone being from a good hunting family.

 

[Penguin_Toes]

If you wanted to get really trashed you could look for "strength in depth" whilst reading Horse and Hound

 

[HashRouge]

Watched the parts shown by the BBC today. I was too cheap to pay for Badminton TV. Really enjoyed the riding, but Ian Stark's commentary deserved a drinking game. Take a drink every time he said "full of running" (maybe it's eventing jargon but it is irritatingly terrible English..."running" is not a noun!!!) or "masterclass." You would have been hammered by midday.

Actually, it is a noun!

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/running

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/running

 

[Tiddlypom]

I always tick a square off the bingo card when they refer to someone being from a good hunting family.

It must take you longer to fill your card since the sad loss of Mike Tucker.

'Full of running' is a good description. I enjoy Ian Stark's commentary.

 

[Chiffy]

Hi all, haven’t been in here before as watched every moment of Badminton tv. Well worth the discounted price .
Have read nearly all this thread, lots of interesting points. I am old so perhaps that’s why I absolutely love Ian Stark’s commentary, far superior to the chattering girls! I was disappointed he was missing for such a large chunk of the day. All the commentary was better than Kentucky though.
I am quite happy with the expression’ full of running’ , it’s used in racing commentary too.
PS, before you are all up in arms, I am very fond of Piggy, she is a personal friend . I like Tina too but just like Ian the best! ?

 

[Supertrooper]

British Equestrian have just released another update on Nicola Wilson

 

[shortstuff99]

Found here

https://www.britishequestrian.org.uk/news/update-nicola-wilson

 

[Supertrooper]

I really hope her spinal cord is ok

 

[NinjaPony]

Glad she is breathing independently and talking but it sounds very serious. Horrible thing to happen, I hope she makes a full recovery as soon as possible.

 

[shortstuff99]

I really hope her spinal cord is ok

If they're stable and not needing an op (as mentioned) it is unlikely (but not impossible) to have impacted the spinal cord.

I didn't notice a fracture in my spine for nearly 2 months as it was stable.

 

[Honey08]

Poor Nicola, I hope her recovery is swift and comfortable. I knew it was pretty serious when there hadn’t been an update for days. Bet she’s still got that lovely smile on her face even now.

I think “lives just down the road from here” might make it onto commentator bingo too.

I think I like Ian best as commentator, then Tina. Piggy and Harry both irritate me a little as they talk too much.

 

[Kat]

Poor Nicola, I hope her recovery is swift and comfortable. I knew it was pretty serious when there hadn’t been an update for days. Bet she’s still got that lovely smile on her face even now.

I think “lives just down the road from here” might make it onto commentator bingo too.

I think I like Ian best as commentator, then Tina. Piggy and Harry both irritate me a little as they talk too much.

And a drink everytime Tina mixes up a saying, like "puts hairs on the back of your neck", there have been a few but I can't remember the others.

I do agree Ian and Tina are great on the commentary.

 

[Supertrooper]

Pippa has done an honest Facebook post, I so admire her

 

[TheMule]

If they're stable and not needing an op (as mentioned) it is unlikely (but not impossible) to have impacted the spinal cord.

I didn't notice a fracture in my spine for nearly 2 months as it was stable.

I'm afraid that's not true. I have a friend who was paralysed in a fall with stable fractures- an op wouldn’t have done anything to help as the damage to the cord had already been done, Given she's in ICU and likely to be there for a fair unfortunately that looks increasingly likely.

Nicola is one of the nicest people in the sport, I have absolutely everything crossed for her.

 

[shortstuff99]

I'm afraid that's not true. I have a friend who was paralysed in a fall with stable fractures- an op wouldn’t have done anything to help as the damage to the cord had already been done, Given she's in ICU and likely to be there for a fair unfortunately that looks increasingly likely.

Nicola is one of the nicest people in the sport, I have absolutely everything crossed for her.

They said she is moving out of ICU in the next few days so I took that as a good sign.

I only mentioned my experience and the few friends who had similar were all okay with stable fractures but obviously none of us will know.

 

[Fellewell]

FWIW the horse could get home safe by itself trotting merrily past all the fences just as they do when the rider tips off!

I do think a lot of this comes down to your perception of the horse/human relationship. i love my retirees but they aren't that fussed about me unless they think i have treats... and touch wood are largely self sufficient, they are part breds tho and would do quite well without any input at all i reckon.

Is this to me? So we could have a riderless Badminton? Perhaps this could be facilitated by introducing bumblebee DNA to future breeding programmes for the sport. In this way horses could communicate by means of a small scale dance/wiggle, directions precise enough to keep horses on the xc course even though it's several kilometres long. Just like bees do. Of course there would need to be a pathfinder with a rider, someone universally loved and admired, Michael Jung for example. Obviously he would get a flat fee as none of the other horses would have weight assigned to them. Apparently only female bees sting so geldings would be more popular. The academic debate around bees and dance language is supposed to be polarised and hostile unlike the discussions on these boards What the heck it's 5 o clock somewhere!

 

[milliepops]

Is this to me?

interesting way to interpret my post but yes, you literally said that horse and rider were dependent on each other to get home safe, and i don't think that's strictly true - its the rider's decision to put the horse at risk and the horses demonstrate from time to time that they can get home by themselves. Let's not pretend that the horse is sitting at the kitchen table telling their rider to get a move on with the badders entries getting home for them just means finding the stables.

 

[Fellewell]

interesting way to interpret my post but yes, you literally said that horse and rider were dependent on each other to get home safe, and i don't think that's strictly true - its the rider's decision to put the horse at risk and the horses demonstrate from time to time that they can get home by themselves. Let's not pretend that the horse is sitting at the kitchen table telling their rider to get a move on with the badders entries getting home for them just means finding the stables.

Well, the rider can't complete the xc course on his own and nor can the horse (trotting back to the lorry park doesn't count). Horses might get to the finish in racing when they're with the rest of the field but I don't recall seeing a horse finish a xc course alone. In that respect, horse and rider have a certain interdependency, like it or not.
When a rider completes a course and points enthusiastically at the horse under him/her is he saying this horse gave his all and got me out of trouble or is he/she indulging in some sort of anthropomorphic, self-congratulatory theatre in your opinion?
Your argument is that the rider is putting the horse at risk. I would argue that it is the riders job to mitigate any risk by giving the horse the best possible chance to complete the course and get home. The riders job is to compete on a horse who is above all capable of completing the course thereby diminishing the risks as far as possible.
As to the horses viewpoint in all this, well, nobody has been able to ask them so we will have to agree to disagree.

 

[scats]

Well, the rider can't complete the xc course on his own and nor can the horse (trotting back to the lorry park doesn't count). Horses might get to the finish in racing when they're with the rest of the field but I don't recall seeing a horse finish a xc course alone. In that respect, horse and rider have a certain interdependency, like it or not.
When a rider completes a course and points enthusiastically at the horse under him/her is he saying this horse gave his all and got me out of trouble or is he/she indulging in some sort of anthropomorphic, self-congratulatory theatre in your opinion?
Your argument is that the rider is putting the horse at risk. I would argue that it is the riders job to mitigate any risk by giving the horse the best possible chance to complete the course and get home. The riders job is to compete on a horse who is above all capable of completing the course thereby diminishing the risks as far as possible.
As to the horses viewpoint in all this, well, nobody has been able to ask them so we will have to agree to disagree.

Of course the rider is putting the horse at risk. When I take my horse out on the road, I’m also putting her at risk.
If we put animals in situations where they could come to harm, we are risking them.
Yes the rider is also at risk, but they’ve made that choice themselves.
I’m not against horse sports at all, quite the opposite actually, but it would be naive of me to think that we don’t endanger animals when we use them in this way.

 

[milliepops]

Of course the rider is putting the horse at risk. When I take my horse out on the road, I’m also putting her at risk.
If we put animals in situations where they could come to harm, we are risking them.
Yes the rider is also at risk, but they’ve made that choice themselves.
I’m not against horse sports at all, quite the opposite actually, but it would be naive of me to think that we don’t endanger animals when we use them in this way.

This, and why does the rider say the horse gave it 100%...? Because humans spent the last 10 years or so training the horse to behave a certain way (never mind the hundreds of years of selective breeding for trainability and sporting talent before said horse was even a black blob on an ultrasound ?)

 

[Caol Ila]

Where do you stop going down the rabbit hole? I’m sure my ex-feral would be quite happy on the Dallas estate, living wild and never seeing a human. Yet I’m making him carry my a*rse around and dodging traffic every day. Still waiting for the shoe to drop and for him to realise that he could buck me off and be wild and free.

 

[LEC]

Where do you stop going down the rabbit hole? I’m sure my ex-feral would be quite happy on the Dallas estate, living wild and never seeing a human. Yet I’m making him carry my a*rse around and dodging traffic every day. Still waiting for the shoe to drop and for him to realise that he could buck me off and be wild and free.

Though it has really interested me with the Ukrainian horses who were set free and just being caught now how bad they look as you just think - meh it’s a horse it will be ok.