Burghley 2022 Showjumping Thread

ycbm said:
High level competitive riding surely won't survive many more of these episodes!

Is the trot up on Facebook anywhere?
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No, it's on BurghleyTV.
I've just rewatched it, he did look marginally better second time round, but it was hard to judge from the camera angles. First time he was definitely quite lame, and she clearly knew
 
Normally the horses do the trot up in number order. Cola was permitted to miss his turn for the first trot up on Sun am to go a bit later, and when she did present him he was clearly lame with a pronounced head nod. He was sent to the holding box for further assessment.

The lameness was less obvious second time round, but he was being held on a very tight rein which is a known dealer's trick to disguise a head nod. Even so, there were uneven steps still visible.

At the pre event trot up, one competitor was asked to repeat the trot but on a looser rein. I was fully expecting the same request to be made for Cola, but he was waved straight through 2nd time round ?‍♀️.
 
DirectorFury said:
Does Bubby own Cola, or is she riding for an owner? If I were the owner I'd be very unhappy at my obviously lame horse being jumped around the SJ - it's that sort of behaviour that turns minor niggles into something career-limiting.
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Her mother owns him, as does a number of her horses. She also has other very wealthy owners.

Im in no way condoning this horse being jumped by the way - but on the final day of a horse inspection it is about the horse being fit to compete, rather than 100% sound.
Now, I don’t think the level was demonstrated did meet fit to compete. But it’s perfectly feasible thus wasn’t a potential niggle from the day before. The horse could easily have trodden on a stone or bashed itself on the way to the jog. In fact, given the fact she was allowed to present out of order, that is possibly what happened.

But for the reputation of the sport I’m really disappointed that a clearly unlevel horse was allowed to continue, even if it was minor and not going to cause the horse longer term damage.
 
I think there’s a discussion to be had at some point about the definition of fit to compete, in light of wider issues surrounding horse sport. Sure people will come along saying Saturday was worse optics but I think it still matters.

A questionably off horse was passed fit to compete on second inspection, then had four down - said horse who is usually a super reliable show jumper, going by long term results.

As a side point, unlike the vast majority of other competitors, not one single social media post since Saturday…
 
DirectorFury said:
Does Bubby own Cola, or is she riding for an owner? If I were the owner I'd be very unhappy at my obviously lame horse being jumped around the SJ - it's that sort of behaviour that turns minor niggles into something career-limiting.
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It's often because of owners that riders feel pressures to not withdraw. Don't forget that not every owner is a horse person, a lot are just investors.
 
Why isn't this being investigated?

Re the flag it would be to light him up to try and hide any lameness....

I've looked on her Facebook she's received no negative comments just loads of gushing over her xc post (most recent)
 
I couldn’t give 2 figs about the man with the flag. Internet strangers have no idea of the motivation behind it. Maybe it was an old dealers trick. Maybe it was just an excited support team.

If it was being done with dubious intention then it didn’t work. The horse was still unlevel.

What the issue is here is the definition of fit to compete. I’m afraid in my book a visible head nod is not fit to compete. We need FEI directive on this and we need a ground jury to apply it.
 
Crazy_cat_lady said:
Did I read somewhere the vet was the one she uses? Isn't that a bit of a conflict of interest?

I know they're going to use a high end vet but?
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Her vet (if indeed it is her vet) was the holding box vet. His job was to examine the horse, advise whether to withdraw or re-present, and present his findings to the ground jury. He cannot tell the rider which option to choose, and it is the ground jury who have the final say as to whether the horse is accepted or not. So although he played a part in the proceedings he had no actual say as to the outcome.
 
Gamebird said:
So although he played a part in the proceedings he had no actual say as to the outcome.
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But that is only partially true, surely?

The rider can ignore the advice of the holding box vet, but the ground jury will or ought to take due note of the holding box vet's findings.

The second trot up, with the horse still held on a tight rein and not allowed the full freedom of his head and neck, looked like a shoo from the GJ for a pass, though he was still unlevel. At the very least the rider should have been asked to repeat the second trot up, giving the horse more rein.
 
Tiddlypom said:
But that is only partially true, surely?

The rider can ignore the advice of the holding box vet, but the ground jury will take due note of the holding box vet's findings.
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I think that's pretty much what I said - but the GJ make the final decision based on re-presentation. I am addressing the accusation that the holding box vet may have been biased towards his client, but pointing out that whether he was biased or not, he had input, but did not make the final decision.
 
Crazy_cat_lady said:
Why isn't this being investigated?

Re the flag it would be to light him up to try and hide any lameness....

I've looked on her Facebook she's received no negative comments just loads of gushing over her xc post (most recent)
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She’s posted again a few hours ago. Saying the horse was uncharacteristically flat and empty
 
TheMule said:
No, it's on BurghleyTV.
I've just rewatched it, he did look marginally better second time round, but it was hard to judge from the camera angles. First time he was definitely quite lame, and she clearly knew
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I agree. That's probably why she's holding him on a short rein to try and make it less obvious. Poor girl, she must be under a lot of pressure if she can't withdraw when her horse is lame. Also her riding in the showjumping was less than great which must be impart to the pressure she was under and knowing she was on a lame horse
 
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Watching live on TV I didn't notice the lameness but surely the rider should have felt it while warming up. My issue was the way she was poking the spurs into the horse before the actual round had even started. She won't be getting a ride on any of my horses.
 
I went Wednesday for the trot up as I had never seen it, and I was surprised how cursory it was, so I assumed the trot up was just a bit of showmanship, and they were seen before. If that is it, it's not really good enough, certainly not after the XC.
The rules are,
7.4 HORSE INSPECTIONS (FEI VETERINARY REGULATIONS ARTICLES 1034-1042) All Horses will be assessed for their fitness to compete during the Horse Inspection. Any Horse demonstrating questionable fitness may be referred to the Holding Box for further veterinary examination. Horses not deemed fit to compete by the Inspection Panel will not be permitted to compete.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...Schedule.pdf&usg=AOvVaw0dHgtnz15j_k0gkixKUQUd
They have ground jury vets, which include an FEI vet,I may be wrong but I think A Bathe was in the box on Wednesday, and there is a vet for treatment to event cover.
They had a lot of gaps to cover, the dressage looked sparse, so perhaps they were more lenient, who knows, but it's not a good look.
 
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