European Three Day Event Team

thanks lucretia i love the fact you know all these things
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it is seeming to be a bit of a Beijing deja vu scenario to me why does i have to be so far away i think my brain will fry with all the possible options
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Personally think Ruth Edge should start examining her family tree to see if she can find a long lost relative of a different nationality and ditch the british selectors!

Mayhem I would have thought stood a good chance of being a reserve at least. Good result at Pau last year as well as winning Gatcombe and a good result at Badminton with Ruth showing all her guts and determination. Her dressage is the best in the business (with the possible exception of Bettina and Lucinda Fred) but yet again overlooked.
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Ho hum!
 
Piggy would be favourite with certain powers that be as she is a very good rider with a super horse and they put up an excellent performance at Bramham in a very high quality field. For good measure, she has a good team of horses to follow on. Also the selectors would have confidential information about the fitness and availability of horses and riders and probably select with a longer term plan in mind.
 
A lot of riders rate Piggy very highly-she will be one of the legends I think.

Maybe Ruth didn't want to be on the team(but I know she did want to go to Barbury, so ?). I think TT is just doing smaller stuff this season, to ensure no repecussions of his injury. But Mayhem is fit and well.
 
Are you getting tweaky? I dont believe anyone has commented on the ability of any of the riders concerned.
as for the rest of your post they may think they have confidential information
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but i dont believe there are any secrets in eventing, someone will always tell you what you want to know. and we have already mentioned long term plans that is why Nicola and Lucy are in.
And I like Some Day Soon but I dont believe it is a championship horse particularly even with Pig on him. I am much more encouraged to see Paris entered up myself as if that gets back on the road that will be a real contender next year.
and FWIW i think Ruth should have been on the reserve list, chances are we will need some fab tests to even live with the germans.
 
We all have different opinions - Some Day Soon looks to have improved a lot this season with a solid performance in the dressage and XC and a convincing SJ at Bramham where as Paris has yet to prove himself on the 3rd day of a three day - not his strongest phase anyway.
I agree that eventing is a small world so a lot of information is available to us but the content of selectors meetings, vets reports, team meetings, etc are confidential so, if leaked at all, are open to "chinese whispers", half truths and things being taken out of context. There are already several different stories about why various decisions have been made and what different riders have said about being available so .....!
 
i know i know.but if everything was totally simple we would all be yawning now instead of giving all our own personal insights into the whole selection process.i love it
 
If all this stuff was so secret I wouldnt know about lots of it would i? Notice how I put this thread up nearly two days before the official annoucement, so dont be so santimonious. As for Some day soon, he is a nice horse, I have seen him competing many times with his various jockeys but I think you will find it is Piggy they want, cos usually a "solid" performance at a mere 3* wouldnt be good enough.
 
oh and these arent stories as you call them, just people hypothesising, which as blackbird said is part of the fun. you should lighten up.
 
i agree.i think selectors have a harder time then people imagine.there are so many variables.theres the team .then future team material. rider ability. future horsepower.....very important2012 has to be uppermost in their minds when selecting at the moment.its obvious enough who has the up and coming stars for the next couple of years and who has not
 
hmm, i don't think they should be trying to include specific riders (almost irrespective of horsepower) based on them being "future team material"... they should take the very best combinations available now. has there ever been a case of a 'rookie' getting put on the team and totally messing it up? no more than cases of very experienced team members messing it up too, i'll bet... and there have been a few of those, and they've been forgiven!
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we are talking about professionals, who are used to pressure... i can't believe they'd ride any differently just because they are 'on the team' at a major champs!
i think Ruth is well overdue her chance, fwiw. she's one of the very few who could be in the top 3 after the dressage...!
 
My point is that there are many factors that the selectors base their choice on and even the riders aren't necessarily told why certain choices have been made, let alone anyone else. Other "titbits" are public knowledge and most people get to hear about them sooner or later. These are fair game for debate and hopefully enough to keep us all interested!
Also we are all entitled to opinion and it is mine that strong 3* form IS good enough especially for a 3* championship. There are some exceptional 3* horses coming through at the moment and form at that level particularly in CCIs and top level CICs (i.e. not glorified advanced classes) is strong. Minors Frolic proves this and there have been medal winning horses from other nations over the years that have not had 4* form before a championship - Ready Teddy for one.
 
yes, i agree, rock solid 3* form for the horse, with a very experienced rider (who ideally has already done 4*s) is enough for a 3* champs, as Miners Frolic proved. a horse that can do a reliably brilliant test is potentially more useful than a xc machine with a slightly dodgy attitude to dr (such as Spring Along, brilliant on his day, frustrating on the others!)
 
lottery funding takes into account european championships but is mostly based on performance a world/olympic level consequently it is useful to send riders to europeans when they can rider as individuals, which gives them experince without pressure. major championships are different for grooms, so i am sure they are different for riders. Quite apart from anything else there is what I am tactfully going to call 'imput' from various people during the event that you wouldnt normallly get at a regular three day and then there is the media, and your owners are more hyped up. I think it is good that they do use this event with a view to improving our performance at WEG and the 2012.
and it is all about funding these days, think of the people who would have to get a 'real' job if it wasnt for the lotery and the world class programmme
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