highjinx
Active Member
Re horse and hound article , 23-08-12
I am very disappointed to see that you have written a half page article on how bad the riding is in modern pentathlon but could only spare a few words on the fact that we WON a silver medal!
No the riding is not wonderful but it is no worse than what you see every day at national shows and events with people who are riding there own horses, and how would some of the people who have complained about this event cope with riding a strange horse and jumping a 1.20m course, most of them wouldn't have the bottle to do it.
Yes a lot of people were expecting to see a standard of riding on a level with professional riders but how many professional riders can fence, swim, shoot and run?
I understand the standard of riding needs to be improved and it has and is improving all the time through the hard work of people within the sport.
As for the falls. Being jumped off and falling off, this happens at the highest level. Not seeing a stride THEY ARE NOT PROFESSIONAL RIDERS plus I am sure I saw some of our Olympic eventers and show jumpers miss a stride or two and end up on the floor.
So please give the pentathletes some credit for being brave, this may not be there best discipline out of the five but how many people do you know would take on this challenging and demanding sport.
I am very disappointed to see that you have written a half page article on how bad the riding is in modern pentathlon but could only spare a few words on the fact that we WON a silver medal!
No the riding is not wonderful but it is no worse than what you see every day at national shows and events with people who are riding there own horses, and how would some of the people who have complained about this event cope with riding a strange horse and jumping a 1.20m course, most of them wouldn't have the bottle to do it.
Yes a lot of people were expecting to see a standard of riding on a level with professional riders but how many professional riders can fence, swim, shoot and run?
I understand the standard of riding needs to be improved and it has and is improving all the time through the hard work of people within the sport.
As for the falls. Being jumped off and falling off, this happens at the highest level. Not seeing a stride THEY ARE NOT PROFESSIONAL RIDERS plus I am sure I saw some of our Olympic eventers and show jumpers miss a stride or two and end up on the floor.
So please give the pentathletes some credit for being brave, this may not be there best discipline out of the five but how many people do you know would take on this challenging and demanding sport.