HA! No mushrooms next year...

Matthew Wright's temper tantrum was appalling and is the sort of reaction that brings the horse world into disrepute. I sincerely hope the stewards had a word with him, but we might never know.

I felt too that some of the other riders were very quick to grab their horses and walk off, without really giving their horses time to pull themselves together after their falls. One or two looked decidely sore and could have benefited from a minute or two to recover.

Re the mushrooms I couldn't tell from the TV what the next part of the course was but I wondered whether the top of the 1st element merged into the background in the distance thereby making it difficult for the horse to judge the height.

I hope they gave the poor fence judge a glass of brandy at the end!
 
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... Don't think I've ever heard a horse whicker like that before either?! Poor thing looked absolutely scared stiff
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That was horrible, much more upsetting than the actual fall IMO. I couldn't hear yer man swearing, but I did hear Ian Stark commenting on the language ...
 
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I know!!! One can only assume he chucked his hat and whip due to the fustration that it was HIS fault the horse fell!!!!

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????
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I think his behaviour was very poor and agree with those who hope someone will have a word about it, but don't understand this comment? From the TV coverage it looked as though he had given a lovely young horse a peach of a ride to that point, and his approach looked fine. Did you see something different?
 
and also i know how much matt rates that horse, perhaps you are all forgetting that, practically in sight of the finish at badminton, he pulled it up after it jumped a fence badly and ws clearly tired.
and this would be the same matt that nearly killed himself (litererally) trying to pull up at horse in the advanced at aston when it bolted after it slipped a hind tendon? it headed straight for the trakhener by the water jump but he pulled it through the gate past spectators and cars and got it to as safe place where he threw himself off it at full gallop to finally stop it. i was right there so i am pretty sure of my facts.
i think he was so angry because as tabledancer said he appeared to have a good shot it, the rest of his round have been pucker and he was well placed after dressage.
mattt is a complete competitor. he is focussed and driven and works his butt off, like the rest of his family and t wasnt a good thing to do but i dont think he had his miind on the tv at that point.
give the guy a break.
 
I didn't think it was that bad. He'd been going fantastically well on the horse and rode it beautifully through some of the combinations. He took the sensible option at discovery valley to allow it to get into the course. So I expect when he fell it was probably a bit of a shock and obviously a massive disappointment.

The horse got up very quickly so was likely to be not too badly injured and he chucked his toys out of the pram away from the horse. I thought it showed how much he wanted it. You see tennis players throw their toys out of the pram all the time. He's a young guy under massive pressure to keep his sponsors and owners so he was bound to be frustrated.

Patting the horse is not likely to make it "feel" any better after a fall like that. They're not human and won't associate a pat with the sentiment of sympathy. He undid it's tack to make the horse comfortable straight away. Not many riders who fell immediately went to make their horses comfortable and allow them to breathe before they took them home.

I liked the fact he showed his frustration and that he was human. The horse was fine and he didn't take it out on him. If anything he seemed to be blaming himself. Can't really see what the issue is really.
 
I could completely understand Mathew .I remember when we competed against him at Northampton Horse Trails a few years ago and he had a terrible fall and continued with blood pouring from his mouth . He is a tough cookie and it was so disappointing for him. BUT he did pat his horse and not blame the horse. He was just so focused and I am afraid we need the strong will to win to do well. I think he cares for his horse but was just so mad with himself.
Daisy Dick didn't even look at her horse's hind leg and it was clearly very lame as she led it away.
 
that is very good news, it was awful watching riders go over that jump, i almost could not look at the tv yesterday, as you say, too many good horses fell, i thought it was way to dangerous that jump, lots of very very lucky horses and riders as there were too many rotational falls to count!
 
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in whole sentences? amazing.

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Just read your retort on MP's interview. .... PMSL and spilt my coffee!

Which a**!#@e complained about your link? I thought it was very interesting, your own photography is fabulous, and it was nice to find out about a site where other talented photographers post their work.
 
I am very glad the sarcasm wasnt entirely wasted!! and i have no idea who it was and though i have pointed out several other commercial links in siggynatures much more blatant than mine they still seem to be there! anyway its just made it more complicated to look but i will PM the link and you can look at latest additions!
 
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lots of very very lucky horses and riders as there were too many rotational falls to count!

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Admit i've only just seen what was on BBC2, and indeed there were some horrid nasty falls, but there wern't any 'rotational' falls! Lets not over use that word
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Hi
just reading your post and have to say i found it very interesting and I absolutely agree with the horse not being able to judge a jump that is higher in the middle etc, makes alot of sense.

I will say I walked the mushroom and it did have a groundline - in the form of (i think 2) smaller mushrooms that widened out the stalk visually. The ground was also surprisingly good, with 1 stride on flat ground before take off rather than downhill like it was last year. It was very square in the front though, I think if the top had been a little less so in front it would have caused many less problems.

I will say in reply to others that I thought MWs behavior was appauling and I hope he gets fined. The horse clearly expected a beating by its reaction when he (finally) walked back over to it. I understand he is very driven and thats why hes at the top of his carreer but so is MK, AN, WFP and many many others that I wont mention and you would never make a fool of themselves like that no matter how frustrated - particularly in front of a huge crowd.
Also though there was a number of riders that should have pulled up earlier as many of these fell (not just at mushrooms) and their horses walked away looking badly injured (mentioning no names!).

Some people did jump the mushroom well - partucularly the ones that SJd it - Angus s jumped it beautifully - but saying that I wouldnt have faulted the riding of most of the fallers there.
 
Yes, there were 2 small mushrooms, but they were close to the stalk of the mushroom i thought, not really set forward from it. the 2nd mushroom had the ditch as a very obvious groundline to stop the horses getting in too close, plus it was smaller and had a much narrower top.
a side-on view of the approaches of the fallers would be good to see, whether they just got a bit too close, or whether the horses misjudged even if stood off a bit.
 
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I will say in reply to others that I thought MWs behavior was appauling and I hope he gets fined. The horse clearly expected a beating by its reaction when he (finally) walked back over to it. I understand he is very driven and thats why hes at the top of his carreer but so is MK, AN, WFP and many many others that I wont mention and you would never make a fool of themselves like that no matter how frustrated - particularly in front of a huge crowd.


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Reading this just made me remember about MK falling at badminton 2 from home and her reaction! I know she is possibly the most optimistic person who ever lived
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but she was hugely dissapointed too after a great round and managed to react with great composure! I know MW is a very competitive person but his frustration imho does not excuse his reaction! If I owned that horse I would be very annoyed!
 
It looked awful and as so many of you have said matt response after he fell was appauling. I too think he only patted the horse because the fence judge realised the whole crowd was staring at him in amazement. I wasn't the only one who voiced my opinion rather loudly. The fence judges seemed worried by the fence and ground as they were rushing out every two minutes to put gravel etc down. Looking at the photos we took the horse didn't seem to get the height and hit it with its knees.
 
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