kauto star at olympia. Oh my

Your opinion , my opinion , his horse!

I agree Mike. I cant believe that CS did anything that he felt wasnt right for HIS horse, whether others agree with him or not. I felt at the time that PN should have respected his owners wishes and ept quiet. Furthermore, I seem to remember that PN wanted KS to be a point to point ride for his daughter. I bet he did !

We should remember that, whatever the sport (racing, eventing, Sj or whatever) the owners pay a hefty fee every month for the services of the trainers. It doesnt give the trainers any rights over the animal at all - unless part of a contract, or the fees are not paid promptly. I find it pretty shabby that CS is being castigated on this thread by some posters, for deciding exactly what he would like to do with his own horse.
 
Just to add a further point. KS is doing some dressage. Well it's flatwork, the sort of work every riding horse should be able to do because it makes them nicer to ride, keeps them supple and is the best preparation for pretty much any other discipline. It also, in my view, keeps them sounder longer because they are using themselves more correctly to carry a rider. I'm no expert on RoR but surely every ex racehorse needs the basics of flatwork or it can't be a showjumper or eventer. Yes, they could probably team chase or p2p but surely KS deserves better than that.
I agree Mike. I cant believe that CS did anything that he felt wasnt right for HIS horse, whether others agree with him or not. I felt at the time that PN should have respected his owners wishes and ept quiet. Furthermore, I seem to remember that PN wanted KS to be a point to point ride for his daughter. I bet he did !

We should remember that, whatever the sport (racing, eventing, Sj or whatever) the owners pay a hefty fee every month for the services of the trainers. It doesnt give the trainers any rights over the animal at all - unless part of a contract, or the fees are not paid promptly. I find it pretty shabby that CS is being castigated on this thread by some posters, for deciding exactly what he would like to do with his own horse.
 
Just to add a further point. KS is doing some dressage. Well it's flatwork, the sort of work every riding horse should be able to do because it makes them nicer to ride, keeps them supple and is the best preparation for pretty much any other discipline. It also, in my view, keeps them sounder longer because they are using themselves more correctly to carry a rider. I'm no expert on RoR but surely every ex racehorse needs the basics of flatwork or it can't be a showjumper or eventer. Yes, they could probably team chase or p2p but surely KS deserves better than that.

How blinkered is that last statement ,so I assume you believe racing or team chasing is horse abuse ,I really cannot get over some peoples ignorance!!
The horse should be doing what he enjoys full stop in his retirement I dont think the most ignorant people out there could make a case that he was enjoying the experience at Olympia!!
 
I am sorry if I have offended you but you have misunderstood my point, perhaps made without sufficient thought. I don't think though that my post suggested in any way that I think team chasing or p2ping is "horse abuse", please let me know which part of my post says that. I agree my experience is limited, part ownership of a pointer to pointer over a number of seasons hardly makes me an expert but it is my personal view that to see such a wonderfully successful horse spending his later years in disciplines that result in a relatively high number of injuries would sadden me. You are of course entitled to hold a different view and I would neither consider you either ignorant nor blinkered, just with a different opinion.
How blinkered is that last statement ,so I assume you believe racing or team chasing is horse abuse ,I really cannot get over some peoples ignorance!!
The horse should be doing what he enjoys full stop in his retirement I dont think the most ignorant people out there could make a case that he was enjoying the experience at Olympia!!
 
I would hate to see Kauto Star go pointing! The jockeys are amatuers. Even if you put a top amatuer on him you still have the idiots around you to contend with! Plus where would it stop? Points? Hunter Chases? Back to the Festival for the Foxhunters and Aintree over the big fences?

Of course Team Chasing et al isnt horse abuse but he had a long, hard, succesful career. When he came down he went down hard. Theres no harm in giving him an easier happy hacker/light schooling life.
 
I would hate to see Kauto Star go pointing! The jockeys are amatuers. Even if you put a top amatuer on him you still have the idiots around you to contend with! Plus where would it stop? Points? Hunter Chases? Back to the Festival for the Foxhunters and Aintree over the big fences?

Of course Team Chasing et al isnt horse abuse but he had a long, hard, succesful career. When he came down he went down hard. Theres no harm in giving him an easier happy hacker/light schooling life.

I never said he should go P2P or team chasing I quite clearly said he should do what he enjoys and Olympia was not that. That is the reason CSs motives came into question as I am not sure LC believes he is doing the right thing from her interviews and body language. Once they had agreed to do olympia she was on a hiding for nothing as it is very difficult to pull out of something that high profile. There are more politics involved than most know about but the horse should come first always! Channel four are running a series at the moment on the morning line of ex racehorses and their new careers it is great to see well known names out enjoying themselves. This is the thing with KS if he was just doing appearances and flatwork etc thats great but why was he put into such a high profile situation when to be blunt there are a lot better examples of ex racers who can di dressage. I have no axe to grind but once you put yourself up there on the pedestal you have made yourself a target when it goes wrong.
As for the injuries that is a slightly misinformed suggestion.
 
Just to add a further point. KS is doing some dressage. Well it's flatwork, the sort of work every riding horse should be able to do because it makes them nicer to ride, keeps them supple and is the best preparation for pretty much any other discipline. It also, in my view, keeps them sounder longer because they are using themselves more correctly to carry a rider. I'm no expert on RoR but surely every ex racehorse needs the basics of flatwork or it can't be a showjumper or eventer. Yes, they could probably team chase or p2p but surely KS deserves better than that.

I don't think anyone realistically thinks that a bit of flatwork is bad for any riding horse, but that doesn't mean wheeling him out at olympia as was done. I for one certainly don't imagine he is only drilled in circles at home, it is the display at olympia I didn't like and felt that it did the ROR side of things a bit of disservice.
 
I don't think anyone realistically thinks that a bit of flatwork is bad for any riding horse, but that doesn't mean wheeling him out at olympia as was done. I for one certainly don't imagine he is only drilled in circles at home, it is the display at olympia I didn't like and felt that it did the ROR side of things a bit of disservice.

I agree with taking the horse into that environment did not work , he disliked it . It was over in minutes will it have harmed him, no of course it has not .
This TB is lucky he has an owner who protect him and pay his bills until his life is over this is not the sort of ex racehorse we need to be getting exercised about .
Personally I feel no need to see KS again as long as the horse is being well cared for in a great environment that's enough .
I dislike personally seeing old horses paraded it lacks dignity to my mind.
 
I think from the posts that I read some people think he shouldn't do "dressage" i was just trying to point out that at the level he is working is nothing more than I would expect of any horse. With regards to Olympia, clearly it wasn't a good experience for anyone but actually if he had gone well, just think how much it would have helped the ROR side of things. sometimes things just don't go well with horses even when done with the best of intentions. I just felt rather uncomfortable with some of the comments which seemed to show a lack of empathy for a rider when things go wrong. I don't understand why we seem to enjoy putting the boot in when someone has already had a difficult and very public embarrassment.
I don't think anyone realistically thinks that a bit of flatwork is bad for any riding horse, but that doesn't mean wheeling him out at olympia as was done. I for one certainly don't imagine he is only drilled in circles at home, it is the display at olympia I didn't like and felt that it did the ROR side of things a bit of disservice.
 
At least now they know not to take him to such an atmosphere again. Life is a learning curve.

As to parading older horses - most of them seem to come to life when they hit the parade rings at racecourses - Dessie used to have great fun! But I would limit it to either Cheltenham, Aintree or for the likes of KS - Kempton - once a year.
 
I stumbled across a facebook group called 'Racehorses where are they now'. It is so nice to see what they are up to. Noland has just appeared and is looking fabulous.

I was shocked to read in a post earlier on that Paul Nicholls had plans for his daughter to PtoP KS, surely that can't be right ?
 
I stumbled across a facebook group called 'Racehorses where are they now'. It is so nice to see what they are up to. Noland has just appeared and is looking fabulous.

I was shocked to read in a post earlier on that Paul Nicholls had plans for his daughter to PtoP KS, surely that can't be right ?

Not right at all. He was to be Clifford's horse.

As for this -

**Goodness me, so much vitriol in this thread and so many assumptions! Laura's a good rider with a lot of natural talent, I've seen her develop over a number of years from when she was a pony rider but she is still quite young. She's shown amazing courage to come back from her dreadful fall. Yogi is an excellent trainer with years and years of experience at the top level and he's known Laura since pony trials days and possibly before that, why wouldn't he recommend her. There's absolutely no evidence that KS was doped but Laura said in the video that she thought he'd be bright in the arena, over worked him in the warm up and he clearly "shut down" completely part way through the test. She doesn't wear spurs when she rides him and frankly pony club kicks won't have done him much harm, as to the "jabbing"it's probable that he's locked his neck to block his forwardness, I doubt she did any damage there either It just looked ugly and amateurish and unfortunately didn't achieve much. These are professions and I doubt they would have agreed to take KS to Olympia if he wasn't going nicely but he's a horse not a motorbike and it seemed he got complete stage fright. anyone who's regularly watched big competitions will have seen it with other horses. Laura's big mistake was to try to continue and it was the wrong call on this occasion. What a shame but hardly a hanging offence!**

Out of interest, how many doped horses have you watched being ridden? Would you know what they do?

Are you not slightly disturbed, as is most of the professional eventing world, at the obsessive promotion of Laura by Breisner?
 
KS would have done what worked so well for Desert Orchid and many others - gone out on the gallops, nanny'd the younger horses, paraded at racecourses. That's the ideal life for him. Seeing this great horse at Olympia and being kicked and yanked in the gob was very upsetting. He is just a vehicle for those who seem to have their own agenda. Very very sad.
 
As far as I'm aware I haven't seen any doped horses being ridden and would not make assertions on a public forum that one had been doped unless I had evidence that it had. I have seen horses "shut down" in a competition environment though. Also. I'm not aware of there being "an obsessional promotion" of LC by YB therefore I can't be disturbed by it. It does seem to me though that perhaps there's another agenda going on here which I am not aware of!
Not right at all. He was to be Clifford's horse.

As for this -

**Goodness me, so much vitriol in this thread and so many assumptions! Laura's a good rider with a lot of natural talent, I've seen her develop over a number of years from when she was a pony rider but she is still quite young. She's shown amazing courage to come back from her dreadful fall. Yogi is an excellent trainer with years and years of experience at the top level and he's known Laura since pony trials days and possibly before that, why wouldn't he recommend her. There's absolutely no evidence that KS was doped but Laura said in the video that she thought he'd be bright in the arena, over worked him in the warm up and he clearly "shut down" completely part way through the test. She doesn't wear spurs when she rides him and frankly pony club kicks won't have done him much harm, as to the "jabbing"it's probable that he's locked his neck to block his forwardness, I doubt she did any damage there either It just looked ugly and amateurish and unfortunately didn't achieve much. These are professions and I doubt they would have agreed to take KS to Olympia if he wasn't going nicely but he's a horse not a motorbike and it seemed he got complete stage fright. anyone who's regularly watched big competitions will have seen it with other horses. Laura's big mistake was to try to continue and it was the wrong call on this occasion. What a shame but hardly a hanging offence!**

Out of interest, how many doped horses have you watched being ridden? Would you know what they do?

Are you not slightly disturbed, as is most of the professional eventing world, at the obsessive promotion of Laura by Breisner?
 
I was referring to your comment where you said "There's absolutely no evidence that KS was doped" - I thought perhaps that you were basing that on experience of knowing what it would look like. And yes, as I said before, any post detailing the politics would not stay.
 
I'm not sure what she was asking him to do when her hands were all over the place and clearly he wasn't understanding either, I'm sure she would have totally embarrassed by the situation and whilst it would have been difficult, she would have been better getting off saying he was having an off day and she didn't want to push him.
 
Top