London International horse show

NinjaPony said:
I was at the show today, same Irish rider who I hadn’t seen ride in the puissance and honestly was appalled, chair seat, hanging on the horses mouth, really horrible to watch. Generally good standard of riding overall, plenty of riders choosing to save their horses rather than pushing too much. I enjoyed the lippizaners too, I think I might go to the jumping again rather than the dressage which I watched on catch up and left me rather cold, the quality of the field just isn’t there anymore compared to before it moved venue and personally I don’t want to sit there and clap Charlotte like I used to.
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Regarding riders choosing to save their horses - I feel that sometimes this is unfair on the audience. I went to the Longines competition near Chelsea one summer and most of the riders just treated the main class we had paid to watch as a schooling round. It got a bit boring watching riders going very slowly or even retiring after a few fences.
 
These were the rounds that I watched and I just see a rider in a snaffle, staying off the horses mouth into fences and using his body weight to bring the horse back between fences. 🤷‍♀️ Perhaps it is just Andrew's unique style if he rides other horses this way too but he looks like a calm and effective rider to me, I'm not sure what's horrible about it.

 
TheMule said:
Luckily the guy is very lightweight because I don’t see much lightness in how he rides- he is at the back of the saddle, unbalanced, on his hands (with an incredibly tight martingale) and with a hard elbow.
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I do not see lightness one bit either. Drive with seat and reem on the horse's face via uber long reins. Oh, and zero release over the jumps
 
I went yesterday to the freestyle, first time I've watched any top level dressage for a few years. I was a bit apprehensive with the return of Charlotte and also seeing lottie in the flesh when she gets so much criticism online. But it was a really enjoyable afternoon I thought. Obviously the stand out tests were becky and lottie.... I thought beckys test was joyful, fun, super consistent and very technical... and bomb is bigger than I expected and apart from his piaffe being a little quieter compared to all his other moves he was genuinely just like watching a big dressage hug or lovely smooth hot chocolate!

And lottie and glamourdale.... I personally thought they were incredible. I've struggled with lottie a bit sometimes, I'm not an everdale fan and I was worried glamourdale would be a bit spidery and almost like a caricature. But I thought the combination of lightness and power was quite spectacular, I didn't expect him to be so light on his feet but her really was, and so balanced even with his massive movement....I think the commentator said he was 14 now so I think we are seeing the strength, balance and body control develop over time. I also thought their music was fab, the airline style announcements made the crowd chuckle and I love it when people have fun music whether it's shows like this or a Sunday BD. And I didn't see lottie riding aggressively or harshly in the way you hear it described online, in my very novice opinion.

Aside from those two; Sadie smith was brilliant, Susan pape looked like she was having a ball and I like a lady who went early called marieke van der putten.... don't know anything about her but enjoyed her test.

Charlotte got a nice reception from the crowd, I don't think it was a massive reaction to be honest, the crowd really took the roof off for lottie and becky. The mare seemed quite green and got stuck a couple of times in the piaffe. Regardless of what you think, charlotte has some balls because that arena is like pressure cooker and when she was trotting round at the start it was so silent it was like no one dared even to breathe.

Anyhow, that's my observations as a very amateur single horse owner who thinks the heady heights of dressage ambition is elementary! 🤣🤣 I'm always astounded and slightly depressed when I realise they are fitting those tests into an arena the same size I struggle to steer my baby horse round a prelim and don't feel I've got enough space! 🤣🤦‍♀️
 
Kadastorm said:
I also liked Sadie’s test. I didn’t see much of Susan’s but what I did see, I liked.

I see John Whitaker won the 6 bar again. What a legend, 70yrs old and still fitter than me at half his age 😆
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I can see his house from my living room window as his house is on the next hill at about the same elevation. I often hike the lanes over there. Even hacked round the lanes. Never met him, not even once...while my friend who lives down at the next farm on our hill, has met him numerous times!

I was once chatting to a lovely lady who rents land opposite John's. While we were talking she waved to a passing car. Once it had driven off, she said 'oh that was John'. He was literally right behind me, still never saw him! 🙈
 
Is the current rider (the Swiss lady) wearing an air jacket? I don’t watch much competitive SJ these days but don’t think I’ve seen a rider wear one for this level before?

(Not a criticism, I’d definitely be wearing one if I was jumping that high!)
 
Maddie Moo said:
Is the current rider (the Swiss lady) wearing an air jacket? I don’t watch much competitive SJ these days but don’t think I’ve seen a rider wear one for this level before?

(Not a criticism, I’d definitely be wearing one if I was jumping that high!)
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I would also be wearing one, im surprised more dont, it looked a bit like a padded jacket
 
Ben Maher has certainly spoken out about the course this afternoon, too small and time too short! Probably understandable as his horse really jumped out of his skin and (possibly) wasted time in the air, then fell foul of time faults.

I respect his expertise, so is this a case of 'making a show of it' for the audience? I don't know tbh.
 
Caski said:
Ben Maher has certainly spoken out about the course this afternoon, too small and time too short! Probably understandable as his horse really jumped out of his skin and (possibly) wasted time in the air, then fell foul of time faults.

I respect his expertise, so is this a case of 'making a show of it' for the audience? I don't know tbh.
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The problem is that when the field strength is that low (London does not attract the best SJers in the world) you can’t build a massive course but you still need to sort them out, so you make the time tight instead. I expect the course builder wished it had been 1 second more generous, but it’s fine lines
 
I’m not always a Ben fan but I do think that making the time super tight was detrimental this time, hindsight is a wonderful thing but a couple of extra second could have made it more competitive. Good jump off though, Max Kuhner made it look easy.
 
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