Louisa Lockwood?

[Marilyn]

Hello,

Does anyone know anything about Louisa Lockwood? What's she like as a rider...her results looks great and I'm keen to knwo more about her...do you know where I can find out more?

 

[Safina]

Try her website - lots of history there http://www.louisalockwood.com/

 

[kerilli]

umm, looked good at Badders and did a very good job with that mare, really gave her confidence through her round, but must admit i've seen her go xc a few times at lower levels and thought she rode like a complete and utter nutcase. i saw her come into the novice water somewhere at a real gallop, she didn't take a single pull, how the horse stood up i have no idea, it was genuinely frightening to watch. that was a few years back though!

 

[Bossanova]

My opinion would match Kerilli's.
It aint always pretty and you know that travelling at those speeds she's either going to win or have a crashing fall and thats what generally happens.
I may be bitter because she wrecked a brilliant horse that we had before her

 

[kerilli]

Hmm, Boss, that's not the first time i've heard that exact story about her, unfortunately. hopefully she'll ride with more maturity from now on.

 

[eevent]

Shes a great rider, did anyone see her amazing save at the hexagon hedges at badminton?!
looking at her results shes having a great season so far!

 

[lucretia]

and perhaps you would be better advised listening to someone who knows her well, lives down the road and has worked for her on many occasions.
louisa is a very hard working rider, who expects the horses to work as hard as she does. She is quite blunt and not everyone can get along with her I should think but on the whole she does a good job. yes she does ride fast xc but like francis whittington her horses are generallly properly schooled and brought on xc so she can.
as for falls, well it doesnt happen that often and people like Boss might bear in mind how many of the horses she has are rejects from other places, she doesnt often get an expensive new one bought for her.
Louisa wouldnt claim herself to get on with every horse but she has a nice yards and tries her best for them and i dislike sweeping statements about people allegedly 'wrecking' horses because those on the outside have no idea what actually happens. a great horse at novice for example might turn out to be a gutless wimp at intermediate.

 

[Bossanova]

[ QUOTE ]

as for falls, well it doesnt happen that often and people like Boss might bear in mind how many of the horses she has are rejects from other places, she doesnt often get an expensive new one bought for her.


[/ QUOTE ]

I appreciate all of that Lucretia, I never doubted her hard working attitude and indeed, Pammy H was telling me what a good job she has been doing with DI who is tricky on the flat.
But she took on an exceptionally good horse which was actually pretty valuable and had been scouted by the US event team and gave it a horrid fall. She was able to buy it very cheaply as a result and she then turned it over twice more and it was never right after that.
I have heard some of the other pros (including a very good friend of FW) speaking about her and none of it has been favourable with regards to how she produces some of her horses.

 

[LEC]

I have seen her round the circuit for several years and she seems to be a very hard rider. I have seen some pretty horrid/hair raising riding from her and the HF she had at Burghley 2 years ago was totally her fault and I felt incredibly sorry for the horse.

 

[lucretia]

considering it is you, then i could guess in one which friend of Francis that was to be honest boss, and if i were him, people in glass houses and all shouldnt throw stones..... he doesnt have a good word to say about anyone.....
and I know what horse you are refering too as well. I dont think you can say she 'gave it a fall' the creature was flashy on the flat but IMO didnt jump all that well xc and i cant believe anyone seriously thought it was going to be a team horse. like i said above there are loads that look great when they are novices.

 

[dieseldog]

[ QUOTE ]
Hello,

Does anyone know anything about Louisa Lockwood? What's she like as a rider...her results looks great and I'm keen to knwo more about her...do you know where I can find out more?

[/ QUOTE ]

If you want to know what Louisa is like probably the best thing to do is to go watch her at an event, not just on the XC course but also in the warm up. You'll get a pretty good idea what she is like then.

 

[Bossanova]

[ QUOTE ]

and I know what horse you are refering too as well. I dont think you can say she 'gave it a fall' the creature was flashy on the flat but IMO didnt jump all that well xc and i cant believe anyone seriously thought it was going to be a team horse. like i said above there are loads that look great when they are novices.

[/ QUOTE ]

The horse was awesome xc, I should know, I rode it enough! Louisa won a couple of intermediates on it and it did very well at 3* before it finally fell 1 too many times.
She flipped it over at Gatcombe, coming too fast into a combination and he ripped his chest open with his studs, poor boy

 

[lucretia]

it might have been awesome for you, but you have a really rubbish turn of phrase sometimes. No rider 'gives' their horse a fall, if we are talking about the same horse at all. Anything that you rode competively must have been years ago because the only other horse I remember her falling on in a big class at gatcombe in the last two or three was tiger and i am fairly sure you didnt eve compete him, and while he was a gorgeous horse and loooked like a real propect at first he got more and more difficult to ride as the levels went up. That horse is happily trundling round at lower levels now

 

[SpottedCat]

[ QUOTE ]
No rider 'gives' their horse a fall

[/ QUOTE ]

Whilst I have no wish to be drawn into the LL debate, I beg to differ on this point - Laine Ashker and Frodo Baggins at Rolex spring immediately to mind - she hurtled the horse far too fast into the fence and gave him a fall, one with tragic consequences for him.

 

[only_me]

no wish either, but amy tryon and her horse at 2008 olympics - she certainly didnt help her horse by firing it into the bottom of that spread fence.

Imo any rider who gets round badminton is a very good rider!

 

[flurry]

The horse fall at Burghley 2 years ago was most certainly NOT her fault, that horse is renouned for leaving legs XC so Louisa was very brave to take it round Burghley in the 1st place. I was at the fence where they fell and they met the fence perfectly, but, like one of WFP's horses (cant remember which), he mis-read the question and thought it was a bounce so tried to put down in the middle, luckily for william his horse picked up again, however louisa's did not...

Secondly, Bossanova, I don't know who you are but you dont sound quite right to me....

 

[eevent]

Bossanova, after all the talk on this discussion I was expecting you to be a good/top rider!! Just found out who you are via weird website you have for your horse and was rather shocked to say the least...
I also know which horse you must be referring to, which you claim "she wrecked". She did nothing of the sorts and you never competed on it so I dont know how you can claim to know it inside out. I don't know about you being bitter, I think jealous is more appropriate.

 

[kit279]

Without wanting to get drawn here (as I don't know anything about it), Boss is a good rider. But even if Boss had never ridden in her life, she's entitled to her opinion and to voice it. You don't have to be a pro to have an opinion.

 

[Bossanova]

[ QUOTE ]
The horse fall at Burghley 2 years ago was most certainly NOT her fault, that horse is renouned for leaving legs XC so Louisa was very brave to take it round Burghley in the 1st place. I was at the fence where they fell and they met the fence perfectly, but, like one of WFP's horses (cant remember which), he mis-read the question and thought it was a bounce so tried to put down in the middle, luckily for william his horse picked up again, however louisa's did not...


[/ QUOTE ]

I actually agree with you there, that wasnt her fault at all, it was a badly designed fence which CMP admitted afterwards

 

[Bossanova]

Thankyou very much eevnt. We dont actually all want to be professional riders- I've chosen a different career and dont event seriously.
But that doesnt mean I dont know what I'm looking at or that I have no feel or right to an opinion

 

[SpottedCat]

[ QUOTE ]
Bossanova, after all the talk on this discussion I was expecting you to be a good/top rider!!

[/ QUOTE ]

I presume then that you are a top rider, after all if you are not then your positive opinion of LL is no more valid by the criteria you have just set with this post than Boss' negative one.

 

[eevent]

I apologise Bossanova, I just read over my comment again and it sounds rather harsh, I just strongly disagreed with some of the comments you made regarding Louisa and the horse your family used to have, I knew it quite well. I also wasnt implying that you had to be a pro rider to voice your opinion or know what you are talking about, but I was still rather surprised when I found out that you werent.

Not that it matters but I do infact ride professionally SC.

 

[SpottedCat]

It kind of does matter when a) you are totally new to the board and have appeared just to comment on this one thread so no-one knows you from adam and you could in fact be some star-struck kid, and b) when you have made the assertion that someone else's opinion is not valid because they are not a top/good rider (though for the record 2* is pretty good I reckon). However at least you had the good grace to apologise!

Lots of people ride professionally with out being either terribly good or a top rider, so saying you ride professionally doesn't really mean anything - people who lead treks out are 'professional riders' but that doesn't mean they could event to a high level (although it doesn't mean they couldn't/haven't either).

I wonder, would you post a link to your BE record?