Mega old school American SJing video I just found on YouTube

Chloe_GHE

Chloe_GHE

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Just watched this and thought I would share it as I found it interesting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZ-QMLF0Zfw

Just listen to the crowds!!!! and look at the size of that triple bar!!!!!!

Can you tell I'm doing some online research about the American show jumping style ;)

Feel free to add more mega vids to the thread if you have found anything recently and want to share :)
 
I loved that.
I adored Michael Matz, he had a great style. I remember watching him on a series call Horse in Sport back in the 1980's.
 
I remember the early 80's/late 70's especially the Atlanta Olympics (I think it was) when the Americans introduced a whole new way of riding - it seemed.
Up to that point we had been copying the Germans with massively overbent horses and it was reallly boring power jumping on old fashioned warmbloods (I had my first set of draw reins sent over from Germany!!)
Suddenly there was this bunch of riders on a mixture of horses QHxs & mostly TBs, who all rode in snaffles with no martingales and whose horses flew along on a light contact with complete freedom in their heads & necks - it was a joy to watch.

I was trained by one of the original exponents of this style and so loved to see it, though think they Americans can be a bit too evangelical about stuff like no martingales these days.....
 
Chloe_GHE said:
it's Tampa stadium so I guess it's just grass.... looks hard...
Click to expand...

It's a football field so it's technically turf but it would have a hard underlay. Not nice. I saw horses jump at another stadium that I know had concrete underneath - I guess not that different from some of the indoor venues but long before all the fancy footing we have now.

Ah, history, back when Barney was still someone to be admired . . . ;)

And I loved the giant pieces of yellow foam under everyone's saddles - quite the fashion when I was a kid. :D
 
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Is McLain Ward Barney Ward's son? I've just made that connection :eek:.

Michael Matz was a lovely rider. Reminds me a bit of Michael Whitaker in style.
 
Yes, on Barney and McLain. Hence the "sins of the father's" aspect.

Also, Michael W is about ten years younger so probably the other way around.;) The Whitakers have a history of competing and training in the US (some of the younger generation have even done the Eqs) so there must be some influence.

Michael Matz is also a proper hero. He survived a serious plane crash in 1989, UA 232, and rescued four children from the burning wreckage. (Inspiration for the book and film "Fearless".) After he retired from jumping he became a good race horse trainer - amongst his charges were Barbaro, and a BC winner.

The other "person of note" on there is The Jones Boy. He was a breakout star as a young horse, including winning a 7'1" puissance at 8, then got extremely ill and was saved using cutting edge technology at the time, including using afterbirth as bandaging material, then came back to jump at the highest levels, although everyone said he was never as good as he could have been.

Oh, and go Mark Laskin. :)

And, no, I am not THAT old. ;) But they were the horsey stars of my youth. :)
 
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