Olympic pentathalon horses

BlairandAzria

BlairandAzria

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One of my friends will be competeing in the modern pentathalon, and shamefully I realised I know very little about it. Having done a bit more research about it I was pondering the horsey aspect of it...

From a horsey perspective, who provides the horses? How are they found? I presume they must all be of a similar age / standard / competition level?

Would you let your competition horse be used for Olympians in the pentathalon?
 
I've been wondering the same thing!

If I had a horse I'd let it go! Then I can say I own an Olympic Standard horse! (Probably close as I'll ever get!) :)
 
BlairandAzria said:
One of my friends will be competeing in the modern pentathalon, and shamefully I realised I know very little about it. Having done a bit more research about it I was pondering the horsey aspect of it...

From a horsey perspective, who provides the horses? How are they found? I presume they must all be of a similar age / standard / competition level?

Would you let your competition horse be used for Olympians in the pentathalon?
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Having seen some of the competitors riding in Beijing - not in a million years!
 
A forum member has a group of horses going to london to be used for the pentathalon, i think they have changed the rules a little since beijing! I *think* she said they had been trialled by a british team for some other competition to test worthyness, but they wont be ridden by the brits at the olympics.
 
They are supposed to be graded show-jumpers (can't remember what grade) reasonably schoolmastery types. They was an article on here a while ago about sources good horses but I can't remember what it said :o There was many complaints made after Beijing about the horses not being up to the standard they should have been.

I am a big fan of the modern pentathalon (help run the uni one up here) and the brits have a really good record and training scheme, it helps that a lot come through pony club and uni riding clubs, other countries tend not to have such a strong riding background more of an athletics one and learn to ride late. I have seen some awful riding last time I watched it on telly I think it may have been the world champs. The men were getting cricket scores.
 
Looking on the bright side - the monitoring is bound to be better at London. So, if a horse is hopping lame/being messed about it won't be allowed to continue.

I thought the riders drew lots for their horses though? Didn't realise that the Brits (good riders, I think) wouldn't be able to ride some of them, so do they have pools?
 
OOh very interesting thanks. My friend has grown up riding, her parents have horses, doing pony club and she point-to-points! She'll be a force to be reckoned with im sure!:D

I didnt realise some of the horses would be excluded for the british team though, i too was under the impression that the competitors drew lots (or something:o) for their mounts!:confused:
 
I'm pretty sure that at Beijing they did indeed draw lots.
I also ''think'' I've heard somewhere, that Hartpury are in charge of supplying the horses?? How true that is though, I don't know.
 
I really do hope it isn't like the disgusting spectacle in Hong Kong. I couldn't believe it when there were horses used again by other riders when obviously lame as a result of their 1st rounds. Know nothing about modern Pentathlon other than what disciplines are involved, but I think the same horses were used by maybe 3 or 4 different riders? I very much doubt I will watch the riding phase at this years Olympics, ok the husbandry of the horses will hopefully be much better but think it very unlikely the standard of riding will have improved enough to make it enjoyable to watch.
 
The general riding was so bad, I don't think there is any video evidence of the event now..
Good luck to the horses this year.
 
A friend is supplying 3 horses for this . All the horses have been trialed. More for honesty than ability. I dont think that one showjumping round ,even with a complete numpty could do anything like the damage that a hunter hireling has to face. This particular yard has been supplying horses for Modern Pentathlon ,for many years. I know that these horses will do their best to look after whoever is lucky enough to draw them. I wish them all well.
 
if i understood what went on in 2008....

the issue was not with monitoring so much

the issue was with the rules of MP

ie if they don't finish the round and exit on the horse they are eliminated from the whole competition

.. this led to more than one, obviously unsound horse,
being remounted and 'forced' to complete the course

apologies if that is not the correct interpretation of the rules,
but that was what was stated several times in the commentary

if it is true,
its the rules that need changing

i also cannot understand why these "riders"
are permitted to remount and continue after a fall

given the introduction of all of the
'H&S gone mad' into the other equestrian events
 
I watched one of the world tour type competitions recently and I think the top 3/4 got to pick their horse. The rest drew lots. There was one clear round in the jumping!
 
Elite sports horses is supplying them or so they say!!

Good luck with that as they could not find me a horse and had many problems with them!! :rolleyes:
 
I hadn't even thought about where the horses were coming from. I knew they were drawn for but just hadn't really occurred to me that someone would have to supply them.

I didn't see any of the MP at Beijing but will definitely be on the look out for any suspect behaviour this year!!
 
my friend was at the trials for elite sport horses when the people came to assess the horses. those that were presented ranged from a novicey 6 yo who was jumping discovery/1.05 at the time to a grade a 1.20m school mistress - the horse that the assessors liked the most was by no means the easiest, however he was the flashiest. my friend said that the grade or rideability of the horses wasnt really a factor - they were looking for big ones, small ones and some inbetween in order to cater for every rider. i'll be interested to see which horses they send, as i think their stallion was meant to be going... i shall definitely be watching!!
 
But if they draw lots and they have small, medium and large size horses, what happens if someone the size and stature of mark Todd gets a horse the size of Headley Brittania????
 
Ah, yes, the usual HHO mis-information-fest!
Firstly, LOCOG does not allow pentathalon suppliers to use their horse's selection for publicity purposes, so if Elite is doing this, they will get their wrist's slapped - usual LOCOG control freakery!

The horses have been chosen from a variety of locations. I know of 4 locally that have been selected. Not graded, but good jumper/schoolmasters of various types and sizes. There was a selection trial about 2 months ago.

One of the reasons LOCOG does not want publicity is to ensure riders don't sneak off to some yards and practice on selected horses, as this would be unfair.
In terms of on the day, my understanding is that riders do not get to choose but are supplied a suitable horse with a short period to get accustomed to it. Some of the horses selected will not compete, but will be used for riders to practice.
I would expect it to be very different from Beijing, where the problem was the lack of equestrian resources created real problems. There is quite an active pentathalon circuit in this country and a good pool of schoolmasters to choose from. Hopefully the competitors will get good practice sessions beforehand.
I will be going to watch the three I know in the women's final.
Mike 007, I suspect we know the same yard....
 
Well I know of one horse that is going, only because I know the breeder of the horse and they've been told. Sourcing suitable horses of a similar standard must be quite hard really, unless you get a bunch of hunt hirelings who are pretty much used to any sort of rider.
 
Samuelissimo said:
Ah, yes, the usual HHO mis-information-fest!
Firstly, LOCOG does not allow pentathalon suppliers to use their horse's selection for publicity purposes, so if Elite is doing this, they will get their wrist's slapped - usual LOCOG control freakery!

The horses have been chosen from a variety of locations. I know of 4 locally that have been selected. Not graded, but good jumper/schoolmasters of various types and sizes. There was a selection trial about 2 months ago.

One of the reasons LOCOG does not want publicity is to ensure riders don't sneak off to some yards and practice on selected horses, as this would be unfair.
QUOTE]

I could tell you somethings that would make your hair turn grey ( but i wont as i dont want to get band) The horse have more than likey come from
European Sports Horses, Carron Nicol Rumor Stud as thats where all her horses come from. ;)
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Oldenburg27 said:
Elite sports horses is supplying them or so they say!!

Good luck with that as they could not find me a horse and had many problems with them!! :rolleyes:
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Elite Sports Horses may be supplying some of them, but not all . . . an acquaintance of mine has had her mare selected - private home.

Have to say that having watched the debacle that was the men's showjumping phase in Hong Kong four years ago I wouldn't send them a seaside donkey. The quality of riding was appalling.

P
 
Elite must be providing some, and clearly arent worried about keeping it a secret - they have it on their website!!

I would imagine that even if the competitors know exactly which horses are selected, unless they get the chance to ride them, there isnt much advantage to be gained? but then i really dont know enough about it!!
 
“Panama Sports Horses UK will be providing horses to the London Olympic Games Modern Pentathlon Competition” This yard also provided horses for th 1952 Olympics.

Saw this when looking to book the gallops!
 
Samuelissimo said:
In terms of on the day, my understanding is that riders do not get to choose but are supplied a suitable horse with a short period to get accustomed to it.
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Horses are allocated based on a simple draw, nothing else.
Riders then have 20 minutes to warmup and are only allowed to jump a maximum of 5 practice jumps before competing on the course.

Now I dont know about you lot but if I was handed a totally strange horse that I knew nothing about, had just 20 mnutes and 5 jumps to work it out and then had to jump a 1.20mtr (foxhunter) course I dont thing my riding would look too great either. :o
 
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