olympic pentathlon

[helenhorse]

OMG did you see the men riding those poor horses?..i was gasping all the way through!! and then when the horse went lame it was used another 3 times in the womens competition..cruelty!! they didnt even show any concern the chineese.!

 

[Beanyowner]

There are a few threads relating to the Modern Pentathlon in the news section, New lounge and I think there was one in soapbox too.

 

[dixie]

There were quite alot of threads about this at the time. Most peoples reactions were as yours though - not a pretty sight and unfair to the poor horses.

 

[jumpthemoon]

It was a disgrace - apparently Clare Balding was interviewing the other day and she was asking why the mens standard was so much lower than the womens. My OH was watching and he doesn't know one end of the horse from the other but when they showed the clips he said he could see they were terrible.

 

[Beanyowner]

As I have said on previous threads...the GB riders done a good job. The horses were just as **** as the riders.

We are all horsey people...with a bit of common sense we all know that nervous riders under pressure plus nervous horse not trained properly equals NIGHTMARE!! Hence what we saw at the Olympics.

 

[xspiralx]

[ QUOTE ]
The horses were just as **** as the riders.

[/ QUOTE ]

I still think thats a really unfair comment. Not that many horses I know would even try to jump round a course that size being ridden the way they were.

Funny how the horses suddenly looked perfectly good when they had a decent rider on board...! I saw a lot of the horses help the riders out a lot, trying to jump the fence even when presented at it horribly and very unbalanced, which is more than you'd get from a lot of schoolmasters.

 

[Laafet]

Agre with you spiral, the clips that I saw on the BBC pages were of horses being galloped into the bottom of the fences, never a good way to try to jump over that height.

 

[Beanyowner]

Well I think its really unfair for everyone to say that ALL the pentathletes done a crap job of riding when our competitors stood out amoungst the crowd and done a really good job!!
I can't say a lot for the foreign riders as I totally agree some of them done a horrendous job which I personably beleive was due to poor and nervous riders on poor and nervous horses. Yes some horses were better than others the same as some riders better than others but you cannot take away the fact that these athletes are competing in 5 seperate events and most of them have not come from horsey backgrounds! I thinkwe can all agree that showjumping round a 1.20 course is not in any way easy especially on unknown, picked out a hat ex race horses who have been trained by chinese riders and are not seasoned, proven show jumpers which is what most penathletes are used to train and compete on!!

To be fair...how many horses 'that you know' are used for Pentathlon exactly?!? Do you know many seasoned, proven and graded showjumpers who go on to do other jobs if they can't jump the maximum heights required by actual sj'ers?!? In britain these are the types of horses that used...and the types of horses that are seen at the World Champs at Millfield etc...we all know the chinese are not exactly known for the proficiency in horse producing and equestrianism and these horse were all ex racers supposidly trained for the Olympics by chinese riders...as I said....they WERE NOT seasoned showjumpers which is what is normally expected for the pentathletes.

 

[duckling]

Ditto Spiral - the modern pentathlon showjumping in Athens 2004 was hardly better (I remember Claire Balding's comments at the time about the appalling standard of riding), and something really needs to be done to change the format or something. I think even on complete schoolmasters many of those riders would have struggled to get round.

 

[xspiralx]

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Well I think its really unfair for everyone to say that ALL the pentathletes done a crap job of riding when our competitors stood out amoungst the crowd and done a really good job!!

[/ QUOTE ]

Well I never said that, hence my comments about how the horses were fine with a decent rider on board - the women were generally far better than the men, and the girls from England seemed really competent to me.

As for your other comments, I don't know any modern pentathalon horses, but I do know plenty of good quality SJers and eventers that nobody on this board would call "sh*t" that wouldn't jump a stick on the ground if they were ridden the way those horses were by the majority of riders.

 

[helenhorse]

Id hate to ride the pentathlon horses, i bet they are spoilt to shreads after a days riding with those people/or certain pentathlon people. I did feel sorry for the horses more with the men because they used force, but saying that, some horses were really not co-operating at all, but infairness, most of them were saving those mens' arsses!! and they got them out of so much trouble, although 1 or 2 men didnt get out of itk, some were slammed on to the floor, and i dont disagree less with the horses. I think the modern pentathlon people should carry a certain degree of riding standards that show they are atleast intermediates!