Pentathlon rant and reporters views....

OK - let's have a look at this. A horse rears in the collecting ring, injuring its rider to the point that he's forced to withdraw from the Olympics. There are reserve horses available, but instead of withdrawing the horse in question, the organisers and the next rider decide to continue to use him for the competition.

Not very likely, imo.

I haven't seen anything to indicate that the horse had previously reared or misbehaved. The only reports I've been able to find state that the chinese rider fell off and injured his back.

If I'm wrong, I apologise unreservedly, but it doesn't ring true for me.
 
I do have to say that it looked to me that the horse had flipped itself over far too quickly for it to only be because of the rider even though I know the rider didn't help the situation. It looked like it was a learned habit, the fall was far too quick and the horse didn't seem to try to save itself which is normal for a horse that's being pulled backwards, soft mouth or not.
 
ReefingsDad said:
OK - let's have a look at this. A horse rears in the collecting ring, injuring its rider to the point that he's forced to withdraw from the Olympics. There are reserve horses available, but instead of withdrawing the horse in question, the organisers and the next rider decide to continue to use him for the competition.

Not very likely, imo.

I haven't seen anything to indicate that the horse had previously reared or misbehaved. The only reports I've been able to find state that the chinese rider fell off and injured his back.

If I'm wrong, I apologise unreservedly, but it doesn't ring true for me.
Click to expand...

It was posted by someone on here who had been at Greenwich on the day, on a thread that was started in new lounge entitled 'men's modern pentathlon' (or words to that effect).

I'm just reading through the rules to see what it says about asking for a reserve horse...
 
ReefingsDad said:
OK - let's have a look at this. A horse rears in the collecting ring, injuring its rider to the point that he's forced to withdraw from the Olympics. There are reserve horses available, but instead of withdrawing the horse in question, the organisers and the next rider decide to continue to use him for the competition.

Not very likely, imo.

I haven't seen anything to indicate that the horse had previously reared or misbehaved. The only reports I've been able to find state that the chinese rider fell off and injured his back.
Click to expand...

Well tbh, if that horse's response to being driven on and hung on to at the same time, by a rider with terrible hands, is to rear to escape the pressure, its entirely conceivable it happened twice, likely even considering the overall riding standard. What's to say the Chinese bloke was any better balanced or had any better hands? That doesn't make it a bad horse, just not a mug, and a rider ought to be able to ride it.
 
Found it.

All I can say is "Wow!".

Can't believe they'd be so dumb as to do that. If I'd seen a horse do that to another rider, there's no way I'd get on to jump a round of showjumps. If I was the organiser, I wouldn't want the potential lawsuit for using a dodgy horse. if I was the owner, I'd pull my horse out before more damage was done. Bizarre decision, that makes me even more convinced that unless they're going to take the riding more seriously, it should be taken out of the competition.

I used to deal with "problem" horses when I was younger (although "problem" OWNERS was usually more accurate), and dealing with horses that reared was usually done without a saddle. Those were the days when I was worth less than the horse... :-P
 
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