Pony Trials

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gabanna

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Having read with interest and agreed with teddybrowns previous post and the follow up to it, I watched the show jumping at Lincoln PT today.There were a handful of well ridden rounds, but the majority made me quite relieved that I won't be there tomorrow to see them go XC! Has the standard become lower or has it always been this bad, as I have never really watched the ponies before until seeing them at Oasby then today.
 
I think the problem is that we have been very lucky with our previous PT riders. BE have been very short sighted in the fact that because they have had such talented jockeys, they've focussed on their current [well, last years] team and ensuring that they continue to get the fantastic results they've had. This means, IMHO they've not looked at future riders and put enough effort in to the "next generation" so as to speak. BE and spectators are now in shock, as we've been very lucky with the teams we've had and the training they've had, and suddenly we're faced with riders that haven't had the same privileges.
Gina Ruck, Althea Bleekman and the likes are a very hard act to follow.
 
don't forget that it is only the start of the season so they may be a bit rusty. By the end of the year I am sure the riding will be much better!
 
I watched hours of them doing dressage yesterday at Aldon. The parents were a nightmare!
I saw a lot of bad dressage but they had to do an intermediate test in sitting trot which is a fair ask anyway. A lot of the ponies looked over weight and I thought looked more WHP than eventer. There is a real gap between those that are good on their mini TBs and those that are being pushed.
My final thought is some of those 14.2hh looked much closer to 15hh!!
 
Our old pony was 15th out of 40 in her Pony Trials section at Lincoln today.
Very respectable dressage, clear XC with just 7 time faults and 2 down in the SJ.
The pony was completly new to eventing when we sold him to them and the young rider had never even competed BE before getting him.
So with that sort of result and being this early in the season I'm hoping the selectors will be open minded about new talent coming through on ponies that are far from 'ready made'.
I was also told that some of the SJ and XC were scary to watch !!
 
Have just been browsing through the results from Lincoln PT, the xc seems to have been better than at Oasby, but one rider managed to be comfortably in the time with 20 pen, which is quite a scary thought!! well done wonkey donkey, hope the rest of the season goes well for them.
 
There were actually more problems at Lincoln on xc than at oasby. By my reckoning 68% of those who ran xc at Oasby went clear. Only 57% went clear at Lincoln. Less ran at Lincoln, probably due to problems at Oasby, and several ponies who went clear at Oasby, had problems at Lincoln. If you didn't get round Oasby, there was no way you'd get round today.

20 pens and inside the time, I didn't even notice that on the results!!

Apparantly one child was ambulanced off - I do hope she is okay. I also hope that BE will take a more responsible role in monitoring how these trials are run. It seems clear that many of these children are not ready to ride these sorts of tracks, sj and xc.
 
I watched the pony trials this weekend at Lincoln with interest, and was astounded that most not all of these competitors who are the cream of the pony eventing crop could barely manage anything that resembled a decent show jumping round. Again some of the xc was also best described as dangerous. I think that the route to the pony trials is far too easy, I think there should be more assessment from BE and some of the children lower down the ranks riding responsibly and learning there craft correctly should be spotted early and nurtured and encouraged at a reasonable pace. Instead I think many parents think they can throw huge amounts of money at it buying the best ponies they can afford and rush there children to the top, who quite frankly are neither ready or capable. Having said all of the above I do however think that we should recognise and applaud the competent hard working young competitors who will shine above the rest, hard work and dedication do pay off.
 
I quite agree crackadoodle, I did nt see the xc at Lincoln, but the sj was overall poor. There were better performances from riders who had lesser known ponies than some who were riding animals who had been successful with a previous rider, which backs up the fact that they need the mileage build up before tackling these tracks. The show jumping was neither huge or technical, but you see much better riding at a run of the mill junior BSJA show than from these riders who as you say, are supposedly the top end of the pony eventers.Some children rode very well, but the thought of many of them going xc round anything other than a straightforward track is worrying. Apparently there was one bad fall, I hope the rider is ok, but it seems to be on the cards that there will be more accidents unless they slow down and become more aware of the skills involved in good xc riding. More emphasis should be placed on how to jump the fences, and less on achieving the time. As I said in a previous post, one rider was inside the time with 20pen, which makes you wonder just how fast she was going!
Sorry this is so long, I just think that there will be some bad falls unless some of the riders and parents are made more aware of the risks of riding so recklessly.
 
I was looking through the photos taken of the pony riders at a pony trial a week or two ago, this was on photo synergy. I was shocked at the showjumping- rider after rider after rider looked most uncomfortable not to mention the poor ponies! Also some TINY girls looking absolutely petrified on mega bucks ponies .They were far too small for them and should have been on 13 handers. I think this is wrong. In fact the only girl who looked good in that class was Ella McEwen on Catherston nightsafe- a true pro.
 
Ella McEwan rode another pony at Lincoln, and made a lovely job of it, she is a great jockey, but has had lots of experience without being pushed ,before her European team place last year. She must be a strong contender for this years team, but I think the selectors will have a harder job, as there is not the obvious talent and preparation that there has been in previous years. Gina, Althea, Libby etc may have had great ponies, but they were also incredibly profesional in their approach, and very educated riders.I doubt alot of the current crop will make the same transition to horses, which can be far less forgiving.
 
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