Poor Laura B

[Dovorian]

To make an error like that, the bell being rung must have made her feel utterly awful, but what a rider to get it back together.

Although not a top score, certainly top potential surely?

 

[haybales]

i think she did fantastically well just to hold him together, it must be like riding a volcano!

 

[BBH]

She did a fabulous job under loads of pressure, he is an awesome horse but what a lot to contain when he's not relaxed.

Definately ones for the future.

 

[Dovorian]

He looked to be coping better than Anky's horse, that was lathered! I have huge admiration for Laura now, how many riders could have recovered form an arror whilst ridiing so sensitively?

 

[AutumnRose]

So where does that put us as a team? Is it impossible to get a medal? and where is Emma at the moment? Sorry for all the questions..........

 

[kizzywiz]

I've missed it all, whats happened??

 

[jules89]

yeah. hes soo good shame he got tense. but i thought some of her judging was a bit harsh. (not that im a pure dressage pro)
but to go wrong in an olympic test...

 

[Faithkat]

she missed a movement - one of the passages

 

[Halfstep]

I think she might have not "gone wrong" but actually couldn't get him back for the transition to passage......

 

[jules89]

agreed halfstep he looked way too strong to have done a passage!
from the BBC:

"More from the dressage. Laura Bechtolsheimer and Mistral Hojris scored 65.917% which was enough to put Britain third in the team standings BUT Isabell Werth is still to perform for Germany, the gold medal favourites. "It was one of those days," says Bechtolsheimer. "He (Mistral Hojris) offered me everything but I didn't hold it together." It certainly has been one of those days..."

unfortunately "one of those days" was the olympic day, one of the most important in her life..

 

[Rambo]

Whilst I sympathise with Laura and the rest of Team GBR..and can clearly see the enormous potential (can a 13yo horse still have 'potential

) that Mistral Hojris has...I do think the judges must have been blinded by the pound signs in fron of their eyes

They made a huge mistake at the beginning...and for the rest of the test after that Laura looked like she was barely in control of the horse...let alone doing a decent test. Yes, the extended trots were good...but everything else was pretty poor. How on earth did that test warrant nearly 66% when other who had gone before on less flashy horses but that had performed every movement accurately and tidily were getting less

This isn't meant as a dig btw...more the reason I don't do dressage...it's too bl**dy complicated

 

[BBH]

I do think she did really well under that amount of pressure to compose herself after the initial gaff and carry on, he is clearly not an easy horse to ride and I think others may well have retired but to her credit she got on with the job, albeit not at their best.

Its interesting about the 'pound signs' cos I often wonder about anky and isabelle in that it would be too controversial to not have one of them at the top of the tree. I saw Anky at Olympia and TBH she didn't blow me away, whereas today I saw some wonderful combinations.

PS i'm prob blind cos i'm really not into dressage. At least in SJ you either lower a pole or you don't.

 

[SunshineTallulah]

Laura has another chance yet.

I believe we are in 4th team position at the mo

 

[mickey]

QR: So did she actually forget the test or was unable to perform the movement???

 

[ecrozier]

How does the team medals etc work? Is it decided today or do they all go again and medals decided after second test?

 

[SunshineTallulah]

I think she forgot to do a movement and then got buzzed and had to stop and then perform it - I think!

EC - not sure how it all works!

IW just did a nice test - got a 10 for one of her half passes.

 

[Weezy]

Britain are in 5th.

 

[lucretia]

she will have another chance in the special

 

[H-J]

is there anywhere i can watch emma's & laura's tests online??

 

[Jo C]

The BBC have Laura's test as one of their highlights but I haven't found Emma's test yet.

 

[MooMoo]

[ QUOTE ]
I think she forgot to do a movement and then got buzzed and had to stop and then perform it - I think!


[/ QUOTE ]

she missed a passage, not sure if she just skipped it or did it after the bell thingy.

 

[michaelj]

watched that, she looked happy even after it! Its all about having fun!

 

[trendybraincell]

I think she did a bloody good job of keeping him together. Such a shame she went wrong/missed movement, unless I am mistaken that resulted in a lose of 10 points, I wonder how that would have changed things?!

Surely a pair to watch, for their first olympics I loved watching, and hope to be able to continue watching them develop as a team. I reckon if she can calm him down and harness the power that horse has they could produce a phenomenonal test.

I love his extended trot, and his half-passes looked wonderful.

 

[Puppy]

QR - I'm not at all a dressage follower (to say the v least

) But please could someone tell me how old Laura is?

She looked v young for someone with such a handful of a horse - which I thought she handled well. Shame she couldn't/didn't make that move, but aside/following from that I thought she rode admirably

Will they be around as a partnership for 2012?

 

[GinaB]

http://www.olympics.org.uk/beijing2008/AthleteProfile.aspx?id=6741

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