Sneek peek at John Whitakers new ride

murphy123 said:
Just saw this - wow that pony can jump and it's only 6 is this video.

http://www.horseandcountry.tv/news/2012/01/24/video-john-whitaker-takes-new-ride


Is it me or our top horses getting younger?
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I think they're getting younger again. Twenty years ago they were this kind of age and finished by the time they were in their early teens but these days it seems they're bred to jump, carefully managed and with the advances in care and nutrition can go far quickly.

Europeans seem to have them at the top by 8 on a regular basis and I think we're just starting to see the same approach here.
 
I think a lot of it is to do with the professionals needing to buy and sell horses to make a living and as such they ' hurry' the horses along to see and demonstrate their potential. I remember one such person taking a new horse to a local show and he was riding in such a competitive way he forced the horse into 12 faults. It was a nice horse but at its level of experience it should be doing a nice confidence giving round IMO. These tend to be the ' jobbing' SJers who are not really at the top of the game and aren't too fussed at what happens to the horse once the sale is made.

I do think some of the top professionals like Nick Skelton do produce carefully, his top horses all deliver the goods. Others are known to be really strong at producing young horses ie Steven Franks and Stuart Harvey and they then get passed on to the top competitive riders who develop their international careers.

If I was in the market for a horse and I wanted it long term I would only buy a slowly / carefully produced horse whether thats from a professional or an amateur.
 
I wonder whether the Saudi's will take the ride back in December 2015, just before Rio Olympics? Brickfield Boy obviously wasn't good enough for them so he's been retired.

Cynical? Never
 
woodtiger said:
I wonder whether the Saudi's will take the ride back in December 2015, just before Rio Olympics? Brickfield Boy obviously wasn't good enough for them so he's been retired.

Cynical? Never
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Ha! Ha! Woodtiger - nail and head come to mind!!!! On the other hand a fantastic well done to Steve for producing the horse - even if it was taken from him - just like Bruce and Sultan!!!!!!
 
onceuponatime said:
Ha! Ha! Woodtiger - nail and head come to mind!!!! On the other hand a fantastic well done to Steve for producing the horse - even if it was taken from him - just like Bruce and Sultan!!!!!!
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This happens all the time in SJ'ing and all disciplines. With the best will in the world, Steven Franks doesn't have the resources to take this horse to the top...simply put the horse needs to jump internationally and someone like John W is the better person to do that as he jumps at more international shows and so has more opportunities to do so. At the end of the day, if it were your horse, who would you put it with? Same situation with Sultan....he's gone to the Saudi Team because he'll be a cert for the olympics...in the UK with Bruce he had little more than an outside chance. The kudos for OL of having one of their horses jump at the games is massive and over a few years could add up to £££ millions in extra revenue.
 
Do you really think Sultan will make the Saudi team? I would say that with the depth of horsepower they have been buying up recently (Talan, Caramelle to name but two recent purchases), along with Presley Boy and the Italian mare that did so well at WEG, he will be one of rather a large pool and isn't guaranteed a place.

I'm not saying that Bruce was a dead cert, but he was certainly in with a shout. Given the reactions in the media by both Bruce and Steve, I would hazard a geuss that the change in riders haven't been altogether expected. No-one likes being jocked off, and I agree that it isn't uncommon, but there are ways of doing that don't leave quite such a bitter taste.
 
I wasn't suggesting that either rider would be happy to lose the ride...simply that it isn't uncommon. If you don't own a share of what you ride then you are always going to be at the mercy of the owner.
 
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