Terrible biased reporting on Olympic Equestrian events.

Daily Express today had three large pictures of Charlotte and Valegro, one on the front page, and two big reports, one in the front half and one in the sport.
 
Hopefully the press have been taking heed of all the positive comments about equestrian sport. I have been posting on all the Guardian comments bits.
 
stencilface said:
Rowing is always well covered and popular. It's a prime toff sport and expensive too. My cousin just missed out on going this year.
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I think if you live near a rowing river or lake then it is cheap to join a club and get training. I have many friends and family members who row. It is not difficult to get into.
 
Biska said:
I think if you live near a rowing river or lake then it is cheap to join a club and get training. I have many friends and family members who row. It is not difficult to get into.
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Having seem some of the people my cousin (a boy from devon) hangs out with you won't convince me it's not posh I'm afraid! :)

Does anyone else think the tack rules are frankly ridiculous, surely having to have a curb rein when not needed is as archaic as tails and a hat made from velvet and cardboard, sorry top hat.
 
stencilface said:
Having seem some of the people my cousin (a boy from devon) hangs out with you won't convince me it's not posh I'm afraid! :)

Does anyone else think the tack rules are frankly ridiculous, surely having to have a curb rein when not needed is as archaic as tails and a hat made from velvet and cardboard, sorry top hat.
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I always dreamed of riding in TH&T but... if it meant I was seen as a toff, I would immediately bin them as toff I am not!

I agree that it needs updating... I mean we've been doing dressage for hundreds of years and since then our dress has also changed. I mean if it really was to stay "traditional" surely ladies really ought to be wearing bustles under their dresses and riding side-saddle. Or if we went back to the time of Socrates (according to article) maybe just a loin cloth?

I agree it needs to be smart but up to date and "accessible".
 
tallyho! said:
I always dreamed of riding in TH&T but... if it meant I was seen as a toff, I would immediately bin them as toff I am not!

I agree that it needs updating... I mean we've been doing dressage for hundreds of years and since then our dress has also changed. I mean if it really was to stay "traditional" surely ladies really ought to be wearing bustles under their dresses and riding side-saddle. Or if we went back to the time of Socrates (according to article) maybe just a loin cloth?

I agree it needs to be smart but up to date and "accessible".
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Indeed, and I'm sure that pratt Tucker was commentating just as irritatingly back then too!!
 
I doesn't help having articles like the Daily Mail one where in the first few paragraphs they mention that Valegro is a 6 million pound horse.

However I think some of the people who criticise the equine sports for being expensive especially at the top level may have forgotten that football traditionally seen as a working class sport has huge amounts of money put into it by the billionaires who own the clubs and the footballers themselves are paid masses of money. Often the clubs with the most money invested into them win.

I expect it is a lot cheaper to own a top dressage horse than it is to own a top football club!
 
SO1 said:
I expect it is a lot cheaper to own a top dressage horse than it is to own a top football club!
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Well obviously.

But buying a football to practice with to get noticed is a hell of a lot cheaper than buying or borrowing a horse to practice on to get noticed!
 
There are a combination of things that come together with dressage.

Dressage falls into the sports like gymnastics or Ice dancing in the winter olympics that are subjective in terms of judging and every so often someone brings this up and says it not a real sport.

It's seen as posh, it's not the only one, I've lived in a few coastal areas and the sailing lot are a lot posher than the horsey lot. I'm not sure what it costed to join the local yacht club but if it wasn't cost, there were cultural reasons why it wasn't representative of society. But it's easier to understand that the boat in front wins than comparing the quality of Valegros paces with another horse so people can get behind that easily when theirs a gb athlete doing well.

Lastly there's a lack of understanding that leads people to think that the horse does all the work.

Funnily enough it's possibly Charlotte's fiance that's helped the most as his sign and the upcoming marriage has given the newpapers a human interest story which has helped.
 
criso said:
Funnily enough it's possibly Charlotte's fiance that's helped the most as his sign and the upcoming marriage has given the newpapers a human interest story which has helped.
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I think that's a great point about having a human story. Look how much coverage William Fox-Pitt got, and it wasn't about him still not winning an individual or the sport, it was about the fact nine months ago he was in a coma.
 
Maybe the media could take a day off from stereotyping us and look at all the very ordinary working class and middle class people who have made tons of sacrifices and put in a lot of work and effort over the years to own a horse and compete or hunt
 
I, as a total 'love all thing horsey' freak, was totally turned off by the team show jumping. I thought the horses were asked too big questions, there was an awful lot of kick,pull,yank by the riders, fair enough a couple were pulled up for it, a lot of very unhappy horses who looked like they didnt want to be in there, but worst of all, the commentators kept saying xxxxx is leading after after 1st round, after 2 riders have gone etc, which was totally pointless as theres a discard score. So it isnt over till the last or possibly the third rider has gone. I turned it off, hardly watched any.. I hope the individuals are better.
 
Referring to mention of the press and the human aspect.
Yes they just love a story don't they? I know I would sell more paintings at my private view tonight if I put a sign up saying I had incurable cancer and I'm sure the press would have covered it too. I, like I imagine William as well, want to separate career stuff from illness or accident. The press are ghouls though, they love it. Why can't they just cover the sports?
 
Honeylight, I loved your post!
We must be the same age group. It used to be all about the horses in showjumping, I think thats why folks got behind it, horses were characters, admittedly so were some riders (eg top riders going into the ring in drag and jumping bareback) ah, those were the days!
The commentators, one in particular, must stop all this 'owned by Lady So and So' etc when referring to the horses. Who really cares? Lots of commentary make the sport sound more elitist than it is.
My opinion is that when you get to Olympic or just sub Olympic standard, whatever your sport, you need serious money as you have to give up your day job, if the Lottery or similar don't give you a grant, you are pretty much screwed. That said, I really think that lots of non horsey folk enjoy watching dressage without understanding all its technicalities....dancing horses, let's have more of them on TV,
 
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