Townend wins Kentucky ****

[Mooseontheloose]

Of course, but I think when the posts stray into the realms of personality rather than facts it can get very confused.
I'm sure there are a lot of posters who have very strong opinions who have absolutely no personal knowledge of OT at all but feel qualified to make some very strong comments about him personally. I think that's a mistake.
It then does become a witch hunt.
I don't have to like someone to decide whether or not I can appreciate their talent, whether an actor, musician, sportsman etc.
I think this takes the cult of celebrity and personality too far.
The facts are that to the perception of some (and I'm taking absolutely no sides here) and to the belief of the Ground Jury, he used his whip too often.
He has apologised.
He will lose lots of sponsorship.

I don't feel a dissection of his personality traits is useful now.

 

[Sophire]

Don't get me wrong, I don't condone the way Oli rode both of his horses in the last couple of minutes of his rounds at Badminton. I watched it live and didn't like what I was seeing, however, in the heat of the moment, in hot weather and holding ground, when you are going for the grand slam I can understand how the competitive instinct takes over.

What I feel slightly sad about is that nobody is even recognizing what he has achieved. He has had 4 horses placed in the top 10, including a win, at 4 star level in the space of 2 weeks. He rides and gets results from a huge variety of horses and has made a very nice living for himself out of it - that doesn't just happen...he is a horseman.

A lot of people would be surprised by what goes on in the background or at home with horses under professionals who are much more careful of how they come across in public - Oli wears his heart on his sleeve and what you see is what you get.

I don't particularly like him, but as someone else said, a lot of professional sports people are arrogant...as are a lot of the top horses....that's what makes them so good.

He rode 2 amazing XC rounds at kentucky - really filling the horses with confidence when both started out extremely green. A good blend of bold, attacking riding and encouragement along with regular praise and the horses confidence grew with each fence they jumped. It was great to see. He did ride like a man possessed at Badminton, but that is understandable, (even if not acceptable), given what was at stake.

I do feel a little sorry for him I have to admit. He had a ticking off from the ground jury at Badminton (yes, possibly not strong enough), he has the world and his wife on his case on social media, he has the BHS making a formal statement and getting on the FEI's case to punish him further and he is now losing sponsors.

I am just feeling a little sad for him that it is going on and on, when nobody is even recognizing what the man has achieved. Meanwhile he continues on the merry-go-round of producing his next generation at 3 separate events in 4/5 days (Aston le Walls/ Floors Castle/ Chatsworth).

Dons my tin hat and runs to hide behind the sofa...... ;-)

Please don't hide behind the sofa, I agree with every word.

 

[Mooseontheloose]

Is there room for another one? I'll bring the popcorn.....

 

[Fanatical]

Please don't hide behind the sofa, I agree with every word.

Glad I am not the only one!

 

[Mooseontheloose]

Probably a small profit to be made in tin hats and flak jackets bought in bulk! It's not that I approve or disapprove, I just think justice has been served and time to shut up.
The Daily **** is ringing his sponsors wondering why he hasn't been dropped - surely a step too far.
Some years ago when another of the top ten Badminton riders was starting out, we had a horse we knew we couldn't cope with and it was behaving very badly. (We know enough to know what we don't know!)
It went to said rider (not OT) for a very short space of time, minutes in fact, and got it's bottom soundly smacked.
It was transformed into a lovely horse who has gone on to do some pretty good stuff and is now a PC horse.
It did not get counselling and therapy, or a treatment from an animal behaviourist.
Said rider is now being lauded to the skies for their skillful and tactful riding. Good. They are brilliant but would not in the eyes of many be a saint!

 

[conniegirl]

Just to wade in, badminton is not the first time OT has been pulled up for this sort of behaviour, infact he has a rather substantial rap sheet of similar incidents, obviously the lesson was not learnt from previous ground jury ticking offs so why would he learn from this one?
If it takes a total loss of sponsorship and removal of several horses to drive the point home then I’m all for it, hopefully the lesson will sink home and he will come out the other side a better person.

I for one won’t be buying any products from his current sponsors!

 

[popsdosh]

It is indeed why some have horses that can and others well they never will . I do know though you dont ride round Badminton on a horse you are having to force to do it ,its like committing suicide.

 

[Mooseontheloose]

I do not think his horse finished any more tired than many, and indeed a lot less tired than some.

 

[Honey08]

No, his horse was fit and perfectly capable of finishing, just not comfortably without incurring time penalties, which wasn't good enough for Oli to win. The other horses that finished more tired weren't pushed as much to it. He wasn't forcing it, he was just pushing it a tad too far and thinking about his win more than the welfare. That's when it becomes ugly.

I saw a post on Facebook the other day from one of his owners (they didn't say they were, they just commented on a thread about the BHS comments) saying he loves his horses and this should be dropped. To be fair, their horse really did need riding very strongly when Oli took on the ride, and has done well since he took it).

 

[jhoward]

No, his horse was fit and perfectly capable of finishing, just not comfortably without incurring time penalties, which wasn't good enough for Oli to win. The other horses that finished more tired weren't pushed as much to it. He wasn't forcing it, he was just pushing it a tad too far and thinking about his win more than the welfare. That's when it becomes ugly.

I saw a post on Facebook the other day from one of his owners (they didn't say they were, they just commented on a thread about the BHS comments) saying he loves his horses and this should be dropped. To be fair, their horse really did need riding very strongly when Oli took on the ride, and has done well since he took it).

but hes been warned many times before, hes been slateed for his riding many times before, WHY then revert to old ways and risk losing so much. again... the guy is an ass.
he has brought a lot of attention to the sport for all the wrong reasons, people also need to realise that, here in the uk we dont get near enough coverage of our equine sports and his sort of of press coverage is not ever going to enchance any srt of promotion of the sport.

I do not doubt that actually abroad, hes riding is more accepted but the uk is full of fluffy bunnies and they just dont want to see tired horses flogged home.