WFP Column in H&H this week

weevil

weevil

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Is it just me or did anyone else find WFP's comments in his column that as only 21 of the 55 who ran were from the "home side" then the public knew nothing about half the field quite insulting. Admittedly, those that went hoping to see Zara Phillips, Mary King - and of ourse WFP would have been disappointed but to imply that we wouldn't know anything about such riders as Clayton Fredericks, Matt Ryan, Andrew Nicholson, Nicholas Touzaint, Kim Severson etc seems a tad arrogant.
Yes, the crowd did seem a little more subdued then usual but from what I heard this was more to do with the fact that the withdrawals meant that there were periods of time with no-one on the course rather then disappointment at not seeing particular riders.
Even without some of the top British riders this was still a high quality field and a worthy winner, though I also found his comments about Lucinda's win a little bizarre - nothing like damming with faint praise
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His whole article read in quite an arrogant "I know everything and the general public know nothing" type way.

And I wasn't even there!!!
 
LOL.
TBH I never go to cross country just to see one particular rider as I can usually guarantee that the one person I really want to see will fall at the previous fence
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I don't think the atmosphere this year was as good as last year, but that was more because of all the withdrawals, and not just because of the lack of WFP. There were still several British riders for the crowd to cheer on
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Agreed. I can honestly say I didn't even really notice the absence of the 'top names' other than the large gaps which the commentators tried desperately to fill.
 
I think you should write into the editor!

We seem to be on a roll with getting HHO members' letters printed and I totally agree with you.
 
He always was an arrogant little blighter!

I thought his comments about the ceremonial burning of wooden flags particularly annoying and a bit hysterical or am I alone in thinking that?.
Yes, it was a terrible thing to happen to a wonderful horse, any horse for that matter, but it was a complete freaky accident because the horse actually jumped over the flag and not the proper fence and it just happened to happen in front of a large audience. How long have there been wooden flag stakes on jumps everywhere, how many people have jumped those fences and how many have been used over the past years without incident? I don't think I heard him complaining about them the week before the accident or ever before about them, it's not like there's been a massive campaign to get rid of them before this or has H & H missed it? It's like saying you mustn't use cars cos they run over people, a bit unrealistic IMO. No doubt the lovely health and safety will pick up on it soon though and cause more mayhem for everyone involved in organising any event or show.
 
Agree about the flag comments as well. How many horse knocked flags at Badminton this year alone? On the BBC coverage there was even a clip of Lucinda Green at the Vicarage Vee (I think) showing how the flag was attached by velcro to make it safer for the riders if they knocked it - to save their kneecaps or similar.
 
Didn't the flag in Huntsman's Hollow keep flying off from the velcro too, know I saw it happen a few times at various places?!

Snap Weez, must admit I skimmed through it after finding the flag bit, just annoyed me too much!
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Yes, it was a terrible thing to happen to a wonderful horse, any horse for that matter, but it was a complete freaky accident because the horse actually jumped over the flag and not the proper fence

[/ QUOTE ]
Quite. Are we also going to get rid of poles and wings in the showjumping in case a horse accidentally ploughs through the fence and injures itself.
 
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