What do you think of the riding currently on Olympia?

Vikki89

Vikki89

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Personally i am not enjoying it, to be specific i am talking about the people from Ukrain (not sure on spelling) riding, the hanging off horses, sitting on necks and standing behind the saddle.

Thoughts?
 
i think its ace, im more disgusted by the sack of potatoes in the form of showjumpers, they are all over the place, pulling mouths and bouncing up and down.
 
Do you mean the Cossacks? We went up there on Sunday and their display was bloody scary! First one of the riders fell off and the other Cossacks tried to catch his horse but it turned around and started galloping back the other way straight into the path of another galloping horse with a Cossack hanging off the side!:eek:

Then one of the girl Cossack's horses got entangled in the tape around the arena and somersaulted, seeming to land on top of her. Thankfully she seemed to be unscathed. And then for the climax of their display they tried to form a human pyramid but they fell off several times before they succeeded!

We were sitting just in front of the commentary box, and could overhear a lot of the off-air comments of the commentators - one remarked it was no wonder that the Cossacks were having a bad day, as they had all been up until 6am that morning!:rolleyes:
 
I am watching it on red button, at first I thought oh wow then found it quite repetative. I may be wrong but i thought it would be bad for the horses backs standing behind the saddle.

TGM - yes i do mean the cossacks sorry couldn't remember what they were called, A few of them came off tonight aswell.
 
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I don't have issues with any of the riding, it differs depending on discipline. The cossacks were pretty funny, I wondered if the palomino one was new as it just seem to head off towards the tapes all the time. Thing is with horses, things can and do go wrong - that's what happens. I don't think the way the cossacks were throwing themselves about the horses was bad - They will be generally pretty lightweight, very balanced and aware of the centre of gravity. None of the horses looked like they were poorly muscled so i presume they are ok with it.

As for the showjumpers - I wish I rode as 'badly' as them!!
 
Oh and the GP is on BBC red button now but I am not sure if on freeview? It is also on British eurosport.
 
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When the man flipped under the horses stomach did anybody else think he got stuck? I remember seeing them another time and when they flipped under it was very quick and he was taking his time! My heart was in my mouth I thought he was going to be trampled :/
 
I went on sat aftenoon and tought it was great- I'm not going to moan as I can't crit those with horsemanship skills far better than mine- the jumping was awesome- esp the Masters. The cossacks were great- I'm unrainian and believe me these guys are better on theor home turf but the area was 'small' for the usual 'show' I loved it all- the only bit I didn't enjoy so much was the shopping- too much tat on offer.
 
I thought it was far far faaaaarrrr worse than I could possibly do.

Yep, thinking I might do me own show next year and show those smug uppity holier than thou megalomaniacs how a show should be done...

Wanna join???


:D
 
Overall, fantastic. I was there on saturday and was so impressed by the wonderful displays of horsemanship in all disciplines.
 
I'm with you tallyhohoho - reckon I'll have my (what'll then be) a 2 and a bit yr old trained for cossack styley action by this time next year!!!!
 
ladyt25 said:
I wondered if the palomino one was new as it just seem to head off towards the tapes all the time.
Click to expand...

I have a feeling the palomino, grey and blonde female rider are all new to displays. Watched them on the red button tonight and loved it, like normal! Wish they would come back to the Royal Welsh! Nice big ring for them to play in.
 
I think it was a big waste of hard-earned money.

HOYS....... I'm coming back baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Kokopelli said:
When the man flipped under the horses stomach did anybody else think he got stuck? I remember seeing them another time and when they flipped under it was very quick and he was taking his time! My heart was in my mouth I thought he was going to be trampled :/
Click to expand...

I think it looked like he got kicked a few times, remember mum saying they must get alot of bruises doing that.
I don't know anything about cossack riding, haven't seen it before either, thats just what I thought from watching it last night.
 
Bloody incredible! had my heart in my mouth a few times with the cassocks (would like to pinch their gorgeous grey!). They must be very balanced I think as the horses stride continued just the same regardless of the scary things the riders were doing! Household caverlry - just wow! Simply amazing and took my breathaway! Showjumping classes were really ace too, ok some some of the riders aren't 'BHS' perfect, but quite frankly if you can pop around 1.60m fences clear and make it look like a walk in the park, then you must be doing something right!!
Agree with the shopping comments though, some proper crap for sale, if I wanted to browse pound shop quality flourcescent socks etc then I wouldn't spend £50 on a ticket!! Olympia is the horsey highlight of my year, but I really think they should work on attracting more high quality stands. I don't meant top of the range/super expensive stuff, just not cheap plastic tat and dodgy sparkly clothes!!
 
I didnt like the Ukranian lot either when I watched it last night on red button. They fell off the palomino anyway. Horses dont seem like they enjoy it much and I dont really think they look like particularily good 'riders', they just have good acrobatic skills.
 
I was there on Monday night. Loved it all but was disappointed by the household cavalry when one of the horses was lying on the ground it wanted to get up. It's rider was physically wrestling with it to keep it down. Eventually he realised he could not hold it down and let it back up. Think I must be the only person in the room that noticed it as I refused to clap this behaviour.
 
I didn't really like the cossacks, they kept whipping the palomino to make it keep galloping around.
I liked the cavalry a lot :D they were absolutely brilliant. The drum horse was pretty cool ;D
The showjumping was good too, though felt for Ellen Whitaker when she jumped the wrong fence! Something I would do :P
Absolutely brilliant night last night & it's been interesting watching on tv.
 
I was there on Saturday afternoon too - didn't mind the cossacks as there are far worse things that can happen to horses than stunt riders climbing on them. The riders were patting the horses to say thanks and the grey managed to get away from his rider that day, and the horses have to be fit and well looked after. The cavalry brought tears to my eyes when they galloped out of the arena flying the flags to the national anthem, thought it was superb. Re the horse wanting to get up - it is supposed to do what its rider asks it to do - if your horse threw a fit about something while you were schooling it, would you correct it or would you let the horse get on with it?

I also loved watching the Masters - Guy Williams jumped first in what the commentators said was a very fast round and they said it would be difficult for anyone to beat him - they progressively did and Laura Renwicks round on Oz De Breve was simply electric! It was my first Olympia and I'd definately go back but I have to agree about the shopping. I don't think it helped that I don't have a horse to buy anything for, but I needed new jods and my sister wanted a body protector but we couldnt find anything reasonably priced! Its definately different being there than watching it on tv, I thought Geoff Billington and Mike Tucker were funny together and you don't get any of the little anecdotes or talking with the riders when you watch it on tv so I think you miss out, even though you might see a little bit more of the action
 
If i was schooling a horse I would hope to be professional enough to not have to forse it into submission. The horse was being forced down buy the man wrestling with it almost. forcing its neck down. I believe this is totally unacceptable sorry if i offend.
 
I saw the cossacks at a display at a county show in the summer and they were MUCH better there than at Olympia. Not sure if it was the same people or not, I dont know how many Ukranian Cossack display groups there are :D But at the county show they had the use of the huge main ring and the horses seemed much more settled there than at Olympia, but i enjoyed watching it, its nice to see something different :)
 
what a lot of nit picking. I love Olympia, it means Christmas to me and a whole load of children and adults, also its shown on TV so means more people get to enjoy what we enjoy.

Instead of whinging into cyberspace about the things that you dont agree with why cant you talk up the points you enjoyed? maybe you had a giggle at the shetlands or kept bumping into Robert Smith shopping?

:D:D
 
How I tire of those people who can only whine about things they 'assume' are bad and evil.

As the above poster said, focus on the good parts!

Horses are horses, sometimes they don't want to play...and the horse in question WILL undergo more training to make it easier on both the horse AND rider......

Things happen. Horses bring down fences while jumping, Ellen W went the wrong way.....a cavalry horse did not want to lie down that day....

Is it such a big deal?
 
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I didn't manage to watch the Monday evening performance as it wouldn't let me watch it on Freeview. :( I did watch the Show Jumping on Saturday and Sunday though. The puissance was fantastic and Ellen Whitaker and Tina Fletcher both looked to be riding very quirky horses and they both rode them fabulously. I never get tired of watching Ladina B ... she is very entertaining! As for the Grand Prix, the standard of riding was very high and there was quite a lot in the jump off. Michael Whitaker and GIG Amai jumped a super fast round in the jump off and fully deserved to win.
 
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