Where did EE go wrong in your opinion? if you thought it did!

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little_pink_piggies

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As title really, as I just thought the whole day was a bit of a "shambles"

Personally before today I could never understand why people were complaining that shortening the xc distances was a bad thing (muggins thought less distance, therefore horses coming home fitter!)

However what I saw today (not at all related to the accident at the end), was alot of horses not having time to think about what they had just been asked. (Stand By Me, Karin Donkers horse, and even Gandalf). They just seemed to not have got their thoughts together by the time the next question was asked... and it seemed to throw them a bit, and Im not really entirely sure that the ability to understand what theyve just been asked to do within a few seconds is the measure of a good horse. Yes, they have to do it sometimes, but for no more than half a dozen fences!

I suppose if you take it back to the fact that adrenalin takes blood away from the brain and diverts it to muscle, then horses need that bit more time to think about what theyve just done, and where theyve just put their legs!

Also thought the fact that the corner wasn't solid wasn't impressive, and also it had the same surface on it that the bank had, encouraging them to bank it... maybe if it was a brush corner it would have been better?

I dont know, and maybe my judgement of the day is clouded by what happened at the end... but I dont think its going to be the replacement or "fill the gap" that people thought... *prepares to be shot down*

On a brighter note i thought Lucy W rode the most fantastic round
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I didn't see any of it but will wait to pass judgement until I do, congratulations to Lucy W who I have to say had put a lot of effort into preparing for it, when I collected a horse from there last week she was doing all manner of things in practice in spite of it raining sleet and utterly unpleasant .. I chugged past in my cosy horsebox and thought "Whew, she looks determined!"
I do hope they don't abandon the concept, just ensure any hiccups are ironed out, and most things need tweaking when first mooted, I'm sure eventing proper didn't arrive at it's current format without lots of changes.
 
I did'nt go. But I just don't think XC indoors is a good idea - it goes against all the basic xc rules- ridding forward- jumping out of an established rythem. Trying to showjump over solid XC fences indoors is not what eventings about. I'm sorry to sound harsh, but after watching the Britsh Open xc/sj comp there were some really near misses. I'm just gutted for Mary shes done so much for the sport....
 
I feel so gutted for her, the look on her face when she realised was heartbreaking... it wasnt so much the rhythm and the big fences, for me it was that the horses didnt have enough time to gather their thoughts inbetween the fences, I wasnt enjoying before the accident.

Another thing was the bank, when mum used to run the BE event the course builder built the bank about 10 months before the event to allow turf/ground to settle, and to a bank that had only been built for 12 hours to hold after a potential 20 horses jump it is ridiculous IMO
 
I am in ignorance at the moment as I have not read what has happened but I remember when they tried a derby bank at either the Horse of the Year show or Olympia quite a few years ago and a horse died. They need to think very carefully about these things
 
funny, thats the first thing a very respected friend of mine said... marys accident happened at a corner style fence and there was only one fall at the bank, but only a handful of horses looked comfortable on it!
 
Sorry, don't know what you're all talking about. Obviously some sort of accident?
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Who was 1st/2nd/3rd and what went wrong????
 
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Sorry, don't know what you're all talking about. Obviously some sort of accident?
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Who was 1st/2nd/3rd and what went wrong????

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OT won but the whole thing's been marred by MK's Call Again Cavalier being put down as he broke a leg
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Oh and only 6 finishers out of 19 I believe.
 
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Sorry, don't know what you're all talking about. Obviously some sort of accident?
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Who was 1st/2nd/3rd and what went wrong????

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1st Oli T
2nd Lucy W
3rd WFP

Call Again Cavalier broke his leg and has been PTS
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I have no idea whats happened either???

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Mary and Cavvy had a fall at one of the xc fences today at EE .
He has broken his leg and been PTS
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i didn't watch it, but agree with the points above. they are basically asking a horse to do jump-off speed and intensity (i.e. a fence or turn every few strides) over complicated, confusing jumps (skinnies, corners, angles etc.) even top showjumpers aren't asked those kind of questions. it is nothing like xc, where you have at most 4 elements and then at least 100 yards as a breather for you to get back in a rhythm, give the horse a pat, prepare for the next fence etc (horse and you.)
i did one of these comps years ago on my very good mare (an ace xc horse) and she detested it, it completely blew her mind... and that was with no atmosphere, over an Intermediate sized course.
as already said, to hear of horses and riders of this calibre having such problems and eliminations is not good at all, quite apart from Cavvy's awful freak accident. RIP poor boy.
 
Im think a lot of it was to do wit there not seeming to be enough space for the horses to warm up, and not fully get their own and their riderd blood up !
 
I wasnt there but have had two phone calls now. One from someone who is an official at BE events and organises them. One from a professional event rider watching.

Both said it was an absolute utter disaster. No atmosphere, 7 horses completing, dressage scores meaning nothing, course too big, too techncial for where it was. These are absolute world class horses they shouldn't be doing it easily not getting eliminated. The fences were too big for the the size of the arena.

They said as an event you couldnt see how big the fences were anyway and with hardly any of the stands full there was little atmosphere and even less as more and more didnt finish.

Seems a tragic waste of Cavvy's life. He was a true olympic top class horse, what an awful awful way to finish his career. RIP Cavvy and my heart goes out to mary.

I am told Oli absolutely 100% deserved his win. He rode the fences like they were built to be rode at (as in if they were in a XC course) which meant the lack of space made it look scary but at least he got to each fence going.

I think it needs a line drawing through and never repeating. Makes me go all shivery thinking.
 
well the thing that struck me before today was the horses being used...i mean the comp is basically an eventers grandprix therefore more suited to the Tourmaline Rose types as opposed to 4* horses. tbh i would nearly put money to it that a showjumper with a bit of xc schooling would be much better suited to this type of technical jumping event than eventers.
 
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Both said it was an absolute utter disaster. No atmosphere, 7 horses completing, dressage scores meaning nothing, course too big, too techncial for where it was. These are absolute world class horses they shouldn't be doing it easily not getting eliminated. The fences were too big for the the size of the arena.

They said as an event you couldnt see how big the fences were anyway and with hardly any of the stands full there was little atmosphere and even less as more and more didnt finish.

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Agree completely .
I watched most of the XC phase from behind my hands .
Dressage was utterly confusing ??!? And it wasn't explained atall .

Complete disaster and as you said . A waste of a top horse .

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Ive just read the post in News and understand a bit more about it now! It makes me sick actually, eventing is dangerous enough as it is. Im just thinking of it in terms of Showjumping... In SJ the courses arent meant to be technical hence the fences can be knocked down, thats the point otherwise there wouldnt be a competition... how you can use the same format with solid fences is just incomprehensible IMO.
The reason I loath eventing, yes I loath it and I would NEVER take my horse BE is because even on an open XC course fences are getting too stuffy and too technical but like others have said at least you can gallop on in between and re-establish your forward rythm. You cant replicate that in an arena. Sounds awful!! Well done to Oli though for attacking it like he did, the only way to do it it seemed.
So sad
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. Im getting fed up with the wastage of amazing talented riders and horses in Eventing. Hardly any fences on a XC course resemble anything remotely natural anymore. Bring back steeplechasing, bring back big drops, hedges and ditches I say! get rid of the huge technical 'mushrooms', corners and skinnys, all they do is disrupt rythm, encourage the rider to 'showjump' solid fences and the horse to think backwards.
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It's not much use being clever after the event and £100,00 might change my mind but I know 100% that the concept would not suit my horse. He's an old-fashioned galloping type who gets put off in enclosed spaces (eg. SJ at Bishop Burton) and, clever though he is, would soon get disheartened by question after question off tight turns and short approaches. I guess there's plenty of similar horses eventing.

This is partly why I have decided not to do any JAS - just think his brain would blow faced with so many obstacles in an enclosed face and asked to jump them at speed.
 
firewell, eventing is still a great sport imho, i agree with some of your points about the courses getting over-technical though. i just feel that the true art of xc riding is being lost and this is why there are so many terrible accidents.
it sounds to me as if they got it very very badly wrong with today's course, with unpleasant consequences, but Cavvy's fall sounds as if it was a freak accident, the sort that some horses get up from fine, and some don't.
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If you look at my reply in the latest news post you'll see what a pro event rider thought of the course. Just to add about Gandalf - the corner after the bank was the same colour as the surface (I think I have that right) and the horses seemed to think they had to bank it as well - hence Gandalf landing on the middle and breaking it.
 
For my the venture epitamizes what is wrong with BE xcountry these days with courses seeming to be designed to trick horses rather than incourage them. There is nothing wrong with straight forward or horses actually completing.
Today obviously tricked the riders as well so the poor horses had no hope. RIP Cavie
 
What is the arrangement to put a horse down in these indoor arenas? In racing and eventing I believe they are usually put down where they have the accident and not asked to load into a trailer, if it is obvious that the leg is broken.This seems to be impossible in an indoor arena.
 
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Both said it was an absolute utter disaster. No atmosphere, 7 horses completing, dressage scores meaning nothing, course too big, too techncial for where it was. These are absolute world class horses they shouldn't be doing it easily not getting eliminated. The fences were too big for the the size of the arena.

They said as an event you couldnt see how big the fences were anyway and with hardly any of the stands full there was little atmosphere and even less as more and more didnt finish.

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Agree completely .
I watched most of the XC phase from behind my hands .
Dressage was utterly confusing ??!? And it wasn't explained atall .

Complete disaster and as you said . A waste of a top horse .

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Lisa mirrored exactly this
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