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lucretia

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reading the ther thread re nicholas touzaint, dieseldog, blackeventer, magsmum kenrehill and those with similar thoughts well said. As for the rest of you, get a grip. Dropping the horse after the XC (at athens actuallythe santimonious should get their facts right) was not the best idea ever but perhaps those of you slating Nico should remember that NONE of the luminaries you are pointing out as examples won TWO european champions chips, TWO four stars, an olympic gold team medal and god knows what else by the time they were 27. None of them were so overcome with emotion as nico blubbering away on national tv with his arms around the neck of a horse he clearly adores.
yes he shot round the ring like a nutter but isnt it great to see someone who wins so much so often still thrilled to win our top event.
as for gonetofrance's comments you ought to wash your mouth out with soap at the very least. I have beeen privileged to be present at a great deal ofevents graced by the presence of a young man who rides like an angel even if he does get carried away by the moment. the fact that he has got galan back on the road shows a certain maturity though, he could have rushed it back for WEG but took his time and the horse will no doubt collect the gold it should have won in athens in hong kong.
Peoiple are entitled to their opinions but if they want to make such idiot remarks about someone who is clearly one of the finest eventers we have been priviledged to see EVER, they only make themselves look dumb.
 
i stand by my comments. i take nothing away from his achievements, i wish i could ride like that, but i will continue to detest the way he celebrates - it sets a terrible example first of all, and it shows no consideration for a tired horse that has just given him its all.
 
Just wanted to say well said. Don't know enough about this guy to comment on how he rode but found his emotion at winning and the way he praised his horse in his interview, bit garbled but something on the lines of how people had written this horse off, quite moving and nice to see.
 
I have absolutely no intention of washing my mouth out with soap, lucretia. I am as entitled to my opinions as anybody, and the riding performances of his that I have seen at events are rough and unattractive, and the horse rarely receives any of the credit.

I take it you know him, ( your calling him 'nico') s0 perhaps that is why you are defending him.

I judge what I see without bias.

As far as riding like an angel goes, I'd get your eyes tested.... the hero worship is distorting your vision....
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At the end of the day, he risked his horse unnecessarily. You can choose, to either ride to a contact and let your horse come back to a steady canter or trot quietly, or you can choose to throw your reins away and risk it's legs.

It was a choice he made, and not one which I think sets much of an example.
 
I didn't see any of the Badminton coverage, so I won't comment on his celebrating, but in an age when so many of us bemoan the health and safety culture stifling our Pony Clubs, and meaning children never get to ride bareback/stirrupless/standing on their heads isn't it good to see someone under 30 who can ride with no reins?!

In the same vein the CCIP that was running alongside the CCI I was at at the weekend had some uber-duber ponies in it worth 5 or 6 figures, and I saw several kids sat hatless on their ponies with no more than a headcoller, no harm came to any of them and there were some inspiring performances of these athletes.
 
Despite me hating the fact he dropped his reins and b*ggered off round the arena at full pelt, which I dont agree with, I thought his emotion at the end was really nice. He won fair and square and was obviously overwhelmed by it all. Found it a bit funny snogging his gf in front of the cameras but then again France is supposed to be home to a lot of romantics!!
 
To be honest it never crossed my mind to berate him for celebrating. I only saw a man fully overcome with delight at winning, and a 4* fit horse that opened up and made me smile.
It is so refreshing to see a genuine celebration of a victory. The British are far to dull sometimes.
 
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well said x

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Me too! I was there and the horse loved his lap of honour and moment of glory, and both horse and rider fully deserved it IMO. After all it's not every day you win Badminton! Why is everyone so uptight these days?!!
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Oh honestly, I've read through the entire debate on the other thread and I do think I've never read anything so stupid in my entire life...!
Here's a link to a photo from eventriders.com
http://www.eventriders.com/
Doesn't look to me like the horse has been 'dropped' or had the reins thrown at him, or look uncomfortable for that matter - he's cantering in perfectly good balance with his ears pricked.
And for what it's worth, the arena was not boggy, he wasn't out of control, the horse was perfectly happy as far as I could see and he wasn't ever remotely in danger of running into anyone. I should know, as I was sitting in the 3rd row... And it's not like the Badminton arena is a postage stamp is it, hardly any tight turns required! In fact galloping around the arena requires a considerably less tight turn that the final turn into the last fence at the finish -when the horses will be much more tired than after a round of SJ on the Sunday. Quite honestly if a horse has to be ridden on a perfect contact all the time in order to carry itself or not be at risk from falling over or injuring itself, then a) most of the horses in the world would be injured and b) it would never have got to 4 star level in the first place.
So can we please now all obtain a bit of common sense and drop this entirely pointless debate? Let's just give the man credit for winning the world's most prestigious three day event instead of having a go at him over what is, IMO, a very trivial issue.
 
Well said donadea! Agree with your comment about the arena size as well - I would have thought a horse would be able to gallop round for 20 seconds without falling over in that size arena, tbh
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I didn't watch it
I didn't read the other thread
I am British
and I think that some folk are just peeved that it wasn't a Brit that won it.
Its a band wagon that everyone jumps on "oh, look what they are saying such and such did, look whos saying it, it must be bad so we shall join them and their camp"

If the horse didn't want to go , it wouldn't have! I know mine can go like [****] off a shovel even after a 3hour hack with 30 mins of fast jumping in the middle.

Surely these eventing horses should be to hunting fitness levels, and so a short blast is nothing after a round of jumps.
 
Totally agree! That picture shows a horse that is happy and balanced and thoroughly enjoying himself.

As for the comments about how the horse was tired and should have been quietly pulled up, who wins badminton and doesn't have a victory gallop? The horse was clearly happy to go - I think all the critical comments are just sour grapes to be honest.
 
Thank god for that doneda, one of the most sensible posts of the day.
This forum makes me laugh and grimace sometimes!
 
another fan of donadea's post. I wasn't there I haven't seen a video but what is the world coming to when people think a horse of that standard has to have a contact to be able to stay upright and balanced enough not to fall over!
 
I was also in the third row!!!! All I could think about when Nicholas was galloping around the ring was how amazing he must feel, I was almost in tears myself. These riders take their lives into their hands every time they event, Im sure that a victory gallop in completely safe surroundings is nothing to a rider of his calibre. I call it something like sour grapes
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And yet another fan of donadea's post!
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I thought he thoroughly deserved to win. Getting that horse around the show jumping with only 4 faults was bloody good riding.
I actually thought his riding in all the disciplines had improved hugely. He has obviously been putting in some serious hard work.
 
I think there is a huge difference in dropping the reins after a XC round and a show jumping one.
A horse is tired after XC and needs the rider to bring it to a balanced walk, but the SJ is something quite different.
So what he went "Yahoo!" that horse didn't look at all tired to me, in fact it looked really fit and well.
I don't think he did anything wrong in his victory round, how many top professional SJ have you seen do the same after the Derby at Hickstead? Loads....
Sometimes I think we can all be a bit too judgemental.
 
Saw him take this horse beautifully over the tricky corner at Huntsmans Close, and then saw a replay of his round on the big screen later on .. he's a superb horseman, and really nursed his horse home on the last stretch when it was (like most of the others) very obviously tired. There were one or two other competitors who were riding their horses very aggressively even in the final stretch, and I think that you could see the results the following day in the showjumping. (Tired horses who could scarecely get their front legs off the ground)

I happened to be sitting next to a large French contingent, and it was lovely to see their joy and to be included in it as Nicolas galloped round the arena. I got kissed on both cheeks - now there's something that wouldn't happen for a British victor!
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Totally agree with donadea, the horse was loving it and quite frankly if it can't gallop around there without a contact it shouldn't be eventing!!
 
The end does not justify the means.
Rapping can produce careful horses. Who says we should all support them.
I am entitled to my opinion as you are to yours, so maybe you should get a grip and be more adult, accepting that opinions differ.
 
I've said it in the other post but I'll say it again seeing as this debate is still carrying on - I saw him as he came over the last fence and started to gallop around, and I don't care of this makes me sound like a nutter but I choked up!
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yes he rode on a light contact, but he didn't totally drop the horse and he was loving it
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I think it was nice to have a victory gallop, and why shouldn't he, he had just won!
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His horse was in balance and loved it - I think people should just give the man a break
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Bit late getting involved now, but well said Lucreita, esp. about his maturity in slowly bringing Galen back.

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i stand by my comments. i take nothing away from his achievements, i wish i could ride like that, but i will continue to detest the way he celebrates - it sets a terrible example first of all, and it shows no consideration for a tired horse that has just given him its all.

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Firstly, while personally I wouldnt choose to celebrate in that way, it doesnt set a bad example. To the mainstream public, who are the most important people, an emotional winner and a lengthy celebration is the highlight of the event - someone they feel able to connect with and enjoy watching. It makes the winner look down to earth and hopefully eliminates the elitest toff appearance eventing is portrayed as having.

Secondly, consideration of a tired horse... in theory a valid point, but realistically what difference is two laps of the arena going to make after a 4 1/2 mile course. The horse new he was a star and was absorbing the atmosphere. In reality, he looked the happiest horse of the day during that moment.

I can't believe that people are berating the dual european champion and true inspiration in the sport.

Next on here there will be complaints about the creulty of riders who ask there horses for a long stride xc and are therefore "deliberating subjecting their horse's stifles to damage."
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What is saddest is that there has been little talk on here about the current state of eventing, particularly over the pond where the sport is in an utter crisis. I wonder who many people are aware about the current stories being run in the New York Times about the lethal dangers of eventing and rallying for a ban. Eventing is being dragged through the mud, hence why it is so ironic that during one of the finest hours for the sport (Badminton 08) some people are more focused on trying to criticise an ambassador for the sport.
 
Correct me if I am wrong here, but is Badders run over a shortened format? If so, his horse hadn't done as much as previous years entrants used to yet was probably fit enough to have done. All other comments and facts aside, the horse should have been OK to do a bit of a gallop after winning!

ETS I also think the horse looked in balance.
 
it wasn't the gallop i object too, nor do i think a horse will fall over if you let go of the reins (as someone on here has implied), but i have watched the youtube vid again and he definitely drops both reins a few strides after the last sj and punches the air with both hands. that's dropping the horse, and i don't agree with it, and never will.
i am not anti-him, or anti-french, and take nothing away from his victory.
life'slemons, there has been plenty of discussion on here about the current state of eventing etc, perhaps you missed the threads.
 
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