Winner of BADMINTON

My opinion of this is that NT is a very talented young man, he has a string of superb horses that are produced beautifully by him. I too saw at Athens when he crossed the finish line and dropped Galan de Sauvegere whilst still galloping across the finish line and can remember thinking to myself at the time what a stupid thing to have done and also hearing Mike Tucker say that it was cruel, I agree to this. The horse had been held by the reins all the way around the xc course, just say once he dropped the reins that the horse stumbled, there would be no way of stopping it crashing onto it's nose. Ok, so this didn't happen and I hope for his sake if he continues to do this after finishing every course in fine style, that it never does happen BUT if it did, boy would it teach him a lesson.
I didn't much like it at Badminton when he did it and proceeded to GALLOP full pelt around the arena, yes by all means celebrate but gosh, i've never seen it done quite like that before.
In MY opinion, I don't like to see this happen and I won't condone it but other's don't mind it so that's fine. It takes nothing away from the fact that he was a very worthy winner
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I'm a 20 something (and therefore in my eyes a relativley young un'!) and I don't see the problem! But then like you Tia I grew up riding ponies bareback to the field, having races, being allowed to take them out hacking by ourselves (I'll let you work out just how much 3-4 young teenage girls can get up to taking forward going riding school ponies on hacks ) - and I still ride bareback, & with a headcollar or even nothing on his head - I suppose I must be seen as an ogre for daring to ride @ canter without reins by some on here? I agree with Tia, there's nothing like it for developing your balance and riding ability. Off topic but I'm also going through a bit of a stage trying to learn more about the biomechanics of riding, and you can really feel your own and your horse's skeletons & muscles 100 times better bareback.

But then I am lucky to ride a barrel - my cob when I was a teenager had an exceptionally high wither, and I only rode him very bareback very gingerly a couple of times - I'm with you jenbleep - ouch!
 
i doubt this will be the final word on this, but the full-page pic in H&H of NT having dropped his reins just after the final fence does not show a happy-looking horse. (Hidalgo has both ears back.)
this has absolutely nothing to do with Health and Safety, modern ninnying, etc etc either... it's about the welfare of the horse he was riding, that's all.
i think he's too good a rider to zoom about the arena out of control, and never suggested that he had. he got his reins back a few strides later, iirc, and then the pics were taken of the lap of honour with him holding the reins and the horse's ears pricked.
this one will run and run, because those who think there's nothing wrong with dropping both reins and punching the air with glee, and leaving a tired horse to its own devices for a few strides, will never convince those of us who think it's a seriously inadvisable and careless thing to do!
 
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and where have any of us said that he can't ride properly? jeez, i've criticised one thing he does (as have others), not said he's a bad rider - obviously he's very very good.
the way this thread is descending into unwarranted bitchiness really is quite astonishing.

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I quote you:

<font color="blue"> he was lucky that the horse didn't have more down the way he rode it... especially the last line. lots of riders impressed me this weekend, but not him. as usual xc he was s*** or bust, it worked yesterday but sometimes it doesn't.
sorry, it's not sour grapes, i just don't like the way he rides. sometimes he looks like he's s***ging the horse, not riding it! he has very very classy horses, but there are much classier jockeys imho.
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I still ride bareback an awful lot
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. I actually love riding bareback, and if you were a child bareback rider (like me), then I would bet my life that you would have NO trouble staying on these days; I only went back to riding bareback 4 years ago and it was like riding a bike; jumped on, cantered off, no problems whatsoever; everything was still in the place I left it decades ago.
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Hmmm, I'm not convinced.
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I was a lot fitter years ago, than I am now...

I'm still going to have to have a go though!
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I still agree with Kerelli......, and nothing anyone says will change my mind about my opinion of him. Only if he changes how he rides will I change my mind. I will continue to watch him with interest over here in France.
But at the end of the day, that's all it is, my opinion, the same with those of you that disagree.
He's competent, he won, I still don't like much how he did it, (he's not the only one whose riding I find difficult to applaud) but he is by no stretch of the imagination an 'angel' in the saddle......unless he was trying to balance those wings when he stretched both arms above his head after throwing the reins away?
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Dubble, i have never denied that he's a very very good jockey - he's won a LOT more top level events and championships than anyone else at his age ever. no-one crap wins Badminton, or the Euros, or the Worlds, or Le Lion countless times, obviously. I think he was very very lucky to only have 1 down in the sj, and i know i'm not alone in that... lots of people with more experience than me think the same. it was not the most rhythmical or stylish round i've seen from him.
there were moments xc where it worked for him when it easily couldn't have... but i guess one could say that about a lot of combinations at a lot of fences.
no-one will convince me that it's fine to drop a tired horse's reins at the end of a 3 day event and let it hooley off.
this is completely different from riding without a bridle, and all the other tangents people are going off on. the inconsistency is the point, the horse was held together and supported to that point, then dropped totally, to its surprise. if he'd ridden with no contact for 5 minutes then i wouldn't be saying a word!
 
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I think he was very very lucky to only have 1 down in the sj, and i know i'm not alone in that... lots of people with more experience than me think the same. it was not the most rhythmical or stylish round i've seen from him.


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Kerilli, where I was sitting (next to the French Contingent) they practically lifted him over every fence, there must have been some unseen force helping him
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And i'm not knocking the French here, but they were soooooooo loud and were celebrating even before he had got over the last fence!
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wizoz, that was potentially a huge distraction, so he's obviously EVEN MORE BRILLIANT to have only had 1 down with all that going on!
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while i know that he gets great results, i still don't think he's the most stylish rider. having had a good think about it, i reckon a lot of it is probably down to jealousy on my part - i would probably KILL to get a few horses half as good as he has! no-one could deny that he has the very best young horses bred in France, and who wouldn't love that chance?
also, if i had one half as good as Galan, or Hidalgo, or any of the ones he gets to top level, i would do never do anything in celebration that might risk injuring them... so, mea culpa, it's all jealousy.
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loving that this has rumbled on! i must remember to stir up more controversy! and you know the funny thing is that i was never really a big fan of his, NT is french after all but having been at so many of the events he's done over the last few years i have come to change my mind. He is gifted, every horse he gets on goes for him and i cant argue with that.
i wonder what the response will be if he wins in hong kong and also i have to say since he dropped Galan at the endof the xc in athens i havent seen him do that on an xc round since so clearly the critsm went home. And when a horse is tired like that they are not wrong. But sunday was another matter entirely .
PS Dubble, you kill me!!
 
Have to say whatching the show jumping on telly, when i saw him drop the reins after the last fence i was shocked. Dreadful style to do that, and so unkind on the horse. Its not the first time hes done this in my recognition, think he did it after cross country. I also felt galloping full pelt around the arena was unkind, yes everyone enjoys winning and a lap of hounour but the poor horse myst have been shattered.
 
I watched it... How many times has anyone seen a rider overcome with joy as much as he was. The thing about today is everyone expects to win. How many times do you see people SMILE!!!! or even cry when they have won. Lets have more of it I say. He was speechless His comment about his horse showed that HE believed in it! I personally was willing Lucy W to win BUT was really pleased to see Nicolas Touzaint win.

Just look at all the sour faced little children on showing ponies some as young as four who take winning a first rosette for granted. If they don't win they throw a tantrum. The judge couldn't see ! The winner had just taken the judge out for dinner. I've heard it all. Lets get back to enjoying our sport.
 
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