Whoa!!! Nice horsey!! ~ The Equestrian Thread

[kylet3]

Y'argh, so Tiffany Foster is not allowed to compete in the Team Final now? Really? This process is disgustingly flawed. Canada is screwed if they want a medal for tomorrow. I don't see it happening.

[professordeb]

Show jumping on SportsNet this morning. Nice to see it there as I don't get OLN.

Deb - they said the horse was hypersensitized.

Yeah, I heard what "they" said but I also heard the Canadian announcers say that the horse would never have been "presented" if they truly thought there was something wrong with it. Sounds ... sad.

[AragornElessar]

We had humidity in the low 40's yesterday, which is a first for our area in Summer and just wiped me out. I didn't get up, either than to take my AM meds, until 12:30pm, so I missed what happened in the Team Showjumping event this morning.

Just saw Tiffany Foster at the Press Conference as part of a piece of how we're just missing out on medals on the news and...That poor kid was just sobbing and barely able to talk.

Why on earth did this happen? I mean...If the horse wasn't able to compete, I doubt Equine Canada would have brought the horse all the way over to London and now to hear the appeal won't take place until after the event is over!?! How the Hell is that fair?

What a rotten Games for us in Equestrian.

[Parsley Sage]

Mac Cone's horse was injured during the 2nd round in Beijing and Canada still managed to win silver.

[kylet3]

They'll be pretty determined tomorrow but I'm still worried with how they're going to do... if Eric had Hickstead I'd be more confident but this is a new horse for him and Ian has done this obviously sooo many times before but the wildcard is Henselwood, if she's on they have a chance, if not then Canada is screwed... They all have to be pretty much perfect... They have the talent to do it, I'm just not sure they're going to be capable of doing it...

[danceronice]

The horse had a small cut on his leg. "Hypersensitizing" doesn't mean the horse was seriously injured, it's referring to soring, poling, chips in boots, and other ways of making a horse's legs or feet sore so they pick them up higher-he probably just has a little cut, but.... If his leg is irritated, he'll try harder not to hit rails. Some of the people on the horse board think this is FEI payback for Canada complaining about Hickstead getting eliminated from a prior event, or (when paired with McLain Ward (USA)'s bogus elimination from an event he was leading with his old horse, Sapphire) part of a trend to...hyper-enforce where North American athletes are concerned while being less than vigilant about the European teams.

Which would make it even funnier if they get Canada basically out of it, and then the gold goes to...the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. (Hey, if they won't put Endurance in the Olympics, they're by God going to get into the Equestrian medals SOMEHOW...)

[AragornElessar]

When a coach publicly says he's ashamed of his sport at the Olympic Games, it's not a good thing at all. Especially when it appears as shady as this.

Parsley Sage, you're right about us pulling off a major feat back in Beijing after Mac Cone had to pull out, but I also agree w/kyle about our chances. It's not good.

[Jasmar]

What does that mean? I know almost nothing about equestrian, but I do love to watch it.

[AragornElessar]

It means we'll only have three horse and rider combinations when the rest of the competition will be fielding the full alloted four horses and riders.

In other words, we're pretty screwed.

[Dragonlady]

In other words, we're pretty screwed.

Bullshit. Foster was our weakest rider and already had 8 faults. Her score would have been thrown out anyway.

Henselwood is hardly a wildcard. She's a former World Champion, albeit with a different horse. LaMaze and his mare are going very well indeed - 1 fault after two rounds of jumping. Similarly Ian Millar only has one rail down after two full jumping rounds.

These are the three strongest, most experienced riders we have - each one a former winner of the World Showjumping Championship.

We are a long, long way from screwed.

[AragornElessar]

I suggest then you read kyle's post once more. This is *not* the same team that was in Beijing and pulled this off. As kyle rightly said, it would be one thing if Hickstead was still here, then I'd have hope we could pull this off, but he's not. Eric's got an untested mare instead that he's only had for a few months at most. He hasn't had the time to build up that relationship where the both of them know each other like it's second nature.

If we end up w/a medal, then I will happily scream I was wrong from the rooftops.

Sadly, I don't think I am.

[Alixana]

With or without Tiffany Foster, I think Canada is still a long shot. But you never know .. who would've thought that Team Germany and Beezie Madden (USA) wouldn't make the final??

[Dragonlady]

With or without Tiffany Foster, I think Canada is still a long shot. But you never know .. who would've thought that Team Germany and Beezie Madden (USA) wouldn't make the final??

I agree that Canada is a long shot, especially with Canada having 9 faults after round one.

Given how LaMaze and his mare have performed so far, (1 fault after two rounds), he couldn't have done much better with Hickstead.

[Seerek]

Keep in mind, the balance of the field at this Olympics is way more bunched together in the standings (lots of clears) heading into the final than it was in Beijing. (FYI, In Beijing, Mac Cone's 12 faults in round 1 actually was kept as Jill Henselwood's 18 faults had to be dropped).

Brazil (7th going into the final) is actually in the same position as Canada with only 3 riders for Round 2.

[Sofia Alexandra]

Can I just say that I'm pretty darn impressed by Lisen Bratt Fredricson (SWE) and her horse Matrix? They had a pretty bad fall in the first round, but they came back and only knocked down one fence in the second, which helped the Swedish team to a shared second place.

Watching the team final now. Can't wait to see what Rolf-Göran Bengtsson makes of this course.

[minuet]

It's on TSN this morning for Canadian viewers.

[skatefan]

Tense jump off for the Gold but for GB taking Gold in the team Show Jumping

Very happy for Nick Skelton, 6th Olympics and at the age of 54 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/oly...-jump-off.html

[maatTheViking]

Ugh - Rollkur arguments, blah blah blah, this is why I don't read dressage forums any more. I bet they just exploded in Kittel-hate. Though of course this is in some way or another ALL ANKY'S FAULT...

hyper sentizing - it is a pretty serious accusation - it pretty much involves intentionally hurning the horses leg, it is really unpleasant to think of. I guess they are super strict. I haven't read anything about it and if it is nasty politics instead

[AragornElessar]

I wish I had been wrong, but...Sigh...

[professordeb]

The "injury" to the Canadian horse was equated to the equivalent of a paper cut. Really think those who made this call went a bit overboard.