kerilli
Reged: 01/04/2002
Posts: 8034
Loc: South Lincs
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Was anyone else surprised by this? Lucinda (who i have enormous respect for, she's a great rider, a great trainer and usually tells it just how it is!) wrote:
"Poor Zara Phillips had to contend with Toytown having a blond moment as he spooked on take-off and landed in the middle of a show jump. I like to blame the rider if possible, but this was a rare incident of horse miscalculation."
Umm, with all due respect to Zara, who is also a great rider (i wish i rode that well), i think the horse, like many others, landed a bit short over the previous small oxer, she then rode for a normal 4 strides, and just didn't get the distance. basically, she missed. i don't think it was the horse's fault at all! okay, if he'd had his brain in (or been more used to his rider missing!) he could have flung himself in the air from the spot he was at, but i don't think it was his fault.
Mary nearly did the same thing, realised 2 strides away that she was off the fence, and went for a brave long one... thank goodness!
what does everyone else think? and i really am not criticising either of them... maybe the editors at the Telegraph rehashed her words. hmm.
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"Ride as if you are competing, every day. At competitions, ride as if you are at home."
"Violence begins where knowledge ends" - Abraham Lincoln
"Remember, the horse has no bad intentions, he only reacts." - Dr Gerd Heuschmann
Success always occurs in private, and failure in full public view. (isn't that Eventing for you!)
thanks to Mel85 for the siggy!
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Ouija_Board
Carpal \'Tunnel
Reged: 30/07/2005
Posts: 6674
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I think that is a huge insult to Toytown. I think that Zara was not going in any sort of a rythym whatsoever and sat there like a rag doll when she should have been pushing forwards fast and quick to try make that four strides. She landed short at the oxer before so she must have realised that she was not going to make the distance.
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kerilli
Reged: 01/04/2002
Posts: 8034
Loc: South Lincs
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that's what i thought. they were fine till that point, she made a big mistake. to blame it all on the horse (Zara didn't, i believe) is very unfair of Lucinda!
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"Ride as if you are competing, every day. At competitions, ride as if you are at home."
"Violence begins where knowledge ends" - Abraham Lincoln
"Remember, the horse has no bad intentions, he only reacts." - Dr Gerd Heuschmann
Success always occurs in private, and failure in full public view. (isn't that Eventing for you!)
thanks to Mel85 for the siggy!
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Ouija_Board
Carpal \'Tunnel
Reged: 30/07/2005
Posts: 6674
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It really is unfair of her to say something like that I agree! A horse like Toytown does not have 'blonde moments' they know their job backwards!
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xspiralx
Reged: 21/01/2003
Posts: 9174
Loc: oxfordshire
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Totally agree, she missed, not his fault.
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xspiralx
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SevernMistletoe
Carpal \'Tunnel
Reged: 14/11/2005
Posts: 12382
Loc: Wales
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But I saw more than one rider 'get it wrong' but their horses helped them out and either fiddled strides or went on a very long one!
As he came to the jump I thought he was looking at the crowd behind the fence.
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**Founder and Chairman of the *now famous* 'We love Dominic Ruane' Clique** NAVAJO INUITS
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reynold
addict
Reged: 08/08/2007
Posts: 667
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agree with SM - Toytown could have helped his rider out a bit more - and certainly didn't need to knock the d**n thing down at the 2nd attempt.
so I reckon it was 50:50 - maybe more zara at first attemp and more tt at 2nd attempt.
either way - Lucinda was wrong.
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SpottedCat
Carpal \'Tunnel
Reged: 18/05/2007
Posts: 3552
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From what I remember, I actually think he came to the fence before wrong too - it looked like he either went disunited or came back to trot for a couple of strides, then landed and was going nowhere. Think TBH it was a combination of the two (Zara and the horse!). As Zara was clearly gutted, and has worked so hard on Toytown's SJ, and must have been thrilled he did not blow up in the dressage, perhaps Lucinda is giving her the benefit of the doubt - after all it would be rubbing salt in the wound to read in a national paper that a highly respected horsewoman like Lucinda is saying 'and if she'd just done X it may have been ok'.
Do you see what I mean? Trying to soften the blow a bit, given that also the world's media are obsessive about the Royals and would not have missed a chance for a Daily Mail moment... 
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Founding the 'glad to see the back of a miserable 2008' clique
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Weezy
Reged: 06/11/2003
Posts: 49580
Loc: The Sodden Cotswolds
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As soon as she landed over the oxer I said out loud "ride forwards Zara" and I had my hands over my face as she sat and faffed a bit - TT could deffo have helped her out more, but for me it was just an unfortunate "oooooh sh*t" minute from both rider and horse.
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Rambo
Carpal \'Tunnel
Reged: 30/09/2005
Posts: 7503
Loc: South
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I actually said to OH as she came round the turn to the upright that she had started riding him backwards. It was no surprise that she missed at the oxer therefore. TT was about 3/4's of a stride short at the oxer and to those who think he could or should have gone from there, I might just remind you that the fence was 1.30m with a good spread on it.....even though it didn't look much more than a Newcomers on TV due to the width of the poles 
Actually, I watched about the last 6 or 7 showjump and was quite shocked at how poor some of it was...the obvious exception was the winner, Nicholas Touzaint, who rode a SJ'ers round on a horse that looked like a SJ'er 
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jem1
Unregistered
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I agree, Zara got it wrong for not riding forward. She lost a lot of momentum just before the fence before THE fence(!) and therefore landed short and needed to push on but didn't. That was definately her fault but having got it wrong, Toytown could so have helped her out from where they were - very unlike him not to too! I bet Zara really thought he would as she approached. Such a shame. He seemed a little pre-occupied looking beyond the fence, as he did the second time.
I agree with the person above that Lucinda probably thought it would be too harsh to pile all the blame on Zara when she is clearly devastated already!
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kerilli
Reged: 01/04/2002
Posts: 8034
Loc: South Lincs
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i think if Zara had realised she was in trouble and given him a massive kick to wake him up, and flung him at the fence, he would have got them both out of jail... he certainly has the scope!
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"Ride as if you are competing, every day. At competitions, ride as if you are at home."
"Violence begins where knowledge ends" - Abraham Lincoln
"Remember, the horse has no bad intentions, he only reacts." - Dr Gerd Heuschmann
Success always occurs in private, and failure in full public view. (isn't that Eventing for you!)
thanks to Mel85 for the siggy!
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MrsT
Carpal \'Tunnel
Reged: 25/06/2005
Posts: 2680
Loc: Leicestershire
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There were several riders who came down that line and appeared to be rather backwards, Zara was not alone though she perhaps did rather close the canter completely at the fence before. Should imagine she is quite cross with herself.
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_Claire_
Carpal \'Tunnel
Reged: 20/06/2006
Posts: 5300
Loc: The Best Shire
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Zara even said it was HER fault, not Toytown's! That's why she was so upset.
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FRESHMAN
Reged: 20/05/2002
Posts: 2959
Loc: West Yorkshire/Lancs border
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I agree with a couple of others. Zara made the mistake at the previous fence by over checking, for me it was this that created the problem in the next distance. BTW what was with the comment of 4 for a refusal & 4 for knocking it down (whilst refusing) Surely they either presented or they didnt or have the rules changed in eventing?
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teapot
Carpal \'Tunnel
Reged: 16/12/2005
Posts: 12939
Loc: W.Sussex
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Quote:
BTW what was with the comment of 4 for a refusal & 4 for knocking it down (whilst refusing) Surely they either presented or they didnt or have the rules changed in eventing?
that's what I thought too Freshman - I was like what is Tina talking about, which is what Clare Balding was saying too - you either knock it down or refuse, you surely don't get faults for both, do you? 
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Founder member of the "I'm a student avoiding essay writing" clique.
Member of the 'I'm just a Riding School numpty, what do I know?' clique
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memo
old hand
Reged: 21/06/2007
Posts: 767
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To me it looked like Zara checked too much at the fence before and Toytown half trotted behind. Then she landed slightly short and didn't ride forward enough. Maybe nerves got to her.
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NoCollection
enthusiast
Reged: 15/07/2007
Posts: 252
Loc: Devon
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I think that you get 4 time faults if you knock down the fence as you refuse it. So 4 jumping faults for the stop and 4 time faults for the knock-down.
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 Member of the Pedants R Us clique!
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DieselDog
Carpal \'Tunnel
Reged: 31/07/2005
Posts: 11281
Loc: Bath
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Kristina was talking rubbish, it was kjust 4 for the refusal and then time faults ifshe went over the time. From what I remeber she started hooking like mad before the upright, he crawled over it and was never going to jump the oxer cleanly. He probably made the right descision in stopping
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FRESHMAN
Reged: 20/05/2002
Posts: 2959
Loc: West Yorkshire/Lancs border
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Nah, you only get time faults on exceeding the time allowed. In some sj speed classes a knock down when jumping the fence can count as 4 secs added. Do any of the eventing bods know the ruling on this one? I really would be interested to know.
You would think Lucinda would get abreast of the rules if she is going to commentate. Bet it's a well paid job. 
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