To think horses do not belong in the Olympics

[StunningCunt]

They've got this horse prancing sideways with a toff in a top hat on the top, and they are devoting hours of TV coverage because we might get a gold medal in this nonsense?

Why don't they just have a dog show there and be done with it?

Competitive sheep herding?

Motor racing?

By the way Nick Skelton of the showjumping team was told not to ride any more due to a broken neck. He has had a knee operation and is due for a back operation. It's not just about sitting on a trained animal, is it?

Maybe we could stick you on one of these horses and see how you get on?
Oh yeah baby!

At a basic level, horses are no different from bicycles. They all have set parameters of ability. They walk, trot and canter, gallop. A bicycle goes slow, fast, round corners...
Its the skill and ability of the cyclist that gets the best from his bicycle. He may be able to adapt his bike, tweak here and there, stretch its boundaries, but at the end of the day, its just two wheels and a frame. Its all about control, balance and rider ability.
A horse is the same. its four legs and a body. Its rider brings out its best. stretches its boundaries, controls it, balances it...
Equestrian discliplines are harder, because unlike a bike, a horse does, as others have already suggested, have a mind of its own. Id say that in most cases, that is an handicap!

And no, Emilie, you havent bashed anybody... except Zara Phillips!

What's wrong with it being different from other sports? What's so terrible about testing a different skill and different muscles? Or should we only allow inner-city kids from below the poverty line to run round a track a few times because anything else "isn't fair"?

Inclusivity works both ways. People earn their place in the Olympic squad based on talent. No-one denies they will have had differing opportunities along the way. That's true of ALL sports.

Horses are great levellers. You can have all the money and "pedigree" in the world but if you haven't got skill, empathy, determination, muscle control, the ability to "listen" to and "read" the horse, the courage to get back on after a bad fall (because you WILL fall off if you ride) and the sheer bloody-mindedness to get to the top, it will count for nothing. The horse doesn't care how rich you are or what your parents do. It only cares how well you ride it.

Thankyou very much Theodorakis. I'm not sure if I deserve any compliments for being a dogmatic ignoramus but still, that means a lot

I suppose some people would strip back the Olympics to running, jumping and throwing things and naked men wrestling but we ladies wouldn't be allowed to watch that so ... yawn. I can take a bit of track and field but some of the other events are much more fun.

Now if I was going to get cross about anything it would be that apparently they're planning to ditch windsurfing for kitesurfing.... the former must be about the most accessible watersport, relatively cheap kit, lots of clubs on reservoirs all over the place, suitable for kids to learn and train up in. The latter is an extreme sport. I can't quite imagine how they'd race without getting entangled . Madness, I tell you!

Saggy, I didn't mean to bash her. Just the unfairness of different people's opportunities I suppose.

She seems alright from what interviews I have seen. It's not her fault she was born into a privileged situation.

I think I do get angry but only at those who promote wealth and status as being somehow the key to it all, who encourage privilege, who support it actively at the cost of everyone else.

That is by no means always those who benefit from it directly.

Going back to the Op, I am thinking about an Olympic dog show, we could get all the shelter dogs to compete for the various countries they hail from, and charge people to compete. What a brilliant idea for a fundraiser and not a bike in sight (well we couldn't really because the dogs would chase them) and imagine the carnage if they were allowed access to the Olympic table tennis balls.

When you consider that the original olympics, was a display of combat related disciplines , javelin, discus, wrestling, and Dressage is a combat based discipline, then realistically, it has MORE place in the olympics than cycling or windsurfing?

I would love to see a sack load of terriers released into the ping pong arena!

Fwiw there is a Saudi prince showjumping right now. Bet he's crap really and the horse memorised, like everything and he's just sitting there all rich and prince-like. I mean how unfair!

Ben Maher has just got really unlucky but think he will go through

Yeah, he should do! And now the awesome (but clearly rich and privileged) Nick Skelton! Fingers crossed!

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!

stinky I'm torn between feeling it's unfair because he's a rich toff or feeling delighted at the levels of inclusiveness towards ethnic minorities.

Emilie. A propos children who wish to get involved in a sport: how much do their parents have to earn for the child to have an unfair advantage?

Hmm i think that some of the equestrian events are just there to allow 'toffs' to get olympic medals.I mean to put Zara Phillips in the same catagory as a serious athlete like Jessica Ennis is ridiculous and devalues what an olympic medal means IMHO

Oh do be shushy

Your silly wittering is interupting my enjoyment of the show jumping

'He has had a knee operation and is due for a back operation. It's not just about sitting on a trained animal, is it?'

He obviously couldn't even manage to do that!!

Yes sancerreity, because Zara Phillips doesn't get up early to train seven days a week and ride her horses in all weathers or spend hours on her own fitness and in planning the nutrition and preparation of her horse and go all round the country and abroad to qualify or anything. Lazy old toff, eh?

Zara Phillips had a fabulous olympics and very much deserved her silver medal.

You cannot possilbly compare different sports like that.

Dapple, that's probably for another thread...I have genuinely no idea where to start. It is a very good question though.

I wonder how much help ZP has with all those things Fire? Do you think she does it all herself? Do any of them do it all themselves? or is there some delegation...vets, nutritionists etc.

You have NO IDEA! seriously!

Nutritionists?

You think the cyclists and the athletes don't have nutritionists? Of course they bloody do.

Would you rather they didn't have vets?

What is your actual point??

very much doubt it fire&ashes.How many competitions does she medal in per year??

I was just asking. I think I had better stop asking things.