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?

emilie I am not asking this in an aggressive way & hope it doesn't come across that way but I'm interested know what you think is an acceptable level of unfair advantage within sport?

How about parents who make huge financial sacrifices to get their son into a good public school that happens to be good at rowing, who then ends up at Cambridge due to intelligence & hard work, & then because if 'fortnuate background' uses his rowing talent to get into an Olympic team? Privilege or priorities?

Or, parents who can afford to drive round the country, staying in hotels etc following their amazing tennis playing son?

Or a girl who really wants to work with horses who starts off as a stable lass to get the crucial opportunity?

Unfairness is endemic in a free society and everyone makes priorities for themselves & for their children. Personally I think life would be incredibly hard to have a child super talented in any particular sport. The money and time involved is huge and it can have an impact on their other children (also unfair?!).

I just don't know how you would police your unfairness discrimination. Would it just be orphans from poor countries? SHOULD we invest in talented sports people in this country, when other countries can't?
I'm abit by what your issue with financial support actually is!

Wow, what some of you really are a nasty, ignorant bunch!

How many of you have ever sat on a horse? Please, please do try it sometime because I would love to see your faces when you realise how damn hard it is to ride a 1/2 tonne of animal. I have owned horses all my life and I have competed to a pretty decent level at eventing and show jumping (you probably dont know what these sports are, look them up - you might learn something). To event, I also have to do dressage. It takes years to become a half decent rider and a lot of understanding to gel with a horse. Trust me, you cannot force 1/2 tonne of horse to do anything it doesn't want to. It takes MANY years to train a horse to Olympic level. To say its for toffs is a joke, riders are extremely hard working people who have made a LOT of sacrifices (because unlike other sports, at the end of the day you still have to care for that animal which involves mucking out etc. - not pleasant jobs). Yes, you do need some money to have horses because they are generally expensive to keep but you dont have to be "a toff" by any means. And just buying an expensive horse doesn't mean you'll win by any means - I've ridden for years and consider myself experienced but I know for a fact I couldn't ride these dressage horses well at all, I'd probably get thrown off pretty quick to be honest! There is a HUGE degree of skill needed to get these horses to perform as they do, in my opinion more so than ANY other sport.

Grow up the lot of you, equestianism IS an extremely tough sport and easily deserves its place in the Olympics. How about you try riding, before you slag it off.

I know a couple of toffs who ride but riding is one of the great levellers IMO, "horse people", like "dog people" span all classes. My sister is a cleaner, left school at 16 and spent a lot of her adult life owning a horse. One of my friends stacks shelves during the night at a supermarket to pay for her daughter's horse they're all quite mad to be honest.

Anyone who's ever ridden a horse just looks at the dressage and goes WOW! that is skill!

So sorry to hear about your horse Dolomite

dolomite that bought tears to my eyes and I never cry.
Poor you, how awful for you.
It's so hard doing the right thing.

It's better that horses are trained to take part in Olympic events than left to roam the streets late at night in gangs, scaring locals and writing graffiti on bus shelters.

This is not horses but in light of Tiggys post, it made me laugh

www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/etons-boys-empowered-by-olympics-rowing-success-2012080837501

Tiggy my old horse was useless at graffiti - couldn't get the top off the spray can - but he was a (deep)* litterbug; forever throwing his feed trug over the stable door into the middle of the yard.

*Little joke there for the horsey MNers on the thread.

Oooh very good Fire

How many of you have ever sat on a horse?
we had some riding lessons last year. Just enough so we could manage a rising trot, so that if we go ponytrekking we're not totally bounced to pulp.

I was quite suprised how bloody unsafe it felt up there - even though we only once reached a canter, with a leader! And how tiring even half an hour could be. Just getting on and off isn't that easy.

Hence - despite being generally unhorsey - my total siding with the view that equestrian events deserve to be in the Olympics.

Puffpants has a point imo. Sorry. It is reminiscent of Crufts. Nothing anyone has said on here has made me think otherwise.
No offence.

I'm sure that, yet again, none of you have the balls to put your money where your mouth is, but come and ride my 4 year old. Get him to olympic level since its so easy.

For comparissons sake, you are welcome to show my chinese crested. She's got good breeding, most of ours have done well showing, ones been and won his classes at crufts. Get her to that level.

You do both of those and then tell me that the two are anything alike!

Also, for the person who said that nick skelton "couldn't even manage that", grow up! What a cheap shot! I'd love to see you leave my yard in one piece - that's BEFORE you even sit on a horse.

Money and connections are no where near enough to get you a spot in the olympics. If they were why aren't the Whitakers there? They have money, connections and are hugely talented. Still not there. Katie Price has money, everyone knows who she is - She's not a brilliant rider though so no matter what horse she buys she will not compete at this level.

OP has a massive chip on shoulder clearly - from the crowds at the events and the skill of the riders and animals is is pretty clear why these events are deservedly part of the Olympics.
There are many other sports that should be ditched first, for which a gold medal is far from the pinnacle of a career in the sport. Tennis - show me a player who'd not rather win a grand slam? Football - the best team in the world (Spain) barely bothered to turn up, it is so irrelevant compared to the world cup and the Euros. And Golf from 2016 - worst of all - show me a golfer who wouldn't rather win a major. But the equestrian sports are fab.

Right, I am off to spend the afternoon watching a load of overpriviledged toffs just sitting on horses...

Pied I was just about to make exactly that point. I like both tennis and football and am delighted for Murray but don't anyone try to convince me he wouldn't trade that medal for a win at Wimbledon or other Slam. Equally, how many football fans remember the Olympics football medal winners? It's nothing compared to the World Cup and Euros.

But for the equestrians, as for the track and field athletes and so many others, the Olympics is the pinnacle of their sport and funding at national level within the equestrian disciplines is geared towards finding and supporting current and future Olympians.

A friend's Dh once said to me the horse does all the work.

Wasn't quite so cocky when I thrashed him in an arm wrestle.

Chris Hoys bike cost 20 k. My last horse cost 1k,

The horse I ride when I have time cost the owner £16,500.

I am SO over these conversations.

Go Ben go!

:( ok - go Nick and Scott

FFS! Bloody meter reader came to the door just as Ben went into the ring!

I will be gutted if Nick and Big Star don't get another medal. The only pair not to have had a single fence down over the entire competition so far.

Perdita how inconsiderate! That happened to me in March while I was watching Cheltenham - I opened the door and said "hello, sorry, can you be quick, the Champion Hurdle has just started!"

Aw jeez, Dolomite, so sorry to hear about your horse :(
Fucking horrible thing to have to do. My best mate had to have her horse euthanased at the age of (probably) 36 - she'd had her since she was (probably) 9. That's a bloody long time to have a horse - it was like losing family. She was in bits for weeks. :(

Fire, I did have a bit of a strop on! Pointed in the general direction of the gas meter and said I was too busy watching the showjumping!

I am not answering the door/phone again until this event is over!

Dolomite So sorry sweetheart, I don't blame you for being blunt, Ignorant arseholes who think 'It's just a horse' will never understand because they're not privileged enough to have earned the love and trust of such a beautiful, powerful animal.

Here we go :)