Anyone else a wee bit disappointed with BBC's Rio eventing coverage? (A sort of AIBU for horsey folk.)

[Sequentialchoring]

I probably am being a bit unreasonable because I live abroad and can't get access to the red button or live video streaming ...

... but I don't understand why we get almost forensic and endless examination of the swimming and rowing (great though these events are) - including all the heats - and that the Beeb can't feature the definitive eventing competion as part of its prime coverage?

It's not as though the cross country isn't exciting or anything is it? There were spills and thrills galore yesterday!

It is an amazing spectacle! And the coverage on BBC1 yesterday was so cack-handed! I was just settling down with dd, the dog, a pot of tea and a plate of jam sandwiches and was enjoying the first 20 mins or so when the coverage rudely switched to boxing, then judo, then hockey, then swimming then rowing (when frankly a lot of the coverage was just chatting between commentators).

Waited and waited to hear what had happened to Pippa Funnell and Kitty King only for Clare Balding to mention them in passing about two hours later!

Really, really disappointed ... and missed most of WFP's round ... .

I am incandescent with rage. That bitch Dutch rider who claimed her horse had been bitten by an insect - he has a broken jaw

Fucking crocodile tears.

And fucking rollkur.

Sorry - needed to rant..................

Exit I think you'll find that NBC have misreported Parzifal's injury. The hairline fracture reported is actually a hock injury to Ryan (one of the showjumpers)

Adelinde's horse had a insect bite and was on fluids the whole day prior to her test in an attempt to flush the toxins out of his system.

And with regards to the rollkur, it is my understanding that she took some time out to retrain/rethink her approach, and he was much better in the neck and more forward in London than he had been prior, so she has moved on.......

I managed to watch most of it on red button, and some on iplayer. Agree it hasn't had much coverage though, nothing hardly in the newspapers

I hope so.

It's been confirmed by the FEI that Parzival did not have a broken jaw. However, he has never looked right to me. Just too much tension in front of the wither and through the neck and jaw. It's not just him, but he's one of the worst, IMO.

I agree. So sad.

It was very pointed when Pippa Funnell was riding round before her dressage that she kept wafting one hand around. At first I thought it was because her coat tails were flapping In the wind and she was trying to desentsise him. But the commentator said she was showing that the horse was holding himself in an outline without any interference from the reins.

Pippa Funnel is (obviously!) a very seasoned competitor. She knows the judges are watching and forming an opinion before you go in the arena, even if they just glance up whilst they sort out the previous rider's scores. For a while I trained with a showing person. I had a horse with beautiful medium trot but for various reasons shifting him out of prelim tests took a while. Anyway, the showing rider had me blasting round outside the arena in medium before making an entrance, just to say "look at me, we'll be doing more soon, look at my horse's paces".

Hadn't occurred to me that Funnel may have been proving a point to the rest of us, and the dressage riders, but maybe she was.

Pippa is known to get very nervous so I assumed she was doing that to relax herself and the horse.

Wow! Complete turnaround here! We all really enjoyed the BBC's coverage of the dressage today! Thrilled for Charlotte and Valero !! What stars! Enjoyed all the competitors in fact! And am hugely impressed by the strength and depth of the German team!

Who do we have coming up in the ranks to replace our current stars?

Sorry - meant Valegro!

Couldn't agree more about Mike Tucker. I caught a bit of footage from a different broadcaster, wish I knew which one it was, perhaps a sports channel, or an aussie channel? But the commentators were so knowledgable about how the horses were going and the technicality of the course etc etc, so refreshing after listening to Mike Tucker's drivel!

I do like Ian Stark though, and as he is talking just keep wishing I could see him riding these courses on Murphy Himself! (Although not sure how he would cope with all the twisting skinny lines they have now).

If you want to watch the Brits only, the videos of the full coverage on the BBC Sport website very helpfully have little 'flags' along the timeline at the bottom so you can skip to them. Really handy!

Thanks I will see if I can access that from across the channel!

YY to MT's gibbering!