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Discuss horse riding and ownership on our Horse forum.

Original poster

How do they choose the horses for Modern Pentathlon?

248 replies

DazzlePaintedBattlePants · 06/08/2021 17:09

Just watched the German competitor leave the arena in tears at the Tokyo Olympics after a fairly horrific showjumping round, where the horse was being a complete sod. I’m fairly sure the horses are assigned randomly to the competitors but where do they come from? Do the organisers phone up their mates and ask for the stroppiest horses going?

I get that horsemanship is obviously the important skill to demonstrate but the horses are a fairly large confounding variable😂

OP posts:
Floralnomad · 06/08/2021 17:14

It’s one thing having quirky horses in the event , but to have one that basically won’t leave the collecting ring is pretty unfair . I felt very sorry the German lady having her entire event ruined by that horse .

Ragwort · 06/08/2021 17:15

I've just been watching too, heart breaking for the rider.

Dentistlakes · 06/08/2021 17:17

Does more than one competitor ride each horse? To have a horse behave like that makes me think they had a horrible round with another rider beforehand. To be fair to the horse, she could have handled it better. She had completely lost her composure by the time she got the horse into the ring and there was no way it was going to end well when she was like that.

Bryonyshcmyony · 06/08/2021 17:17

Most of the horses were absolute saints
That horse went badly in the first round and the German rider would have had a chance to change her ride, not sure why she didn't.

Some of them come from the UK under the auspices of Jabeena Maslin who has forgotten more about show jumping than I'll ever know.

Bryonyshcmyony · 06/08/2021 17:18

I think they should drop the show jumping in the modern pentathlon
It gives equestrian events a bad name.

Dentistlakes · 06/08/2021 17:18

@Ragwort

I've just been watching too, heart breaking for the rider.
I was heartbroken for the horse. It was obviously distressed and in any other circumstance the rider would have retired.
Bryonyshcmyony · 06/08/2021 17:20

Yes the rider totally lost her cool and of course no horse is going to trust you after that. Her coach punched it on the bum as well. Embarrassing for them.

SnoozyBoozy · 06/08/2021 17:20

Oh really? I watched that and assumed each rider had their own horse they brought with them (not sure why, I guess it doesn't make sense carting horses all over the world) but that explains better why the rider struggled with the horse.

I did feel for the rider but if the horse doesn't want to do it, there's not much she can do I guess.

Ragwort · 06/08/2021 17:21

I was watching one of the commentators who said (gently) that she hadn't handled the horse very well at all; there was also another comment that the horses are all 'local' but I'm not sure how accurate that is, would they really fly horses out for that event?

Bryonyshcmyony · 06/08/2021 17:21

No the whole point of modern pentathlon is that the horse is assigned randomly
You have 20 mins to get to know it before you jump it.

Disfordarkchocolate · 06/08/2021 17:21

I'm with @Dentistlakes I feel for the rider but I could feel her tension, the horse must have picked that up. The medalist in the studio felt she got it wrong too. Still must be devastating though.

Ragwort · 06/08/2021 17:24

Yes, you are right Dentist, I don't t know much about that event (weirdly invested now!) but I am surprised the rider just didn't stop immediately, it was obvious that she wasn't going to achieve anything - or is there a horse 'Vet' that could have told her to stop rather than put the horse under more stress?

friskybivalves · 06/08/2021 17:27

Haven't watched today's coverage so don't know if the commentators have made this point but modern pentathlon is meant to test the skills of a crack cavalry officer caught behind enemy lines and trying to make his or her escape.

They'd have to be able to shoot accurately, nick a random horse and make off on it etc etc. So even having 20 mins to get to know the horse is being generous I suppose.

Original poster
DazzlePaintedBattlePants · 06/08/2021 17:28

Thank you all, this is really interesting!

OP posts:
Bryonyshcmyony · 06/08/2021 17:28

Saint Boy, the horse involved is 22, and has been a top showjumper
Ditto Constantin who went badly for the Irish rider. He's won World Cup showjumping

MadameMinimes · 06/08/2021 17:43

The horse was clearly perfectly capable of jumping well. He’d had a bad first round with the ROC athlete though and Schleu had clearly lost her cool before they’d even got started. It was a very uncomfortable and unpleasant spectacle to watch but I can’t help but think that he might have been well capable of jumping if she’d only kept her composure. I’m not an equestrian, but any animal will react to that level of agitation from their handler. She was already crying and panicking as soon as they entered. I feel for her, but she didn’t appear to handle it well at all and I don’t think it’s as simple as a dud horse ruining her moment.

BlossomingSlowly · 06/08/2021 17:47

I felt sad for the rider, but without wanting to sound harsh, any rider or coach who deems it acceptable to hit a horse when things start to go wrong should not be in the olympics. I think horse riding already has a bad name due to horse deaths at the grand national and various other things, it really doesn't need a horse being smacked on TV to bring it down further. Animals do not exist for our human gain. I wouldn't smack a crying and distressed child and push it back on stage at a school performance. It's completely unethical.

That horse was far too distressed to be performing and rules should have allowed for it to be retired and a different horse given. Difficult situation for the rider and coach and absolutely not a nice one, but also no excuse to hit.

FluffMagnet · 06/08/2021 17:58

I felt so sorry for the rider. Why a nappy horse was put in that situation I'll never know. I have a napper, and when she starts to go backwards (and up) so amount of staying calm helps, and we had a great bond. It seems so desperately unfair when other horses looked far more willing to take part. Frankly I thought she did well to get him over the fences she did, as he tried to put in a couple of dirty stops before running out at the double.

HalfTermHalfTerm · 06/08/2021 17:59

Agree with what everyone else has said really. I feel for her (I imagine she realised her medal hopes were basically gone when she got that horse in the draw, he’d been very unsettled the first time) but it was never going to go well when she was sobbing like that before she even got into the ring. You’d be unlikely to perform well while that emotional if you were on a motorbike or driving a car, let alone while riding an unfamiliar animal that is going to pick up on your tensions and emotions. As soon as the bell when to say she’d been eliminated and she relaxed slightly (I guess because she knew it was over) he calmed down considerably.

I’ve seen a couple of news articles complaining that it’s very unfair on the athletes to have their chances ruined by the horse they get given. If you choose to complete in the modern pentathlon you know that you’re going to get assigned a random horse so you need to accept you might get one that’s not having a good day. It’s not unfair because everyone is in the same position. Nobody seems bothered about all of the lesser known women who were eliminated or got lots of faults!

I didn’t think they were able to change horses though? Or else everyone would want to do it and the riders in the second round would be at a huge advantage.

Cheesecake53 · 06/08/2021 18:03

@Bryonyshcmyony

Most of the horses were absolute saints That horse went badly in the first round and the German rider would have had a chance to change her ride, not sure why she didn't.

Some of them come from the UK under the auspices of Jabeena Maslin who has forgotten more about show jumping than I'll ever know.

She was not allowed to change the horse. She wanted to.
SandysMam · 06/08/2021 18:19

I know it must be very stressful for the rider but surely this is what they sign up for! They must know it’s possible to not get on with the horse! Her attitude to me was very spoiled, like a kid throwing it’s toys out of the pram!

Bryonyshcmyony · 06/08/2021 18:23

That horse was far too distressed to be performing and rules should have allowed for it to be retired and a different horse given the rules do allow this

Floralnomad · 06/08/2021 18:24

I wonder if the people saying she should know what to expect have actually ever ridden or tried to ride a horse that is determined to not go in the direction you want .

Bryonyshcmyony · 06/08/2021 18:24

@SandysMam

I know it must be very stressful for the rider but surely this is what they sign up for! They must know it’s possible to not get on with the horse! Her attitude to me was very spoiled, like a kid throwing it’s toys out of the pram!
Exactly. That's the whole point of modern pentathlon
Bryonyshcmyony · 06/08/2021 18:25

Sorry once the horse has gone in the first round you can't change. You can change before the competition if you ride the horse and hate it