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The tack room

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:
NotMyCat · 07/08/2021 10:18

Kate french did a lovely round, it looked v quiet and well ridden

AtillatheHun · 07/08/2021 10:20

I have zero sympathy for the German rider or her disqualified coach. The horse was desperate to evade her hands; she had no idea of what was going on at the end of her reins. There was an Egyptian riding a horse which was gagged as well - it was horrible to watch her heavy yanking hands - clearly clueless to what the gag does and why the horse’s head was going up in the air. The german’s use of spurs was disgusting- you don’t have to be booting away to cause serious damage and she should not have been using high precision equipment that she had no clue how to use. Fuck her and her televised tears and her total oblivion to what she was doing to that animal. She wasn’t the only one but she was the most painful to watch. I hope she’s thrown out of the pentathlon governing body

AtillatheHun · 07/08/2021 10:23

Watching James cook of the UK now - kicking in the spurs with every stride around the course and yanking hard in the reins the pony club would not be happy with him. Spurs should be removed from this event.

Bryonyshcmyony · 07/08/2021 10:28

Yes Jamie Cooke was disappointing.

Bryonyshcmyony · 07/08/2021 10:29

Who would have thought South Korea would have one of the nicest riders

AtillatheHun · 07/08/2021 10:31

Yes! Quiet.
The men are generally much better than the ladies. Some of them have a seat.

Bryonyshcmyony · 07/08/2021 10:32

Yes much to dhs delight Hmm

NewYearNewTwatName · 07/08/2021 10:34

oh the sawing on that horses mouth after last fence went down Angry that was just nasty.

NewYearNewTwatName · 07/08/2021 10:35

that was referring to the Latvian

Bryonyshcmyony · 07/08/2021 10:35

Dd just said I wish there was someone standing at the finish just to pat the horses

Squirrel26 · 07/08/2021 10:38

There was also a female South Korean competitor yesterday who did a really nice round. Very quiet.

Maybe South Korea could lend the Germans their showjumping coach?

godmum56 · 07/08/2021 10:46

@BlossomingSlowly

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.

I do want to sound harsh. Any rider or coach who abuses the horse should immediately be disqualified.
AtomHeartMotherOfGod · 07/08/2021 10:56

I heard the names are pulled out of a hat. It seemed unfair to have a horse like that as part of the mix.

Punching seems cruel to me but I'm not a horsewoman; that trainer may have had success doing that with other horses. I know dog training can involve smacking in response to undesired behaviour.

Bryonyshcmyony · 07/08/2021 10:59

Horses aren't machines.
It had jumped that height for years with no issues.
Noone would have known how he'd react confronted with such a bad rider

Flowers500 · 07/08/2021 11:00

On basic horse welfare grounds, I don’t think there should be any horses in there that are ridden in a gag or similarly extremely strong bit—if they require that tack they shouldn’t be used. Likewise should be absolutely no Spurs.

These are serious bits of machinery that should only be used by highly highly experienced riders, who have excellence balance, are fully in control of themselves and understand the severity. ( minutes of hauling at a gag is just totally unacceptable.

Even people I know with 10 years experience riding would be nervous about the responsibility of using a gag bit.

AtomHeartMotherOfGod · 07/08/2021 11:02

Sorry - I started composing ages ago and finished after the thread had moved on, so didn't see the thing about the trainer being fired. Good to know that's not an approved technique!

NewYearNewTwatName · 07/08/2021 11:02

AtomHeartMotherOfGod
RTFT

godmum56 · 07/08/2021 11:08

@Floralnomad

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 .
yup I have.
Squirrel26 · 07/08/2021 11:08

That horse was confused, anxious, uncomfortable and given absolutely no chance to do the 'right' thing. The fact that he cleared any fences at all while being given absolutely no guidance or confidence from his rider shows how obliging he actually was.

If I got on my horse in that state and tried to make him jump he'd probably put me on the floor. And I would deserve it.

godmum56 · 07/08/2021 11:10

@AtomHeartMotherOfGod

I heard the names are pulled out of a hat. It seemed unfair to have a horse like that as part of the mix.

Punching seems cruel to me but I'm not a horsewoman; that trainer may have had success doing that with other horses. I know dog training can involve smacking in response to undesired behaviour.

and smacking dogs is cruel too FFS. It should not be about success but about what is humane. otherwise lets use cattleprods on kids.....that would work!
godmum56 · 07/08/2021 11:11

@Flowers500

On basic horse welfare grounds, I don’t think there should be any horses in there that are ridden in a gag or similarly extremely strong bit—if they require that tack they shouldn’t be used. Likewise should be absolutely no Spurs.

These are serious bits of machinery that should only be used by highly highly experienced riders, who have excellence balance, are fully in control of themselves and understand the severity. ( minutes of hauling at a gag is just totally unacceptable.

Even people I know with 10 years experience riding would be nervous about the responsibility of using a gag bit.

yes this absolutely. Horses are not tools for idiot humans to use for their idiot competitions
purplesequins · 07/08/2021 11:26

Horses are not tools for idiot humans to use for their idiot competitions

tbh that's all most horses are. without competitions horses would be at the brink of extinction. celebrating good horsemanship is possible with high level competitions.

maybe the modern pentathlon board needs to reconsider the weighting of the riding part if they want to keep this part of the competition.

AbsolutelyPatsy · 07/08/2021 11:31

Kate French does come from horse background tbf
i wonder about the german girls experience?

AbsolutelyPatsy · 07/08/2021 11:31

anyway i think we have a good chance for GB in the men's

101spacehoppers · 07/08/2021 11:45

I was shouting 'retire'! at the screen. It gave me flashbacks- my first loan pony belonged to a local showjumping family who had overjumped her too young and freaked out when she got in the ring and mainly went backwards (she was cracking at gymkhana though). But I just took her out. The overall standard of riding was pretty bad. Why do they think they need spurs if the horses are experienced schoolmaster types?