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akaGallopingGal

Listed below are comments made by akaGallopingGal between Monday, 8th September 2008 and Tuesday, 9th September 2008.

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Parkmore Ed trots on to Olympic stage 4:12pm on 09 Sep 2008 Curiously, Fox-Pitt the Missus didn't blame Ballincoola for her mate's dismal 48.2 dressage test at Burghley (and his test on Tamarillo was not that much better...) What we're seeing is simply the wide range of Fox-Pitt's dressage abilities...no matter the horse, of course of course.
Parkmore Ed trots on to Olympic stage 7:49pm on 08 Sep 2008 While Fox-Pitt shows he can be an excellent horseman when he wants to be (Burghley '07-'08) perhaps his "self-confidence" got the best of him resulting in his poor performance at the '08 Olympic Games. In fact, one could argue he gave his BEST performance out of the dressage ring as he spun and sputtered about how everything was the horse's fault.

The Games are meant to reflect the very best in athletic performances and sportsmanship, thus bringing honour to Queen and Country.

Whinging and boo-hooing and blaming the horse and then sending the wife out as a surrogate excuser does not qualify as good sportsmanship -- in any country of the world.

The Olympic Games are predicated on competing at your best -- which means proper preparation. And if -- as many people are now saying -- Fox-Pitt did not work to get his horse to a level of familiarity and comfort with the inevitable noise and lights and crowds found at any Olympics, well then, prepared he was NOT.

I read that the horse suffered a serious puncture wound on the cross country which threatened his participation in the show jumping. But with eventual clearance from the Team GB vets, Parkmore Ed managed enough heart to put on a great show-jumping round to help our team bring home the Bronze.

Here questions about poor sportsmanship rear their heads again, because at this point, with winning any individual medal an impossibility, Fox-Pitt persisted (over the vociferous objections of others on the team) in participating in the next day's INDIVIDUAL show-jumping competition. With a wounded horse the vets were still saying was definitely in pain!!! I am still stunned that this was allowed to happen and perhaps an investigation would be appropriate.

I was always taught...from the very beginnings of my love affair with horses...that the welfare of the mount is paramount.

The fact that a rider would jeopardize an injured animal with no hope for a win, place or show brings dishonour to our sport, not to mention questions that must be asked about failing to properly prepare a horse for competition, then blaming the horse for a rider's shortcomings.

To answer the question "who is responsible, horse or rider" for an eventing performance, we all know it's supposed to be a partnership. But at the end of the day, I don't remember seeing any horses up there on the medal stand with their necks outstretched pawing and snorting for a medal to be hung around their necks!

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