Blogger Contest Round Two: Emily Daignault

Over the weekend we announced our Blogger Contest final four; now we’re bringing you their victorious Round 2 entries in individual installments.

Their Assignment: Though some would say three-day eventing has made too many Olympic concessions, becoming increasingly TV-friendly at the expense of the long format, a recent New York Times Op-Ed argued that equestrian sports are “drenched in privilege,” and “should be ditched” from the Olympic calendar. In your opinion, what’s the value of the Olympic stage in eventing? Will it last?

Here we’ve got Emily Daignault’s entry. To read the previously-posted entry of Jenni Autry, click here.

Each entry will be presented unedited for fairness’ sake. Thanks as always for reading, Eventing Nation. Please leave feedback in the comments section.

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Bio:

Hi my name is Emily and I would like to be an EN blogger. Why? Because after 10 concussions, numerous broken bones, of course stitches, I feel that sitting behind a computer and pontificating on the active Eventing lives of others will lead me to riches beyond my wildest dreams! (Or it would be a sizeable difference in my bank account balance without frequent doctor and ER visits!) You see long before EN there was another website with the ground breaking idea to follow the upper levels of Eventing and put up live streaming audio and video event reports and give internet savvy folks the most up to the moment news as it happened. And I was the Eventing Correspondent! Sadly however it was 2001 and the average internet connection was 56k over a phone line. You know that old dial up sound of “Whirr, blip blip, bong.” AOL says “You’ve got mail!” and life was good. Except that it wasn’t. Only about 10,000 people across the US could hear and see our reports. This was great in its own way was great because the little “oops” moments of life didn’t make it very far. Like at Rolex, when I asked Ian Stark on camera did he think being British gave him an advantage on Mike E-S’s course as there are so many of them in the UK…and in mid-sentence he stopped me and said “I’m Scottish dear.” Ooo yea, journalism rule # 1, know your subject.

Entry:

Eventing does not belong in the Olympics anymore. There I said it… but how can this be me? I am the kid who adores every horsey movie with a cheesy plot and a happy ending replete with a gold medal and a guy for our heroine. I am of course assuming that the horse is gifted a lifetime supply of carrots, mints or whatever’s as well. So, having been that person how can I honestly feel this way? What’s the worst thing that could happen for being ‘anti-Olympics?’ (Instantly a mental image of thousands of angry chinchilla’s flying headlong at me crosses my consciousness and I decide to rethink my position on this topic……nope. No flying fur-balls will stop me!) I really and truly believe that the Olympics do not bring all good and positive things to Eventing. (Quick pause now as I peek out my window to make sure my trusty Subaru is not yet covered with layers of crawling grey fur on the attack. Nope. Good) I believe that we as a sport and an industry may be better off without the IOC and folks more interested in the bottom line. We should instead be allied with those who are used to prioritizing a horse’s welfare above getting the most bang for your Buck. (That’s dollars not Davidsons btw)

Now it’s taken me a LOT of time and a healthy amount of quizzing my friends and family to come to this feeling. But it started on a normal course walk. Well, ok not a totally normal course walk, I was walking a course, but I wasn’t ever going to ride it. I was instead treading my Nike’s over the clay and grass in Conyers, Georgia that made up the two 1996 Olympic courses. I was an Intermediate level rider at the time, my first season at that level. The fences were fair but I kept stopping and trying to figure out what was up with the footing? Moreover, what was up with the lines to and away from the fences? Flat ground was not in abundance and I was a bit confused. I had walked the biggest three day and horse trial courses on the east coast back then and I couldn’t recall any course that had horses landing and or approaching on the insides or outsides of their hooves as much as this. Quite frankly I thought we needed a motocross bike instead of a horse for this event. So being young and undereducated, as this was my first Olympic course seen up close, I went back and asked people much smarter than me why, if this was the terrain and footing, why was the event being held here? And a man whom I respect enough not to mention by name told me flat out, “Welcome to the Olympics.”

Once the dust (and bowed tendons) settled from Atlanta I figured the games would get back on track with an awesome course in Sydney. And by all accounts it was a great course, just not a great day. One catastrophic injury on xc and a record nine horse falls during the competition brought a dim shade to a great US result. David finally brought back the prize we longed so hard for, but I couldn’t help but think of how many American horses had gone lame, while training in Australia as well. What was going on in our pursuit of the Gold I wondered? Why were we pushing so hard for essentially a necklace whose ugly cousins can be bought most nights on QVC?

By 2001, when the IOC’s regular post-Olympic meeting had come up and the rumors were rampant that Eventing or equestrian may get the (un) ceremonial axe, I had started to think differently. My visions while watching International Velvet were no longer surrounded by soft light edges and the happy smile and tears as you see Tatum O’Neal wave as they played the British anthem. No instead I thought, “You know those fences are tiny, she went from Paper Moon to this? Oh but thank you for Anthony Hopkins. He can coach me any day. “ But I digress. Olympic Eventing had become dangerous to horses and humans and the collateral damage experienced by the “best in the world” was no longer acceptable. The little girl who had dreamed of wearing an Olympic medal started to realize a medal and personal glory wasn’t enough to risk her horse for.

I had seen the emperor and now I knew he was indeed naked. I was imagining Olympic decision makers cackling as they threw wrench after wrench into the machine that was our beloved sport. “Let’s put the games in Hotlanta!!! In the summer! And on clay footing and we’ll run out of money so we can’t possibly put a roof over the grandstand and everyone will be basking in the full sun all day. We don’t need to use an actual eventer for the NBC commentary, nah we’ll use a Show Jumper! Everyone knows all riders are the same! Ooo and then we’ll run horses in the 100% humidity of Hong Kong after a 90 minute ship to the cross country course and back to the barn. Let’s see how well they recover to jump stadium then! Welcome to the Olympics!”

The benefits to the Olympics are hard to picture when your mind is weaving an epic capitalism at all costs nightmare. And indeed can anyone picture something that is a tangible benefit to competing at the games? There’s one possible answer, ok two if you count the awesome “Made in China” official attire! But seriously the only tangible gain is the medal you may or may not win. Your horse’s greatest effort of its life is not tangible. Your biggest success on a world stage is not tangible. And the applause of the crowds is not tangible. No we’re trying to catch lightning in a jar and you just can’t.

Sponsorships and money may come to those who stood on the podium, but the names fade, and with the torch’s quelling so too does the attention span of the world. In the blink of an eye today’s heroes fade in a stack of wilted magazines strewn around the tack room. Not even a few months later it takes Wikipedia to recall which horse and rider did what exactly. I had an eventer ask me last month who J. Michael Plumb was. I about fell over. Well sure he’s only been in 8 Olympics, is a member of the USOC Hall of Fame but his last games was a while ago. Sure… you think you’ll remember Boyd…for now.

Whether the games retain Eventing beyond 2016 is a question for the IOC. It may stay, it may not. But the spirit behind what propelled the heroes of Olympics gone by has been lost among the waves of change and profiteering that have captured the attention of the masses now. And along the way the Olympics have become something that technically a single horse and rider could still do without financial assistance, but the truth is they seldom do.

Why? Did the little girls who loved the cheesy horsey movies give up? No. Did the horses who live to burst out of the start box decide they weren’t up for playing with the others? No. It just became more about the gold…and all the money it takes to get there. And for me, the team we send to the Olympics doesn’t represent our sport or the people I compete with in it. That sport is truly insanity in the middle. Our sport, my sport, rewards the bond between the horse and rider that supersedes the biggest jumps, the hardest atmosphere and pushes for every ounce of courage to finish first. That sport is not an Olympic sport anymore. And I am ok with that. I don’t need a medal draped around my neck, nor the world to cheer. I can pet my horse at the end of stadium and walk away a winner.

(Think to myself, it might not be a bad idea to teach the Labrador about chinchillas. Who knows maybe she’d like a pet….or a snack.)

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