Why the Kiwis are looking so good right now
“It’s a real problem for us, we’re trying to work out where to send everybody and what to do. It’s not so bad for the top horses like Nereo and Lenamore, they don’t really have anything left to prove, but there’s a couple on the fringes who want to show us how good they are, I feel for them more than anything. I’ll have a meeting with Erik Duvander and we’ll thrash things through. Luhmuhlen is a little close to the Olympics, Saumur is definitely an option. We’re looking at Chatsworth although they’re saying that might get cancelled too, but it’s a little hillier, twistier and bigger than Saumur, it would be harder to get the time and would mirror London more. We’ve got Barbury, and all the horses that are running are experienced so it shouldn’t be too bad, it just makes our job a little bit harder, I suppose.”
While he was at Rolex Andrew discussed the New Zealand programme with me,
“We have a lean, mean hard system that we’re working; we have moved on from the Olympics being the prize and we’re looking at medals. We’re working to get our riders to understand that they have to perform at the highest level, and the best thing they can do is compete – the more you compete, ‘ten thousand hours of practice will make you better’. We won’t name our team until the final day before the Olympic cut-off, and we’re expecting everybody to perform. That’s why Andrew Nicholson brought his horses here to Kentucky this week to prove that if something should happen to one of his other horses, then theses horses might be up to it. We expect everybody to be able to finish on their dressage score but the way the courses are structured these days there is inherent risk – a skinnny, then they put bravery in front of skinny – we tell all our riders they’re allowed one mistake in five, so an isolated refusal or even an elimination as long as there’s a reasonable explanation wouldn’t be the be all and end-all.”
Funnily enough Andrew Scott is the only kiwi on the Selection Committee which is made up of himself as Chairman, High Performance Manager, Swede Erik Duvander, and Dressage Coach, Brit Judy Bradwell. In an interesting statistic to illustrate what a small eventing nation his is, and which I can barely believe, Andrew told me there are only about 15-20 advanced horses competing at home in New Zealand, and perhaps about 30 total in the UK.
Equestrian Sports New Zealand has a nice, tidy wrap of all the decisions that were eventually made regarding Badminton, and Andrew will returning to New Zealand next week.
It was also just announced that Mark Todd’s Land Vision is out of Olympic contention following a tendon injury. 10-year-old NZB Campino is aiming for Chatsworth, while NZB Grass Valley, who still needs to qualify, is pointed for Saumur, with Major Milestone looking towards Tattersalls.
British Olympic Hopefuls
“We’ve re-routed Percival to Chatsworth next week, and Easy Target is going to go to Luhmuhlen. They’re both going to run in the OI at Aston-le-Walls, and I’ve also entered them both at Houghton in the CIC*** just in case Chatsworth is cancelled too. Yogi spoke to me, and said that those that are on horses that are in the selection process have been routed to Chatsworth, and he added that if it rains too hard he’d put all of us on water-skis! I told Yogi that William would be alright because the way he’s riding at the moment he’d be able to walk on the water!”
Francis had watched the entire Rolex Kentucky Three Day event online, and as Chairman of ERA has an invested interest in the frangible pin discussion that arose during the cross country. Already, he has sent out an online petition on the subject garnering feedback from all over the world, and just while we were talking William Fox-Pitt sent him a text telling him that was a good start. Most people – riders, organisers, officials, seem to agree that the rule needs to be discussed, it’s just what needs to be done and how it is implemented that will be hard to agree upon. Meetings and forums are taking place this week, and we intend to cover this issue in much more detail on Eventing Nation shortly.
Eventing Safety John, as we would expect, has all the scoop on the Australians and their non-Badminton plans, and we will keep you posted on any new developments as we become aware of them. I’m glad to report that the lone US Badminton entry Colleen Rutledge seems to have developed a healthy British sense-of-humour, ie dark and very dry (no pun intended) : her coach Jimmy Wofford reported today that Colleen’s theme tune is now Adele’s Set Fire to the Rain!
Wishing that I was indeed somewhere over the Atlantic, and sorry not be bringing you all the news from Badminton, but thank you for reading regardless. Rain, rain Go Away and Go Eventing!
