I cannot BELIEVE that guy on the chestnut at the behinning who totally went SUBMERGED into the water got back on!!! They were BOTH down for a minute... not to mention as the horse was scrambling to get his feet under himself again to get back UP- he HAD to have KICKED that rider in the FACE with his hind hooves at least 3 or 4x!?!
I rode in this but my Dad failed to pre pay for me to be in the Video. So sad. There is a brief shot of me walking SJ with Torrance, but it was just a flash. Experience changed my life and I am glad we have this footage!
It is amazing to think how eventing really has changed over the years. To us now, yes this looks completely insane; however, it was a different era then - completely different sport. The one thing that everyone forgets is that this was still the age of the long format.
well there was one man called mark todd who competed on that day on top hunter and hes still competing today for new zealand and has been to 6 olympic games
I am glad that we have done all that we can to keep the horses and the riders safe; however, we have created our own set of problems. More, longer competitions, less fit horses and sometimes less qualified riders thunder around courses today. Before you judge, remember we still have a long way to go before we can call ourselves “perfect”.
These horses were more often stronger and fitter than the ones that we have today simply because of the demands of the competitions at the time. These fences were more complicated, yes; however they were also smaller - less "furniture" looking than the pieces that we have today.
110% agreed. I hate the people commenting on here about what "terrible riders" these were too! These were- and some still ARE- some of the greatest legends of the sport! It was just a different time period! They surely would've LAAAAAUGHED& poked fun at OUR new version of EVENTING today!!
These horses were hotter breeds than today too, more thoroughbreds. I know there were some Arabians eventing back then too. Horses bred for longer distances. And lots of vet checks.
13:03-I love that he pats him after his good effort. And at 13:10, that "open ditch and brush" used to blow my mind every time I went to Rolex. You can't see how MASSIVE that ditch was! I quit going to Rolex in 1990 because it was too scary to watch, but I loved cheering on my favorite riders in late 70s through 80s. I still think of the medics there and the bad falls when I hear the Vietnam era helicopters. Too upsetting to watch horse and rider get hurt. I usually never went over 3 foot fences. I've always been a chicken and that's okay. If you've seen the movie Sylvester, we were used to help the Korean crew pan their shots to the jumps. Luckily we're not in the movie, but many friends are. Silly, yet fun movie for old horse lovers. Thank you to the brave riders of my youth. I wish you well! Thanks for the upload here "Laura Ponies."
TheOrangeSmiles I know this duscussion us very old but riding back in the day took talent and guts. Sports today are so watered down because people are weak. Weak and worthless. Bruce was a fearless rider.
I think that New Zealand girl needs to go back to basics. Her leg kept swinging back, her stirrups were too far back on her foot, she had terrible position and that poor horse. I think the only reason she lasted that long was because the horse had been either trained well or beaten until it got everything correct.
That new zealand girl on the grey horse, oh my gawd. She kicked the poor hell out of that thing because she appears to have zero leg. Then you notice that all the kicking has totally shifted the stirrup iron so her foot is a little over halfway jammed into it. it's a wonder she didn't get dragged when she finally came off.
Wow, brave horses, brave riders, crazy fences - glad today we have developed the sport to give both horse and rider protection from serious injury, but are we at risk of going too far and making the sport too safe and sterile? Hats off to the old days!
That first rider should never have been allowed back on. He got kicked in the face and chest when his horse was struggling to get out of the water.😬🤯 So glad they brought in automatic elimintation after rider falls. Still love the Kentucky event.
Id say hell yeah about 80% of the changes have DEFINITELY been for the best (can u IMAGINE that many upright, vertical, max height, NO GROUND LINE fences on XC today!? Eeeek!!!) But i definitely miss the gung ho boldness & stamina these old XC courses required!!! And sadly it seems like a LOT of upper level, international courses today- instead of asking for speed, stamina, and bravery- are kinda starting to resemble certain aspects of these crazy old courses all over again. Namely with all the twisting jerking zig zagging tight turns and crazy technical questions... *EXAMPLE- RIO 2016 & 2019 PAN AM GAMES!?!* its barely even XC anymore- more like a VERY LONG, hardy showjump course....
god that first fall, that horse is HURT, he shakes with the weight of his rider and limps off once he's on. that head nod is a huge tip if the shaking wasn't and it looks like he wont get up to a canter let alone jump. poor thing, he probably didn't live very long if they pushed him that hard.
Those AWFUL AWFUL Early days... what they got away with... ALL for a FUCKING Piece of Medal!!! Today they (riders) would be VERY NEARLY Prosecutable or Heavily Fined!!! {that horse Literally LANDED......... ON IT"S SIDE!!! And PUSSSSSSSHED} to keep going!!!!
Eventing is my passion but to have a rider or HORSE fall and to just get up and keep going is wrong. I am very glad things have changed. The sport is still tougher than ever but these days eventing is more about the horse and riders safety more than anything else...
If I had to pick one rider to study, in the hopes of being anywhere near as good as he is - it would be Bruce Davidson (the first). That show jumping round? You just don't see riders who are that quiet and independent with their bodies. At least not recently.
I'm a NZ'er, Joanne Bridgeman was a bloody good rider, not the first to go overseas, but pretty much, maybe our riding style was different in those days, I didn't see much wrong with her riding, I'll watch it again.
we have a XC course here that has a table that tis 3' hight and 5' wide, I measured it with a tape measure..might be an older one before they put the new rules in..but they still use it. for the upper levels..
If a horse doesn’t want to, you couldn’t force it to do this. The vast majority of these horses LOVE their jobs. Not to say that tricky fences like these aren’t dangerous, nor that today’s reforms aren’t justified. But if you watch footage of horses from this era in the starting box, you’ll see that they really, REALLY want to GO.
At 16:30 the frustration from the rider. Hope that horse had an advocate because that rider was hurting him on purpose in public, out of sight, oh boy.
This rider was really frustrated because the horse was just misbehaving, and the horse deserved more than one little tap of the whip. The horse needed to be corrected hard for misbehaving.
