One and Only (aka Chewy) has been sold.
I’ve been in a funk recently. It all started with what we shall politely call the “enigma that was the Canadian Eventing Team choices for the Pan Am Games” (read August’s Horse Sport editorial if you need help with that one). Then, of course, if you read my last blog you know I had to put down my beloved Timber Spirit. That was followed up by an unexpected sale of my second best horse ‘One and Only’ whom was indeed not for sale. However the transaction went a little like:
Trainer from up north comes into the barn and states: “My kid wants the fanciest horse able to win Young Riders in a year or two”
Me: “Well, I have that, but he isn’t really for sale right now.”
Trainer: “Well by kid has ‘X’ dollars.”
Me: “Which saddle would you like me to put on him?”
And alas, off went my Chewy to, no doubt, a fabulous home where he will, no doubt, shine like the star he is and indeed be on top of that YR podium in a few years. But it has left me all a bit hollow.
Finally, I was getting excited to do my first Advanced/Intermediate with my gorgeous What Law and on the eve of the event alas he had a temp of 104 and legs the size of mine and, sadly, I made the only choice, which was to stay home even though I had been looking forward to that moment for quite some time now. So…ergo my glum mood.
So I don’t really have anything exact to focus on for this blog, however I will share a few musings.
1. Dressage. I do love dressage. It is a taste I have acquired later on in life much like tomatoes. I hated both when I was a teen and stayed away from them as much as possible, only touching tomatoes when they appeared on pizza and dressage when it appeared in front of cross country, but now? I am actually quite fond of them.
I had a fantastic time traveling to the Young Rider Championships with the Area III eventers, so while there I made a point to watch as much of the pure dressage as I could and I very much enjoyed it. I was, however, shocked when two girls quite close to each other in order of go, got blown out of the ring on the first extension which directly followed the center line. Their horses indeed took a few funky steps during the extension, but only a few, and the one girl I watched in the warm up and she was sat on a horse that was quite tense so for her I would of thought there was a good chance the unlevelness was a result more of tension than of unsoundness. I was amazed that the judges were so quick to make a call like that and would not of at least waited until the next few movements, which included a 10m circle where I thought a lameness would be more apparent. I felt sorry for the two girls who naturally left the arena in tears and thought the judges to be a bit unsporting in their abruptness.
The day prior I had been able to watch the dressage horses jog in, where I did think there were a few definitely questionable horses and yet they did not so much as hold a single horse. This was quite different compared to during the eventing jogs where that ground jury was holding them so frequently I thought we were going to have to turn the lights on. I look at Young Riders as a place where often there are a few great, older horses there to teach the next generation the ropes and in saying that, the odd old age hitch can be forgiven. But that said, to close one’s eyes for the jog just to pee in their cereal during the test seems a bit of a dichotomy.
Now, of course, we have all witnessed the Totilas controversy and having read about it I ran to YouTube to see for myself and indeed there are a few moments where he looked a bit like me trying to run with my metal leg. I was interested that no bell was rung for him compared to the seemingly impulsiveness of the Young Rider judges. I must admit, I do not know the rules around such an issue, but I suppose you don’t want to be ‘The’ judge that rings out Totilas if the other judges are not of the same frame of mind…almost like being at an awkward dinner party and wondering who should grab the check. Of course, I am not a dressage rider and thus this won’t keep me up at nights, however I do think that if I was, it would be a big topic of conversation and I look very forward to my next lesson with Anne Gribbons who helps Leslie and I on the flat to see what her take on it was as one of the judges there.
2. Eventing. Oh boy. Canadian Eventing. If I had a dollar for everyone that has urged me to write my opinion about this topic over the last two months. Well…I wouldn’t have had to sell that horse, if you know what I mean, lol. But I have avoided it and will continue to do so when it comes to my own personal experience therein, however, I will say this: My dad told a joke once at a dinner party when I was about 10 that I have always remembered. I looked it up online and found it quite easily so it must be quite common, but it goes like this:
An American fisherman and a Canadian fisherman each are standing there with a big pot of lobsters. The lobsters in the Canadian’s pot are all struggling to get out and the American says, “You better watch those. You’re gonna lose your lobsters there.” And the Canadian doesn’t even look at the pot and says to him, “Don’t worry, they’re Canadian lobsters, their friends will pull them back down.”
Being part of Eventing Canada right now is a dirty place to be. Many riders are so upset with everything from the committees to the coach to the selectors that there does exist a Facebook private thread that would be akin to the mob that surrounds Frankenstein’s castle. People are very upset. They range from disillusioned to enraged, but people are not happy and something will need to be done soon, I should think.
The reality is that Canada has always been an underperforming nation at our sport, a very unsuccessful country with the exception of David’s WEGs, and, in fact, that trend of underperforming has continued with our bronze at the Pan Ams (first time Canada has lost the silver in 14 years or so) and our recent, desperate result in Aachen at the Nation’s Cup CIC where we finished seventh thanks to the TWENTY-ONE year old Brit who lay SECOND after dressage and show jumping, but then jumped the wrong side of a flag on xc thus eliminating their team.
Now wait, don’t get me wrong. I applaud each and every Canadian event rider out there. Being a Canadian eventer has got to be one of the very hardest jobs out there. There is zero support, in a country that has zero ownership culture, it is one hell of a hard road to travel and I frankly applaud any of us that are able to make a go at it. The problem is when we hear, or see on Facebook, people, and not just any people, but members of our committees publicly heralding the ‘successes’ of our riders. You see where the lobster joke comes in now? How will we ever get any better when our own selectors, committee members, etc are applauding desperate results? Certainly the first step to improvement has to be recognition – calling a spade a spade, not patting ourselves on the back for being awful. Our culture of mediocrity within the sport is never going to change for so long as we reward that. Why on earth would I want to be an owner in a country that thinks being second to last at a world event is something that should be applauded?
We can crucify the coach, we can criticize the committees, we can hate on the selectors, and certainly I have felt some of the above in the last two months, but I will also give a shout out there to the riders. Yes, while it is quite possible that the best thing right now for Eventing Canada would be to have an atomic bomb thrown at it, the remnants dusted off with the anything of value kept and the rest binned, in the meantime, WE must have higher standards, WE must be sickened with poor results, WE must sit our asses at home unless we think we can truly deserve to be somewhere or we will always and forever be BAD Canada.
