Thoughts on Mandiba?

[Eventer4life28]

Any thoughts on Mandiba regarding how he did at the Olympics?

My thoughts -- Being so young and inexperienced, I thought he did quite well. 41 in dressage, 2 green run-outs on XC, and had a rail in SJ. Lovely horse though....

[deltawave]

I thought his dressage was really great, and he should've scored much lower.

Seemed a bit shell-shocked on XC, but was very game and kept trying. Also quite tired at the end, but that was 90% of them.

Didn't see him go in SJ.

I wouldn't kick him out of my barn for peeing in the aisle. :D

[mythical84]

I think he'll be a force to be reckoned with in 2010 and 2012.

I wonder if he would have done better on XC if he has jumped around Rolex this spring instead of JF (because of last years FHI's jog fiasco). I wonder if he wouldn't have been so wide-eyed.

[gully's pilot]

His dressage was lovely, much improved from only a few months ago, and his show jumping also looked really stellar. He handled the crowds and commotion very well for his experience level. He tried hard on cross country. I'm looking forward to watching him the next couple of years.

[Jealoushe]

I think it was a bad idea, and not fair to that horse or other riders to choose him. He was definitly not ready and I wouldn't be surprised if he lost a bit of confidence. Why the H*ll didn't they give someone with a more experienced horse go?

[mythical84]

If I remember correctly the only other "reserve" horses in England (at the time of Northern Spy's injury) were Buck/Ballyroe and Amy/Leyland. Neither of those horses had done a 4* either. So you come down to choosing between Buck and Karen (b/c Amy already has Pogi). Karen has more int'l experience.

[Jealoushe]

Yeah, I guess I was thinking people who werent in England...

[ponyjumper4]

If I remember correctly the only other "reserve" horses in England (at the time of Northern Spy's injury) were Buck/Ballyroe and Amy/Leyland. Neither of those horses had done a 4* either. So you come down to choosing between Buck and Karen (b/c Amy already has Pogi). Karen has more int'l experience.

True, but Buck and his horse had at least ran around a course in Hong Kong at the test event. I would have picked them first.

[wanderlust]

True, but Buck and his horse had at least ran around a course in Hong Kong at the test event. I would have picked them first.

IIRC, the test event was at the ** level.

All around, it would have been a tough choice. I probably would have erred on the side of Kim, Jen Wooten or even Will Faudree, who always seems to get around for a solid team score. And, while Comet is an awesome horse and had a stellar showing at Rolex, I'm not sure he and Becky would have been my pick for the team, either.

I do think Mandiba is awesome, and by 2010 will be rock-solid. :-)

[mbarrett]

Even though he had a very experienced international rider in the irons, he was not ready for prime time.

KO should have taken the long routes and given Mandiba a good round. He's too green for the straight routes. I'd rather see them have time faults than major faults for runouts/refusals.

Give him a few years and he'll be great.

(Well, you asked...)

[snoopy]

Even though he had a very experienced international rider in the irons, he was not ready for prime time.

KO should have taken the long routes and given Mandiba a good round. He's too green for the straight routes. I'd rather see them have time faults than major faults for runouts/refusals.

Give him a few years and he'll be great.

(Well, you asked...)



Perfect:yes:

[AUeventer]

I absolutely do not understand why Mandiba was chosen to go. IMO he's just too green compared to all the other horses out there. The alternates and their collective experience were mentioned in the above posts, but I don't necessarily agree with the alternates chosen either. Karen of course is an amazing rider, but it's about the TEAM, is it not??? I assumed that's why they passed over Kim and Paddy, since Kim is a very accomplished international competitor like Karen. Maybe being MRS. O'Connor has its advantages...

I'm not knocking anyone, except for maybe the selectors. There were some very experienced, solid pairs out there that were overlooked this year. I'm very surprised by that.

[Shrapnel]

But how do we know Kim's horse didnt have a soundness problem? Maybe Paddy had a slight something wrong when they went to do the final vet check at The Fork, and the vets, etc. may have decided it was a no-go.

I really doubt they left Kim and Paddy here for any other reason. Something must have been wrong with him physically.

[AirJockey24]

I didn't see his dressage but saw his xc and sj. I thought he did great for a green horse. Remember though that he wouldn't have gone had the others been sound! I agree too that it was a bit odd for a green horse to be chosen over a more expirenced one, even as an alternate.

I don't really blame him for the stops on xc. On one hand the jumps were an average of 116 meters apart (according to the commentators) and the course was twisty which i've heard those factors made it difficult to establish a rythm, but also KO floated the reins to the jumps that he ran out of. I love Karen, shes a great rider, but I think the stops were a combination of the reins being floated to him and him saying "hey wait a second... what?!"

just an opinon!

[wanderlust]

But how do we know Kim's horse didnt have a soundness problem? Maybe Paddy had a slight something wrong when they went to do the final vet check at The Fork, and the vets, etc. may have decided it was a no-go.

I really doubt they left Kim and Paddy here for any other reason. Something must have been wrong with him physically.

That's nothing but pure conjecture and speculation. And if that was the criteria, there would have been one or two others left off the final list of horses and alternates.

[TripleC]

That's nothing but pure conjecture and speculation. And if that was the criteria, there would have been one or two others left off the final list of horses and alternates.

Nothing wrong with Paddy. Kim is a fine horsewoman and wasn't about to take a horse that was not quite ready. She never had any intention of him going to Hong Kong. She looks to the bigger picture, not the short term grasp at glory. Keep an eye on him. You should see him @ WEG and 2012. Thats more what she has in mind for him...

[pwynnnorman]

I'm not sure why there are so many questions about this. It seems to me to have been a simple matter of timing and availability. There were almost-last-minute losses on the original team, leaving us with two comparatively green horses, both of whom, incidentally, happened to be rather good SJ horses, too, but one was a consistently better dressage horse ridden by a more experienced rider...and now that I've looked up both of their records, Mandiba seems to have had more *** under his belt, actually (five to Ballynoe Castle's two):

Mandiba: http://useventing.com/competitions.php?id=831&horse_id=101051

Ballynoe Castle: http://useventing.com/competitions.php?id=831&horse_id=112502

Seems like a pretty straightforward decision to me (keeping the timing in mind, first and foremost).

[FatDinah]

Hey, a lot of EXPERIENCED horses had run-outs in XC and mental farts in dressage and show jumping with the crowds and lights.

Equestrian competitions are a lot like the stock market: Past performances can be good or bad indicators of what will happen THAT Day.

So I think Mandiba did very well, considering his age and experience. He also jumped well in the arena, which tells me he was not having that bad an experience. Maybe he'll improve from this, maybe not. But he and his rider and the team should not have any regrets.