wow scary X-C pic of myself

[Flying Hippotamus]

At an event a week ago at BN.

http://photos.tallmanphoto.com/gallery/6500260_QTSdK#413119116_a9f7z

All I felt was a really big jump, I thought he took a big spot put really he came in a little close. The footing in front of the jump was absolute muck. He really rapped with the back legs too. This was the only problem he had the whole course, I haven't gotten into studs yet and he didn't slip at all. He was an absolute X-C machine.
You can see the 2 pics before. At the jump before he had come racing up the hill and I was still in the back seat, as he took off I just threw my hands forward to release. In the next pic I was grabbing mane as I felt the footing get deep. We were near the end of the division and the normally white rolltop had an arc of brown mud splattered on the front. Viggo sucked back for a second and I had to push him a bit. It had poured rain for an hour during dressage warm up so my newmann gloves were nothing but goo. I had a pair of work gloves in my truck so I used those for jumping. Never needed an extra pair gloves before! Geez, I love eventing!!!!!!

BTW - doesn't he totally look like a woolly mammoth? He got so hairy this year because of the odd weather. I've never clipped before but I'm thinking of it this year.

[mjrtango93]

Looks like you weren't the only one with that funky jump. There are at least 3 others in almost that exact position in those thumbnails on the left.

[Eventcrazy]

Yep a little scary!!!

[SilvyFilly]

I was going to say that too. In the other thumbnails the other horses seemed to have just as much of a problem getting over that as you did. It's fun to go over to the pictures as see how everything you felt actually looked.

[CBudFrggy]

I loff your screenname, but when I checked your photos, I didn't see any flying hippopotami. :D

Your leg looks good. Good thing he sucked back a little, maybe he thought he didn't need a little push. :)

[Whisper]

Maybe her horse really likes water? ;)

FH, when I first opened the picture, his legs blended into the red in the background. I thought, "Hmm, she's maybe jumping ahead a bit, but not *that* bad." Then, I looked a little closer and went :eek:.

[Fancy That]

I wonder why so many horses are hanging over that jump? I mean, literally, with forelegs pointing straight down!?? I looked at the other thumbnails and saw the same thing. Odd...

It's a good thing this is at BN and scope isn't an issue.... (ie - hitting jump with knees and flipping over)

Good for you and pony to make it safely through the course!

[Flying Hippotamus]

It is one of the more looky fences on course, very bright when not splattered with mud. It was fence number 5 and just about everyone lost rhythm after number 3 a downhill palisade with a sharpish right turn - not doable in that footing. I decided to keep straight and then circle him left for balancing. He got pissed and squealed, like he was telling me not mess up the flow of his course! Then he took off up the hill to those logs.

The Flying Hippo was a percheronx I had. She was all of 4 years old, 15.3 hh and 2000lbs. Where I boarded her she jumped a full size metal pole gate just to get back in her stall. Left a bit of ding in the top of the gate. The BO started calling her that. She's with another COTHer now via giveaways, I needed to go back to an OTTB.

[Wigwag]

Yours isn't near as scary as some of the others.... yikes

http://photos.tallmanphoto.com/gallery/6500260_QTSdK#413108768_PDEYo

[achcosuva]

Nearly every horse had a really ugly/scary picture over that fence. Were there any falls? It looks dangerous!

But your horse looks absolutley adorable in the picture before that one over the three-log fence. He looks like he's saying, "Yay! I love cross country! Let's go, Mom!" And the same in the galloping picture -- he just looks like he's having a great time. :D

And the horse directly before you galloping up to that fence looks more like "Whooooa, what is that thing? You want me to do WHAT?"

[pooh]

My thought was exactly how deep, mushy did it get before that jump??? Looks like many of the riders after you had simialr issues - almost like the horses sank down before they got a chance to push off.

[mommy peanut]

You can see how deep & mucky it is in this photo. The horse has sunk passed his fetlocks!! http://photos.tallmanphoto.com/gallery/6500260_QTSdK#413121695_cMUTP

compare the above to this photo of the same jump earlier in the runs. The ground looks a bit more solid here.
http://photos.tallmanphoto.com/gallery/6500260_QTSdK#413080905_sJFDE

[Bobthehorse]

Yours isn't near as scary as some of the others.... yikes

http://photos.tallmanphoto.com/gallery/6500260_QTSdK#413108768_PDEYo


Its funny, the ones where the horses look bad, the riders look pretty good, and the ones where the horses look good (ok, I just noticed the one) the rider looks bad! Darndest thing.

[hey101]

FH, Viggo looks fantastic!! I remember when I first saw him at Jane's at one of her schooling trials- despite that little scary moment on XC , he looks like he has come so far. You must be having a great time with him. Say hi to everyone at the horse park for me :)

[deltawave]

You have a lot of guts posting that picture--I don't think ANYONE here could honestly say there isn't one (or more) of those out there--we usually make a face and skip right by them, rather than posting them! :lol:

I don't think there's a horse alive who doesn't throw a jump like that from time to time. You are right in the middle of him, ready to help, not getting in the way, and he looks great everywhere else. Well done. :)

[Flying Hippotamus]

You have a lot of guts posting that picture--I don't think ANYONE here could honestly say there isn't one (or more) of those out there--we usually make a face and skip right by them, rather than posting them! :lol:

LOL, was I supposed to be embarrassed by that? It wasn't our fault, just bad footing. I posted because I was shocked by how bad it looked when I just thought he had a rub. (and he didn't even do one of his signature you-made-me-hit-that-jump bucks) I actually had warned the organizer about that jump when I walked the course the day before. Besides this is a horse that specializes in embarrassing me. I didn't tell you HIS dressage score. Now that is embarrassing. This is a that horse squeals at canter departs so that I can hear the judge and scribe giggling. Then there was the time when he was behaving shockingly well at a dressage show in warm-up. I dismount and begin walking out of one of those really beautiful indoors, with polished wood and the sun streaming in windows. As we pass the secretary stand at the entrance he stops and takes a 5 minute pee. People were jumping out of line to avoid the spray and rushing to cover the dunkin donuts. <sigh> Do you think a mere bad fence could embarrass me!!! lol

[enjoytheride]

So in a case where the footing is so bad are there any rules in place about moving the jump or taking it off the course? I think that I would worry about my horse being injured taking off from footing that deep.

[pk1027]

To me it looks like all those horses are looking at something spooky, they all sort of have that gawky look in their eyes.

[asterix]

There are no _rules_ per se but the officials can decide to take the fence off the course. This happens at several horse trials a year that I go to -- not always my course, and usually the upper level fences, but...I think it's at the discretion of the organizer and/or Ground Jury. Riders with a worry about this should go to the rider rep if there is one or to the TD.

It is less common for a fence to be taken off a course after the division in question is underway. I can think of one example where after one group went, the next group of that level had a fence removed. Someone like Janet, one of our rules-gurus, would know better.

I agree that there are a high number of pics that show really poor jump form there -- would seem fairly obvious it was the fence and not the horses. Would be nice for the organizer to see this. If I were jump judging this fence, I'd be sure to bring that back to the organizer as well.

[Highflyer]

I don't know how much is the footing, how much is the jump-- and how much is the photographer. That's a VERY odd moment to choose to photograph, and (s)he did it many times. There's a photographer around here (GRC) who posts a lot of pictures--often 3-4 per fence--and it's amazing how you can have a couple that look wretched and one that looks great, all over the same fence. Just a matter of timing. I think a lot of those horses would have looked totally different a second later when they were actually in the air.

[asterix]

erm, I disagree. I have looked at zillions and zillions of pics of my horses, and my friends' horses, from events -- from BN through Prelim. I can hardly remember one that looked like these (except for someone whose horse I have always thought was an unsafe jumper). Any horse can have a bad fence, sure, but so many? I don't think it's a timing thing to be so over your shoulder and with such dangling knees...

[Reynard Ridge]

*Waves* from across the pond (and over the bridge and down the lane and around the back alley).

It must be great to be riding instead of organizing! Glad he is working out for you. :yes: