Zara Phillips Current Events 5: December 2006-September 2007

[Arncliffe]

Toytown loves to be photographed.

The message that I got was that if there is no upgrade in the quality of groom then more fences will be knocked down.

[Onassis Line]

Originally Posted by Arncliffe

Toytown loves to be photographed.

The message that I got was that if there is no upgrade in the quality of groom then more fences will be knocked down.

Arncliffe, could you explain further please what it is you've heard ?

[Arncliffe]

Nothing what I have heard. I was just reading Toytown's expression in the Reuters photo collection especially the one with him and Mike. Toytown looked willfully unimpressed with an attitude designed to get even over Zara's divided affections.

This horseandhound thread lays the blame for the dropped fence as 50/50.

Horse and Hound Online Forum: Lucinda's comment about Toytown getting it wrong in the SJ.

Toytown apparently allowed himself to be distracted. ( He might have been looking for another groom.)

[scooter]

Originally Posted by CasiraghiTrio

Is it because on show jumping, there is more emphasis on the perfect form of the jump? I don't know if it is so, only guesssing at why cross country could be considered "easier", though I'm sure both have their own challenges.
Or maybe because there is a tighter concourse with show jumping, where the cross country course has more running time between the obstacles?

At any rate, here are some pics of Zara and Stephanie at the Burghley trials:
Rex 1
Rex 2
Steph and Sandy watch Zara (Rex)
Stephanie is a pretty girl.

Form is irrelevant in the CC and SJ phases. Leave the jumps up and go the fastest and you win. In dressage it's very important. Kind of the diference between hockey and fugure skating if that makes sense.

[scooter]

Originally Posted by chrissy57

The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh toured China from the 12th to 18th October, 1986.

This was the tour where the Duke got into trouble for his 'slitty eyes' comment.

The flight to China is about 14 hours. To Australia that is only the first leg of the flight. Then we have another 7 hour flight.

However, long overseas tours are things that she has been cutting back recently. Remember she is 81 and will be 82 next year.

I am sure that you would go and see your grandchild compete but your visit is not a State matter, which hers would be. There would be all sorts of considerations that would need to be put into place. These would have to be done long before the announcement of the team and what a let down that would be for her to make all the diplomatic arrangements etc and then find that Zara isn't in the team. She wouldn't then be able to pull out and decide not to go as that would be seen as an insult to the Chinese.

Unfortunately for the Queen everything she does has implications far and away from being an ordinary mother and grandmother - remember all the people baying for her blood in 1997 when she was acting as a grandmother to her two distraught grandsons when their mother died but the people expected her to stop being a grandmother and come and comfort them.

This is similar - her government would have to approve her going and then the Chinese would have to invite her and approve and then all the security etc. That is why I doubt that she would go - but I am sure that she would love to. Hopefully Zara will also make the team in 2012 and then The Queen can go as those games are in London and the Queen will be there as she will be opening them.

Only problem is that she has a world/olympic caliber horse NOW and is at the top of her game NOW, maybe not in another four years. Even with an unlimited cheque book, it's like lightening striking to have a horse of that ability. The really top flight ones are virtually impossible to buy, because the owners dont want them sold out of the country. Most of the really good European Warmblood horses are at this time coming from Germany and Holland.

[CasiraghiTrio]

Originally Posted by scooter

Form is irrelevant in the CC and SJ phases. Leave the jumps up and go the fastest and you win. In dressage it's very important. Kind of the diference between hockey and fugure skating if that makes sense.

It makes sense, kind of. I thought form was important in SJ because the object seems to be the perfect jump, with the 45-degree angles on "up" position and "over and down". I honestly don't know about SJ. I skimmed through some key points of a book about it once, and this 45-degree angle stuff sticks out in my memory. Either I'm remembering it inaccurately or this stuff is really second-nature to these SJ riders, such that they just do it perfectly in their sleep practically.

[scooter]

I think what you are remebering is what is called the two point or half seat position that the rider assumes when jumping. This allows the riders weight to be off the horse's back while jumping and gives the horse a big release of the pressure on the rein allowing it to stretch it's neck.

[Skydragon]

Originally Posted by CasiraghiTrio

Is it because on show jumping, there is more emphasis on the perfect form of the jump? I don't know if it is so, only guesssing at why cross country could be considered "easier", though I'm sure both have their own challenges.
Or maybe because there is a tighter concourse with show jumping, where the cross country course has more running time between the obstacles?

In SJ, you really do have to be precise, get a turn wrong and you lose time, which can lose you points. Ask your horse to jump at the wrong point and that's a fence down. When you walk the course, you have to decide your line, to have a clear round and the fastest time. In other words, there is very little room for any errors.
In CC, although you walk the course and try to decide which way you are going to go, which portion of some of the jumps you are going to attempt, there is room for maneuver. The jumps are more solid, but there are large areas where you can shave time off of your round.

It is all great fun though!

[CasiraghiTrio]

Thank you, scooter and Skydragon, for explaining about SJ and CC. Both of you are making complete sense. I think I got it: both require precise planning and sense of timing, which is why the books always say often enough for the skimmers like me to catch it you must walk the course before the competition and make sure you've got it down. Finally, if I understand scooter, the 45-degree angle thing is mostly for giving relief to the horse and ensuring a clean jump.
Well, me ladies (and gentlemen) I have filled up the thread quite enough with my clueless questions about eventing. It's time overdue for some pics.
waving, smiling, kissing Toytown
talking to or being consoled by Mary King, and upper right with Mike Tindall, and bottom right Autumn Kelly
riding, looking, biting nails
squinting, talking, drinking
In pic 3 from left the caption says Peter has his arm around her (It's hard to tell from the distance and all the sunlight, but he kind of looks more like Mark, no?)
Zara walks and studies the course
Courtesy of Reuters and staff photographer Alessandro Bianchi