Horseware Eventing Podcast

Sam and Diarm talk about managing chance, about using an OST model to achieve your off-season goals and about why there is no such thing as luck. Sam even throws in a few practical tips for seeing a stride! 

This week attention turns to Adelaide and the last CCI4* of the 2018 season. We pick some potential winners, pitting two predictive models against each other for the first time.

We are also delighted to be joined by Andrew Hoy, who gives us stories from his past (and plans for his future) and talks about what the fans will be enjoying this weekend at the show.

The final European 4* of the season at Les Etoiles de Pau did not disappoint with French young gun Thibault Fournier rising to the occasion to win his debut at the level. The team talk through all the action in France in this latest episode.

Think of the attribute list of an event horse. Footwork, reactions, intelligence, athleticism, carefulness, scope, speed, stamina, impulsion, submissiveness, paces and trainability. Which attributes are we testing at one and two-star and how much emphasis is placed on each? How these attributes are tested will absolutely shape the type of event horses that are bred, produced and purchased, and then it will continue to shape how we train them. If 76% of horses all score the same score of zero penalties in the cross-country, but they get rewarded for everything they do in the dressage arena, then over time we will end up with dressage horses being asked to perform cross-country rather than cross-country horses being asked to perform dressage.
In the latest Eventing Podcast, we begin a discussion that we hope will engage people. This engagement may well explain why things are scored the way they are and it might transpire that this is the best way forward for the sport. But we also present an alternative scoring solution. A method of rewarding the best all-round performance. If there were no consequences to extreme dressage in eventing then there would be no problem. But there are consequences. We are shortening top level courses and removing jumping efforts over fears of stamina. We have horses and riders that are growing up with less cross-country attributes and training than is desirable and this presents a safety concern. Our sport has one unique phase which attracts spectators and should remain the heartbeat of the sport.

Nicole drafts in Tom McEwen to hear all about his WEG adventures, plans for Toledo de Kerser in 2019 & of course what Tom thinks of Sam’s impression…

On top of this there is a look forward with Boekelo in the Netherlands this coming weekend where there is a wealth of top talent on display including the clash of Julia Krajewski’s Samurai du Thot & Tim Lips’s Bayro.

Don’t forget that you can subscribe to the Eventing Podcast on iTunes to make sure you don’t miss any episodes!