Equestrian gold: expert view

Yesterday afternoon was my admin session with Polly. She was held up at the dentist and I started to watch the equestrian event knowing she would want to watch this. I was soon absorbed and when she arrived my enjoyment was enhanced by her expert knowledge of the sport. Dressed in smart livery, the fences beautified by flowers and the horses elegantly groomed it’s an attractive gracious sport and just about the only one that men and women compete together. Polly told me that an Olympic horse can cost £3m. She said that riders like Nick Skelton and James Whittaker were more old school who bomb round the course and the younger ones like Ben Mayer are more stylish. I noted a certain skill in lifting the hind legs of the horse over the fence. She explained the most riders count the steps to the fence and are prepared to make an adjustment. Some riders like Nicola Pavitt can do this intuitively others like her have to concentrate. In the modern pentathlon the fences are 1m 10 high, and the horses randomly selected. She explained  that notwithstanding a children’s level of height the pentathletes find this discipline very difficult. The radio commentator spoke of a German pentathlete once attacking a horse in frustration.

After she left I watched the final play-off. What a fillip to us oldies that Nick Skelton aged 58 took the gold. That is another attraction of this sport, like golf age does not seem to be a bar to achievement. As kid I can remember some of the riders that competed the Horse of The Year. Polly explained that the Qataris have more or less taken over the sport even hosting the Grans Prix events with little experience. There was a Qatari sheikh in the final so they must have made some improvement. It’s rather odd that the BBC, never backward in promoting gender equality, does not broadcast this sport more. Let’s hope that Nick Skelton gives the sport a spur as well as us old farts.