Departures 2010

We should be improving the sport, not dumbing it down by making all fences uniform and easy to jump. I certainly do not wish to see the removal of water jumps - they're the easiest and by far the smallest obstacle to jump on the course anyway! There has been a case of horses being injured if a back leg slips back into the water tray on landing and for this reason most courses have modified them to make them safer from that aspect.

A far bigger problem that NH racing faces is that most obstacles nowadays are too SMALL or too SOFT. This encourages bad and/or sloppy jumping, which inevitably leads to more falls.

Kri, far from having a go at you I'll agree - French chasing with its variety of obstacles can only be better. I only tend to disagree when we get the old 'French horses jump beautifully vs English horrible jumpers' !! What most chasers would benefit from most is a few days out hunting - or doing cross country if you prefer - so that they get used to jumping a variety of obstacles in varying conditions.
 
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Well, I do get a bit carried away (not far enough, some would say) with my enthusiasms sometimes, Shadz, so I will definitely retract ze lurvely French versus ze 'orrible English notions! We've got some excellent jumpers, even if many of the best still seem to be imported from Ireland or France!

Thanks for your agreement with me on this - it is a subject which I do get rather vexed about, because we know that flimsy jumps are dangerous, not 'kind'. We only have to look to the disastrous attempts to make them 'easy' in Australia - wtf are they made of? Mop heads? - to see where that ended up. Jumps must be jumped, not barged through or flipped flat. I like the stuffed hurdles a lot more as they won't go splat if your horse is unruly at them. They have to learn to go over them, not through them, or, as you say, the results lead to falls.
 
I was sent an e-mail asking me to sign a petition to stop the proposed cull/kill of "thousands" of abandoned horses in Ireland. I've heard that both Moorcroft and HEROS here have closed their doors to further intakes, and worry that the 'ordinary' rescue centres will be full to busting soon. I declined to sign the petition as I'd rather know a horse was humanely destroyed than have it starve to death, cold, sick and alone in some filthy barn or bald field. If hard times have hit you, and you can't afford to keep your horse, then you take the brave route of having it pts. You'll feel like shit, no doubt, but you won't be a real shit, like those abandoning their animals.

What's the story on LADY MARGARET, Aldaniti?
 
Crikey, I agree there too, Kri! Seriously, a horse is better off being shot than being left in a field to rot and suffer.

I think we lost Straits of Hormuz at Kempton, looked like it was the meat wagon that picked her up. There seem to be a hell of a lot of horses breaking down on Kempton's AW track, they've lost a fair few this season. It might be more of a case of poor horses not able to cope physically with galloping fast rather than the track per se but it does seem to be a lot.
 
Not sure of how much of Lady margarets story is in the public domain as she is the subject of a cruelty case at the moment, if the story has been released elsewhere I'll enlighten a bit more, not that I know a huge amount
 
krizon said:
I was sent an e-mail asking me to sign a petition to stop the proposed cull/kill of "thousands" of abandoned horses in Ireland. I've heard that both Moorcroft and HEROS here have closed their doors to further intakes, and worry that the 'ordinary' rescue centres will be full to busting soon. I declined to sign the petition as I'd rather know a horse was humanely destroyed than have it starve to death, cold, sick and alone in some filthy barn or bald field. If hard times have hit you, and you can't afford to keep your horse, then you take the brave route of having it pts. You'll feel like shit, no doubt, but you won't be a real shit, like those abandoning their animals.
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Agree completely. They are calling for an amnesty. I think it's a good idea.
 
Shadz: re Kempton. Is the track overdue for a good turning-over of the surface, I wonder? Lingfield did a complete turn, like a mattress, a couple of seasons ago, and also added some more topping. The Polytrack was becoming compacted underneath, even though there's regular top harrowing, and apparently it's good surface management to turn the AWs every few years. Just a thought.
 
I don't think so, to be honest Kri - the track looks fine. I suspect that it is more a case of poor horses who physically can't cope with galloping that fast in a race.

To go off-topic again, what also doesn't help on the jumping front is that the schooling fences in Lambourn are ridiculously small; nowhere near regulation size. I'd not be too confident about running a horse in a novice chase around Sandown if that was all he'd jumped over previously!
 
Ah, shite. I haven't heard anything to confirm (not that I don't believe you!!) but if it is true the yard - and Jane in particular - will be devastated. Jane really believed in that horse and rode him most days, she really thought he was a champion hurdle horse. Terrible for a small yard, especially one like theirs.
 
Yes, it's very sad if so. They called him Me Voici ("I'm here") as they believed he really was something special. The yard is so close knit I'm sure they must be gutted and I really feel for them.
 
I don't know what to say; I thought he was something special as well and can still remember him winning last year..I was so impressed. They must be devastated. My favourite horse name as well. Tears before bedtime for me and, as you say, how must they be feeling.
 
Awful news, really sorry for all connections. God knows it is so rare to find a horse of such promise .... all the dreams and hard work. And then to lose one having found him.
 
Mounty's the best one to ask, Kri - he is in contact with them a lot. The story doesn't seem to have been confirmed yet, I've not seen it reported anywhere.
 
STRONG COFFEE was ambulanced away from Plumpton's last meeting. I have a friend who's trying to find out if the horse recovered from his injury at Oliver Sherwood's yard later.
 
from olivers website .....
Strong Coffee took a horrible fall yesterday at Plumpton and is being x-rayed later on this morning. He has a suspected fractured Carpal bone, which means that he will certainly be off for a year.
 
Thanks very much, Love E, for the update. I had a friend who was there say her lunch companion was quite hysterical about one being killed and I said no, there weren't any fatalities, but she wouldn't have it. I will be very pleased to be able to confirm that news now.
 
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