“Winning isn’t everything. The way you do it is hugely important.”
Whatever your views on this year’s Badminton Horse Trials, we must turn the anger and controversy generated by Oliver Townend’s cross-country rounds into something positive, writes Carolyn Henderson.
The run-up to the event promised a wonderful opportunity for eventing: the possibility that the Rolex Grand Slam might be won for just the third time since its 1999 launch, with all the pizazz and prestige that entails. Plus, of course, more than £250,000.
As everyone knows, it turned sour when Oliver was warned for over-using the whip on both his rides. He apologised, but many are not ready to forgive.
The ramifications will last a long time. While Oliver’s horses finished the showjumping phase with their ears pricked and in second and fifth place, he has lost the support of some fans and sponsors.
Many authorities, within and outside eventing, want clearer rules – and better enforcement of them by national and international organisations in charge of the discipline. That must be a good thing.
Clear rules and appropriate enforcement should be a given in any sport. Unfortunately, it’s only when things go pear-shaped that loopholes are identified. At Badminton, they went so spectacularly wrong that definitions and penalties must surely be tightened up, for the sake of horses, riders and equestrian sport.
The debacle proved that horsemanship is vital. Oliver was under huge pressure, but after his first response to criticism was badly received, he apologised and admitted that his competitive instincts got the better of him.
I doubt whether anyone who competes, or even rides, can boast of never making a decision they regret. It’s always been that way. The difference is that now, there’s always someone with a mobile phone and a social media account who can send it around the world in seconds.
That doesn’t mean that it’s OK to make a mistake if you don’t get caught or that it’s OK to do something stupid as long as you love your horse. It means that high profile riders need to remember that they are ambassadors for their sport and an inspiration (or otherwise) to those who dream of emulating them or admire their success and their horses.
The message that has come out of Badminton is that winning isn't everything. The message you send out by the way you do it is hugely important.
That’s why many praised Harry Meade for explaining that he stopped chasing the cross-country time when he realised his horse was starting to tire. Such praise was well-earned and well learned; in 2009, Harry was disqualified from Burghley Horse Trials for “riding an exhausted horse” and “excessive pressing of a tired horse”.
Let’s hope that all the disciplines use Badminton 2018 as a wake-up call to define rules and insist on fair implementation.
And let’s hope that the riders who did all they could to get their horses round safely and sympathetically, and so obviously appreciated what those horses had done for them – which includes first-timer Will Furlong, the youngest British rider at Badminton; third-placed Ros Canter; and winner Jonelle Price, to name but three – reap their rewards in more ways than one.