Main image: View of the Main Arena at the Chateau de Versailles for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Image by FEI/Benjamin Clark.
Inside Paris | Presented by International Horse Breeders
Friday 26 July 5.30pm: 1st Horse Inspection
This is all about Australia.
If all four Australians pass the first horse inspection, the three riders going forward will be Christopher Burton on Shadow Man, Kevin McNab on Scuderia 1918 Don Quidam, and Shane Rose on Virgil, with Shenae Lowings on Bold Venture the reserve. All three scores must count. The reserve does not get to run unless a mid-event substitution is made; at that point, you’re out of the medals.
Once the first horse inspection is completed, the draw will be released with all riders allotted a specific dressage time. This draw and start times will appear on Saturday morning and will be updated right here once available. UPDATE: All four Australian horses have passed the first horse inspection Friday morning in Versailles.
Shane Rose and Virgil in the trot up at Versailles. Image by Michelle Terlato Photography.
Saturday 27 July 5.30pm: Eventing Dressage
Don’t miss the dressage competition! This is where the winners will make their move.
The team gold medallists for the whole competition and the individual gold medallist will absolutely challenge straight from the start.
The front running teams and the front running individuals will thin out and some fall by the wayside in the cross country and show jumping but the eventual medal winners will announce themselves in the dressage competition.
The dressage test at the Paris Olympics is like no other eventing dressage test.
- There are only 20 scoring movements worth 10 marks each in the Olympic Dressage Eventing test.
- 10 of these scoring movements are in canter. An eventing dressage horse is all about canter.
- 6 of these scoring movements are in trot.
- 2 of these scoring movements are in walk.
- 1 of these scoring movements is in halt.
- 1 of these scoring movements is rein back.
- There is an additional 1 scoring opportunity worth 20 marks which reflects the harmony of athlete and horse.
An Olympic dressage test is expected to be finished from go to woah in approximately 3 minutes 50 seconds. A normal four-star eventing dressage test will take approximately 4 minutes 45 seconds to complete, so about 20% longer. A normal five-star eventing dressage test will take approximately 5 minutes to complete, which is approximately 25% longer than the Olympic dressage test.
Don’t blink. The Paris Olympic dressage test will no sooner start than it will be finished. In this 3 minutes 50 seconds, the whole competition will be cast with no room to move up ever again. Enough room however to fall by the wayside.
Do you realise that a Preliminary dressage test here in Australia will take 5 minutes 30 seconds to complete? Almost 33% more time is needed to do a Preliminary dressage test than an Olympic eventing dressage test.
Do you realise that the Grand Prix Special dressage test, which determines the team gold medals for the dressage teams in Paris, will take nearly as long as a cross country course? The GPS is 6 minutes 40 seconds. Man, you need to be quick to watch an Olympic three-day event!!
Chris Burton and Shadow Man. Image by Bit-Media.
Stay tuned for more from Heath Ryan
Sunday 28July 6.30pm: Eventing Cross Country
On Sunday morning we will publish a debrief on the Dressage results.
This will include team placings and information on which combinations are likely to go clear and under time in the cross country. This will determine whether a team is likely to lose its placing or hold its placing from the dressage competition. If a rider unexpectedly fails during the cross country, this will allow spectators to immediately realise that there are team and individual adjustments happening that were unexpected.
Monday 29 July 7.00pm: Eventing Show Jumping team
The second and final horse inspection will be done in the morning early with a time yet to be announced.
The Equestrian Life update on Monday morning will cover:
- A summarisation of the cross country results
- The second and final horse inspection results
- An evaluation of the current standings of the team medallists and the individual medallists.
- A prediction on which partnerships are capable of show jumping without penalty.
- Times for the team and individual show jumping rounds
- Medal presentation times
This is the sharp end of the competition and it is Monday that will see the team gold medallist emerge at the end of the day and the individual medallists also emerge at the end of the day. The times for the team and individual show jumping rounds will be printed in the Equestrian Life update on Monday morning.
Monday 29 July 11.00pm: Eventing Show Jumping Individual
Tuesday 30th July: The wrap up
Equestrian Life will do a final wrap up on the Paris 2024 Three Day Event Olympic results and then it will be all over for Eventing for another four years. There will be plenty of tragedies following riders and nations home across the world and there will be a couple of magnificent moments that belong to the magnificent few who will be remembered for generations in their families with the greatest of pride. Such is the Olympics.
My thoughts on Charlotte Dujardin…
While on the topic of the Olympics, the video footage of Charlotte Dujardin whipping a horse several years ago is very sad and upsetting and must not ever be part of our sport. Personally, I feel that the fact this video footage was withheld for several years means that the people who posted the video footage were indeed not that concerned about the animal welfare aspect of this footage. Had they been concerned about the animal welfare, they would have posted the footage immediately four years ago to try and have the perpetrator made answerable for these actions and protect horses in the future. Without doubt in my mind, this video footage was posted with evil intentions meant, and not with a prioritisation of the welfare of the horse. I think these people who posted this video are using the horses for their own advantage and I think that they are just as deplorable as Charlotte Dujardin. If there is ever a situation in the future where the horses’ welfare is in question, it must be dealt with immediately. The whole situation is very sad indeed.
Heath
