RK3DE 2009 - At the Normandy Bank

Three horses and their riders attempt the Normandy Bank at the 2009 Rolex Kentucky Three Day Event. First it's Macloud with rider Stephanie Boyer showing him much affection for a job well done, then Hidalgo de L'Ile with Nicolas Touzaint, and finally Chaos Theory with Tamra Smith, who gave us a bit of a scare and wisely decided it was time to stop.

This had to have been a difficult decision, considering that riders train all their lives to compete at this level. And there is a substantial team (and family) behind each rider and horse. Despite the competitive pressure good eventers have the health of their horse foremost in their minds. At the first sign of trouble they will pull out of the competition.

It turns out in this case that Chaos Theory was fine, but Smith was in pain from internal bleeding after landing hard at an earlier jump (the Head of the Lake). It seems that the horse was the one suggesting that the rider had had enough. I invite you to read her blog for a personal view of what happened:

http://www.nextleveleventing.com/id12.html

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• horse
• 2009
• rolex
• kentucky
• three
• day
• event
• trial
• jumping
• cross
• country
• Macloud
• Stephanie
• Boyer
• Hidalgo
• de
• l'ile
• Nicolas
• Touzaint
• Chaos
• Theory
• Tamra
• Smith

[buzzterbrown]

@96chocoholic Sure - check out her website.

[96chocoholic]

@buzzterbrown oh my god!!! that's awful! is she ok??

[buzzterbrown]

@96chocoholic Please read the video description.

[96chocoholic]

@irishhorses879 no, it wasn't that they didn't have control, I think there horse wasn't fit enough to do it. I mean, if you are jumping at that level, your horse should be so fit they are bouncing off the walls, not getting hung up on simple logs.

[irishhorses879]

The last rider has no control at all!

[LoveLiveEquine]

that last rider is.....not so good