Legends

Showjumping’s Legendary British Whitaker brothers lived up to their considerable reputations at the CSIO***** KL Grand Prix. Michael won the big Saturday night class on Portofino with a blazingly fast jump-off round. He lived up to his other reputation by doing it after a Friday night out that reportedly ended at 8 am the next morning. Big brother John was one of the favourites for the Rm 1 m KL Grand Prix but had a quiet Saturday night in. He lost to Saudi Arabia’s Khaled Al Eid. Perhaps John should have had his customary night out.

Bar None

Main (and only) grumble of the foreign journos at the five-star KL Grand Prix was a lack of general accessibility to the visiting international riders. A common bar was voted the most required addition to next year's show. Top riders = Bar. The legend continues.

Irish No-Shows

Okay, there may have been just one journalist that wasn't altogether happy. The Irish Times journalist may have been just a little put out that she arrived in Kuala Lumpur only to find that both Irish riders, World Champion Dermott Lennon and Jessice Kuerten Chesney, hadn't.

CSIO***** KL Grand Prix 2004, 05 and 06

Will the F1 of horse shows happen again in 2004? If you listen to former World Cup director Max Ammann talk the talk, it will. Malaysia is now in the game to run the World Cup Final 2006. As friendly Max says, "Let's see how this show develops."

Two Falls, Not Out

Perak Turf Club’s Shanand Thiru is developing a bit of reputation. Not only was he dubbed “Muhammad Ali” at the National Pony Club Camp for his black eye then, he’s now been deified as a rider that can’t be eliminated even if he falls off twice in the showjumping ring.

Shanand hit the deck before the bell in the Showjumping Equitation class on the first day of the National Horse Show. He dragged the bridle off as he came off, so Shanand had to fit it on again before he could remount to start the class. He then rode the course without major faults but just as he jumped the last fence, his saddle slipped right over the off side, sending Shanand, well, off the off side for Fall II. He hit the deck after the finishing line, so he wasn’t eliminated!

Jump-off has two bits of advice to Shanand though – check that your bridle and saddle is fitted correctly before you enter the arena again. And get yourself a personal accident insurance policy.

A Short Black, please

Course designers usually have a good laugh at what happens during the show. Sometimes it is at the expense of riders. Once in a while, the laugh is on them. Saddled with a Chinese speaking teenage crew with no experience of fence building, or even horses, the National Horse Show’s course design team started with a short identification of the equipment, and the process of building a course. We apologise if at times we weren’t quite up to F1 speed. An incident on the first day might give you an idea why:

When asked for a flat cup to hang a filler on, the arena party looked quizzically at each other, then one bright spark ran off to get one. He returned from the buffet area with a cup of coffee.

Irish Puissance

While we are on the subject of course design jokes, here’s one you may enjoy:

Q: What’s a Puissance? A: It’s a competition held over a short course where the wall gets increasingly higher after each round.

Q: What’s an Irish Puissance? (Ok, Polish/any neighbouring country also can) A: It’s the same type of competition but the wall has a ditch in front of it, and after each round the course designer digs the ditch a little deeper.

Dud Stud

Finally, the Times of London reports that a prize-winning horse, tipped for a lucrative life on a stud-farm, has been stripped of his awards and his future career after he was found to be missing essential equipment. The colt - called Black Prince - had won prizes at country fairs across Scotland, where he was judged a top-class stallion in the making.

According to the Times, it was only as he was about to be sold to a breeder that Black Prince's virility came into question, when a vet discovered that he'd been castrated as a foal.

To read previous editions of Jump-Off, click on the links below:
Jump-Off XXI - 1 October 2003
Jump-Off XX - 1 September 2003
Jump-Off XIX - 12 August 2003
Jump-Off XVIII: Not-The-Equestrian Awards - 17 July 2003
Jump-Off XVII - 14 June 2003
Jump-Off XVI - 24th May 2003
Jump-Off XV - 25th April 2003
Jump-Off XIV - 31st March 2003
Jump-Off XIII - 6th March 2003
Jump-Off XII - 12th February 2003
Jump-Off XI - 16th January 2003
Jump-Off X - 12th December 2002
Jump-Off IX - 14th November 2002
Jump-Off VIII - 19th September 2002
Jump-Off VII - 6th September 2002
Jump-Off VI - 13th August 2002
Jump-Off V - 2nd August 2002
Jump-Off IV - 15th July 2002
Jump-Off III - 27th June 2002
Jump-Off II - 20th June 2002
Jump-Off I - 14th June 2002

Other fun:
Rodrigo to ride for Malaysia
Jump-Off's New Years Resolutions - 29th December 2002
Selling Terms

Thanks to all contributors to this edition of Jump-Off. You know who you are, and we know who you are. No one else does or ever will, unless you’d like them to. If you have a story that you think should be in Jump-Off, please send an e-mail to jumpoff@equestrian.com.my