We have wedding bells, judges bells, all sorts of whistles and bells in this Jump-Off, edition XXXVII. Who's a Stud? Who's been smokin' up Olympic grass?
Wedding Bells
There are wedding bells for Titien Irvianty and Roy Ibrahim. Titien, an FEI Jumping Judge and Steward, and Roy, a prominent and very successful Indonesian national rider in dressage, showjumping and even eventing, will tie the knot on 25th September 2004.
Remember, Roy, please wait for the bell…
And when the bell goes too quickly
Jean-Marc Nicholas found that sometimes you have to be prepared for the bell from the judge, which went the moment he entered the arena on Kentucky for a jump-off at the Malaysian Open. Not realizing the bell had already been rung (buzzed), he wandered around the arena as normal till one of the judges indicated that the countdown had already started. He was behind by about 10 seconds by the time he crossed the start line. The bell judge must have been dying for the toilet or something because the next class was not due to start for over an hour!
No See – No Do
A World Cup rider who shall remain nameless had her trainer holding his hands over her horse’s eyes when she was standing at the gate just before entering the 3Q arena. The reason? The horse before her had refused and she didn’t want to give her own horse ideas by seeing this.
Who’s a Stud
Husref Malik was back recently and Jump-Off caught up with him at the recent Malaysian Open show. Despite Jump-Off XXIII, we escaped without a bloody nose, possibly because of Husref’s forgiving nature, but also possibly because the poor boy couldn’t swing a punch. He’d be “studded” in the fall, eventing parlance for the horse’s stud breaking his ribs and puncturing his lungs.
Break A Leg, Toni
We didn’t mean for you to take it literally. Toni Khalida Leviste fractured the tibia and tore a ligament in her left leg in an unfortunate fall at the Merdeka Masters, ending her SEA World Cup comeback season.
Vale:
Confluence
We bid farewell to the Ratnasingham’s champion racemare Confluence, which tragically had to be euthanased. The mare had broken down while running in the Singapore Airlines Cup in Singapore in May this year. She had surgery to repair her near fore fetlock joint, but in August the screws and plates in her joint broke down. Her career winnings exceeded RM4 million from 12 wins and 12 placings in 40 starts.
Murphy Brown
Farewell also to Sjn. Ruzailina Zainal Abidin’s faithful partner Murphy Brown. This small chestnut Australian Thoroughbred gelding arrived in 1994 as part of the first batch of horses bought by the MEM for the 3rd Asean Showjumping Competition that was held at Awana, Genting. In a decade of competition Murphy Brown kept surprising one and all with his bravery and consistency. With Sjn Ruzailina, Murphy Brown was the alternate on the Malaysian Jumping Team at the 2001 SEA Games.
Transitions
Indra Rosendi, formerly of Trijaya, Arthayasa and Indonesia, and more recently of Trijaya Jerudong and Brunei, is back at Arthayasa Stables in Jakarta.
Olympic Jump-Off – Part 3
Rogge Rejects Duplicates
IOC president Jacques Rogge has rejected requests from Germany and South Korea that duplicate gold medals be awarded in events where errors by officials effected results.
Germany had two equestrian three-day eventing golds taken away after a timing error by officials, while a South Korean gymnast missed out on gold as a result of a judging mistake.
Chancellor Schroeder Boots Eventing “Golds”
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said the Olympic medals awarded in the equestrian three-day eventing competition were worthless after his country lost out in a legal battle over the competition. "If I were a Frenchman or American I would ask myself whether it is worth wearing a gold medal that was not won through achievement but through interpreting the rules, and in a dubious way to boot," Schroeder told German RTL television.
Olympic Grass
Questions have been raised about the going in the show jumping arena at the Markopoulo Olympic Equestrian Centre after three horses suffered severe tendon injuries during the Olympic jumping competition. Some riders blamed the going, pointing out that a number of similar injuries could not be coincidental. Also noticeable was the number of shoes lost by horses throughout the week. But the technical delegate at the event, Leopoldo Palacias, disagreed. "The ground has been prepared by the same expert who looked after the highly praised arena in Donaueschingen in Germany," he argued. Course-designer Olaf Petersen defended the choice of a grass arena, calling it "a natural surface".
Smoking It?
One blur-like-sotong dressage person strolled past a TV showing the Preliminary Olympic Jumping Competition and said, “Wow, I thought the Olympic arena was sand. How did they manage to turn it green?”
To which the prompt reply came “It’s called grass.”
Double Gold for Anky
Congratulations to Dutch hero Anky Van Grunsven who revealed that she won the Individual Dressage Gold at the Athens Olympic while she was 18 weeks pregnant (to her trainer / partner Sjef Janssen). That means there were two riding Salinero. That should mean her baby should have a gold medal waiting when born in January.
To read previous editions of Jump-Off, please click on the links below:
Jump-Off: Olympic Edition II - 26 August 2004
Jump-Off: Olympic Edition I - 19 August 2004
Jump-Off XXXIV - 6 August 2004
Jump-Off XXXIII - 12 July 2004
Jump-Off XXXII - 22 June 2004
Jump-Off XXXI - 20 May 2004
Jump-Off XXX - 17 April 2004
Jump-Off XXIX - 27 February 2004
Jump-Off XXVIII - 5 February 2004
Jump-Off XXVII - 21 January 2004
Jump-Off XXVI - 22 Dec 2003
Jump-Off XXV - 10 Dec 2003
Jump-Off XXIV – 28 Nov 2003
Jump-Off XXIII - 15 Nov 2003
Jump-Off XXII - 25 October 2003
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:
South East Asian Open World Dressage Championship 2004
Rodrigo to ride for Malaysia
Jump-Off's New Years Resolutions - 29th December 2002
Selling Terms
Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this and previous Jump-Offs. If you have an interesting story that you think should be in Jump-Off, please e-mail pete@equestrian.com.my
