[Devongone]

Well, we only got to see the rider and horse as they were supposed to be entering the arena. The girl was beyond tense, angry, very upset, ready to have a kicking fit. Don't you think that was because she'd just spent 20 minutes with the horse, knew she couldn't get him to do anything and already knew her Olympic medal was off down the pan. Had she been given the chance of a different horse do you think she, or the horse, would have arrived at that point in that state? Really? German equestrians are just too efficient and keen to win to have allowed that to happen, if they'd really have had a way out, so I'm sorry but I don't believe a viable alternative was offered, whatever Samantha Murray thought (from a studio in London). Given the chance the rider would have swapped for a clothes horse. You didn't need to be Monty Roberts to know what was going to happen.

What they aren't telling you is that to get to know and ride a horse in a demanding discipline in 20 minutes is pretty cruel in itself. At least in horse racing when horses are unfamiliar with a jockey they are with other horses, and they are herd animals, they don't like being alone in a big open space with frightening brightly coloured poles, being ridden by some girl, who may well be a rich spoilt bitch for all I know. You think those horses aren't scared out there? Look how wild-eyed they are. Why couldn't the riders be first given access to the randomly-chosen horses a week before the contest? There's time. Why? Because the organisers want crazy shit like that to happen. They want to entertain the idiots. And you're right it's cruel.

Yeah, I'd send the coach and the girl in for three rounds each with Lauren Price. That should do, and the horse to a quiet field where the flies are his biggest worry.