Had enough purple yet? I have
Are you kidding me? Seriously? I feel like I’m stuck in a Ziggy comic strip. Or the Ziggy card I once saw that said “it’s always darkest before it becomes pitch black”. Today, as many of you already know, Tiffany Foster was disqualified before participating in the first round of the team show jumping (yesterday’s not-really speed class, it turns out, didn’t count at all for the teams except to affect the draw). The reason? Hypersensitivity. Now, I have to be careful what I say because there has not yet been an official EC statement. Of course if the COC decides to issue one there is no counting on it not to have some kind of catastrophic error like the one about Hawley being ‘thrown from her horse’. I blogged about that a few days ago, but I foolishly posted it under blogs and not Straight-Up, so you very well may not have seen it. If not, please do have a peek because it illustrates how important it is for an organization like the COC to get their facts straight in an offical statement that goes into the hands of the mass media – which they didn’t in their post-cross country statement about Hawley.
Here is what I can say right now about what happened to Tiffany. Yesterday, we were led to believe, all the horses in the Olympic Show Jumping received thermography testing for hypersensitivity. There was nothing of any remark that we know of with any horses. Today, while Tiffany was walking the course with the rest of the team, the FEI veterinary team went into the stables and examined the Canadian horses, determining that Victor was hypersensitive on his front left leg. Tiffany returned from the course walk to be told she was was disqualified. The horse was not removed from his stall or jogged for soundness (memories of Sapphire in Geneva are flooding back).
Torchy spoke to us in the mixed zone and said Victor has a very small scrape at the coronet band, and as he says, if you poke a scratch 50 times, it would make anyone flinch. And of course there may be a bit of heat, since it is a wound, however small. Now, a disqualification for hypersensitivity is a ruling for which there is no appeal, but the Canadian Team appealed immediately based on what they called the ‘misapplication of a rule’. The hearing was heard quickly, while the horses continue to jump in the class. Tiffany tacked up and started to warm up, in case they would rule in her favour. But what were we thinking? One arm of the FEI throwing out a disqualification made from another arm? Yeah, right. So Tiffany was treated to a second round devastation instead of a first round of show jumping when the FEI said they upheld the decision to disqualify her.
I saw Tiffany walking with the team support squad as they made their way to make their appeal. She was flanked by Torchy and Eric, who kept putting a reassuring arm around her. What an Olympic debut. As frightening as Hawley’s fall was, as disappointed as I am for Rebecca, Peter and Michele, and as sad as I am about what happened to David (and by extension the Dressage Team), this tops the scale for me. I can’t even begin to imagine her feeling of frustration and impotence in the face of the whims of a sports federation with Godzilla-like power over her fate.
I’ve just learned that Princess Haya has decided to call a press conference in 90 minutes. If anything of substance comes out of it I will come back and post again immediately after. I’ve already got a long list of questions that’s getting longer as I sit here and stew.
I don’t even feel like talking about the sport from today, but there is a shred of light at the end of Ziggy’s tunnel. Jill had a rail and a time fault with George, Ian and Eric went clear. There were some shockingly bad performances out there – if you can believe it, the German Titans didn’t even make it into the top eight so they are done as a team. Canada sits sixth on a total of 5 faults, with the four teams ahead of us tied in second with 4, so it’s not an exaggeration to say we are still in striking distance of a medal. And wouldn’t that be sweet? Tiffany would get to stand on the podium and receive a medal after all. Please cross all your fingers and toes for Canada, not only because in spite of the bad luck for Tiffany we finally have the possibility of good news, but also because a medal would be a partial compensation for an athlete whose Olympic dream has been taken away.
I was going to spend my blogging time today composing a fitting response to the appallingly ignorant Toronto Star (function is form: The Star doesn’t look like a tabloid, but it sure reads like one) story by Heather Mallick yesterday. If you have a spare moment, take a look at it and feel free to let loose with comments, or as the person who thought to bring this bit of garbage to my attention did, write Ms. Mallick a letter. Maybe invite her to actually watch someone ride a horse, because I’m pretty sure she hasn’t done that.
Excellent post, Karen. So disappointed for Tiffany and the rest of the team.
This is a great article and I’m very sorry to hear about Tiffany Foster. I am glad Hawley is doing better.
But something else is bothering me even more.
Photos of a dressage rider obviously using Rollkur have surfaced on Facebook and all over the net.
WHY in gods green earth has this not gotten the IOC and FEI involved?? This has been BANNED in it’s use by the FEI, yet we see a photo, out in the open, of a dressage rider Patrik Kittel, using Rollkur on his horse, yet he gets no suspension? No disqualification? WTF????
Perhaps someone needs to bring this to the attention of the Equestrian governing bodies for dressage. They’ve made it so you can poke a horse’s leg with a scrape 50 times to say it’s hyper sensitive, but rollkur which has been banned is fine??????
The FEI’s hypersensitivity protocol is badly flawed as it lacks any semblance of procedural fairness. The fact that there is absolutely no right of appeal allows the protocol to be administered in a completely arbitrary and, therefore, unfair manner.
It is unconscionable that Tiffany Foster’s horse Victor was prohibited from competing in this manner. The horse was not found to be lame. There was no malpractice found. I cannot accept that a slight swelling on the horse’s leg would, in fact, give it an unfair advantage over its fellow competitors. To have no right of appeal is appalling.
The way the FEI implements this protocol undermines its very mandate of promoting a level and fair competition for everyone. Victor’s disqualification, with no right of appeal, is grossly unfair to Tiffany Foster, to the horse’s support team and indeed to the entire Canadian Team.
Shame on the FEI.
In the past this very protocol prohibited McLean Ward’s horse Sapphire from contesting the World Cup. I understand that it recently prohibited an Irish rider from competing at the Games. The US Team dealt with Sapphire’s situation the way they saw fit at the time. I understand that the Irish Team is being criticized by the disqualified rider for the way it handled that situation.
I am calling on the Canadian Team to step up to the plate here and to demand that the FEI revise its protocol: Please do not go quietly in to the dark night. The protocol itself is questionable and the way it is enforced is grotesquely unfair. If the FEI does not see fit to change the rule on its own, then a lawsuit should be instituted.
On a more personal note, my heart goes out to Tiffany Foster and her supporters including the entire Torrey Pines Team. My heart also goes out to the entire Canadian Team — and I am sending all my best luck for a successful outing in tomorrow’s competition.
OMG. Even I, who knows nothing of what it takes to compete in the equestrian sport can see the riduculousness of this ruling. Is this not the same as someone at work getting a paper cut and then being told they can’t work the rest of the day because the paper cut might hurt! Sometimes I wonder what these people use to think with but obviously it is not their brains. The vet doing these tests was certainly over zealous in his decision. I certainly wonder why but then again, that is just me. Tiffany can be proud she made the Olympic team and through no fault of her own cannot continue. I am hoping the team reaches the podium so she can go home with a medal. Sometimes sports rules really stink especially when someone can bend them to suit themselves.
Amazing view of the events unfolding beneath the general public’s eyes! I would love to be a fly on the wall when Canada wins a medal! And I believe they will! My heart goes out to Tiffany and the entire team but they will rally and win!
As for Heather`s article, let`s not allow someone who obivously knows NOTHING of the art of dressage and the horses involved get under our skin. We in the Equestrian World, whether it be dressage, eventing, or jumping know of the bond of horse and rider, we know of the caring individuals who are part of the horse world both professionally and ones like ourselves who just love our horses freely.
Everyone just give your horse a hug and carry on!
would love to see some pics!
Well put Jenn. Behind your comments 100%.
Hi Judy and thanks for the thumbs up. Just an FYI, I’m Karen Robinson, not Jenn Ward – though she is a good friend.
Karen
Straight-Up
The FEI is friggin’ ridiculous. It really gets under my skin when dressage riders are photographed using Rollkur and are not disqualified, in fact Adeline is rewarded with 2nd place! Yet a showjumper with a tiny nick that wouldn’t hurt or affect it at all is disqualified because of hypersensitivity. Well, duh, of course he’s going to flinch if it gets prodded 50 times.
The FEI is a joke, it needs to be knocked down and started over.
Great column about the heartbreak today. Good on you too for taking on the COC over appalling ignorance on the equestrian front. Ditto for mainstream Canadian media … when they get around to providing some coverage.
Fingers & toes crossed for the Canadian team to get that team medal …
I really want someone in the FEI to explain how in god’s name they allow rollkur to go on in the dressage or even the LDR, which in my opinion is just politically correct rollkur, and yet they DQ Tiffany because her horse has a scratch that doesn’t even affect him or his ability to jump. And they actually have the gall to cite “welfare of the animal” as the reason. The FEI is a joke and not a funny one.
My heart goes out to Tiffany and the whole team. I hope we kick butt and win a medal for Tiffany.
Finally catching up on my blog reading and cannot hold back, having just read the article written by Heather Mallick and printed by the Toronto Star.
I couldn’t agree more with your comments, Karen, and encourage everyone who reads this post to send a letter to Heather Mallick, aptly nicknamed ‘The Malice’ by her Toronto media colleagues. I have never before read such ignorant comments positioned under the guise of ‘journalism’. Not surprisingly, the comments were not only completely void of facts, but were downright malicious. Obviously the nickname is well-earned. There was no intent to showcase wit or humour, presumably because the writer does not possess such skills. A disgusting display of so-called ‘journalism’. The Toronto Star should be ashamed of itself for printing such ill-conceived, not to mention poorly researched, commentary.