BTB: Rolex 2011: What just happened?

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Rolex 2011: What just happened? Posted: 01 May 2011 09:23 AM PDT Icarus and Michael Pollard Okay, some folks are tsk-tsking me for my last blog -- not for showing graphic footage (which I expected) but for quoting a friend who remarked that the x-country day was a "disaster" (which I didn't expect).   There were far more runouts/refusals, eliminations, and troubles on course than I've seen in year's past. Lots of horses looked REALLY tired at the end. Was it the course? Were that many riders just unprepared? Were the horses in the field out of condition? IMHO? My opinion is, well, I don't know. There were some great runs by experienced and inexperienced riders, but so many more had significant issues. Phillip Dutton and Mark Todd had runouts, and while even the best have bad days/inexperienced mounts, one wonders. Even those with successful runs were "climbing" some of the fences. What do you guys think and/or hear? My videos: Hardships and High-fives Here is a not-going-near-that-jump refusal from Exploring and Jessica Phoenix at fence eight. They had two stops prior -- before fence eight. Fence eight! Horse NQR?  Overfaced? Rider confidence issue? It looks like Jessica was smiling as her horse put on the brakes. Bless her good humor, thank heavens they're safe to ride another day. . Here is a pretty darn good run through the Head of the Lake by Shiraz and Colleen Rutledge -- not exactly a veteran pair, but a really agressive, scrappy round...

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