 |
| |
|
Margie Engle - Gracious as Always , Even When the Chips are Down
For the U.S. show jumping team, speaking to the media after their lackluster performance in the first qualifier where Laura Kraut and Liberty totaled 8 faults, Lauren Hough and Clasiko scored 12.50, Margie Engle and Hidden Creek's Perin totaled 16 and Nona Garson and Rhythmical fell around a corner, the second rider in the class to do that, and were eliminated, was not exactly at the top of their list. In general the riders appeared upbeat. They felt the footing was slick and the arena electric and that by Thursday's team competition they'll have their horses back, but in the meantime underneath it all was a sense of disappointment. I spoke to some of the riders afterwards. Unfortunately, the only way all of us can get a true sense of what happened is by speaking directly to the riders and since there are a lot of you out there wanting to know why those rails fell, it was better to ask. I could see that Margie was disappointed, but I still went up and asked her for a few minutes and like the trooper she is, she spoke to me, even though I'm sure should we have preferred not to. Margie didn't know what happened. "I am not quite sure," she said. "Maybe he didn't like the footing a whole lot and he felt a little more erratic than he normally does, maybe just from not showing for awhile, maybe he just needed to get a class under his belt. He felt really good at the beginning. I thought he was jumping really well then. And then I'm not quite sure what happened. I don't know if he wasn't grabbing the footing that well. He's never had that many rails in any class I've ever done." So, they are going to try some different things with Perin's feet to
adapt to the slippery footing in the arena and they might change his
bit. Maybe none of that will be necessary and the next time out, he'll
be the horse Margie remembers. |
|
|
| Contact Horsesdaily HorsesDaily®, ScoreSource® and PhelpsPhotos® are registered trademarks of Phelps Hathaway Enterprises,Inc. All content under this copyright is the property of PHE, Inc. unless otherwise noted. ©1997-2005 horsesdaily.com All Rights Reserved |
It's not easy
for the riders here in Sydney. They've got to deal with the pressure
of the competition and the fact that it's an Olympics. They have to
also deal with the pressure of being part of a team and representing
a country that wants you to come home with medals. On top of all of
that, they have to speak to the media, whether things are going well
or not. 
