A theory put forward by a guy at work who (I may have mentioned before) rode professionally in Europe, was that we in NZ put far too much emphasis on the cross-country when really we should be looking at tidying up the dressage and showjumping, particularly the latter. Thoughts, Flem?
I'd definitely agree there. The Showjumping should sort itself out in time, alot of riders at our club love showjumping and one has gone to South Africa a few years back for showjumping, so thats coming right hopefully. The big issue with that is all the top showjumpers will be specialists, and the not-so-goods will go to eventing.
Its also very dificult to find a horse/rider combination that are amazing at both CC and SJ. Eventing horses tend to leave their feet drooped down, not pick them up like a Showjumper. Thats why eventing showjumping has smaller jumps (I'd estimate 1.30-1.40m) compared to showjumping with around 1.60m. Also eventing horses and riders are less fussy than showjumpers because on the Cross Country jumps are obscured and varied so when things go wrong they are trained to make the best of it whereas showjumping riders are genrally control freaks due to the accuracy needed because there is generally very little chance of improvisation/recovery. They'd go mad on an Olympic Cross Country course because its almost impossible to be pinpoint accurate. Also showjumping horses don't like to hurt their tootsies, which is why they tuck up their legs so well, and in cross country theres alot of feet skimming solid objects and going into water of unknown depth etc, which horses don't like to put their feet in.
So basically slightly different skillsets are required. Only slight but its enough at the top level. To do both exceptionally you'd need a control freak rider that can hack Cross Country and a horse that lifts its legs up well that isn't worried about solid objects.
Dressage needs a big tidy up, whilst its not the be-all, end all of eventing its always good to be up the leaderboard early.
Apparently Heelan Tompkins mount Sugoi, hates TV cameras, probably because he wouldn't have seen many in his career so far so he isn't used to them. Could have contributed to her Dressage struggles, along with the issue that he expects every arena to have jumps in it so he hypes up.
EDIT: I talk too much, I've written an essay.