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10 Sep 2008 12:05
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I was astonished to read Pammy Hutton's column in H & H last week (4th Sept). What was she thinking? I really don't see how humiliating the team with such derogatory comments achieves anything at all, except bad feeling? With her influence, surely such views are better expressed discretely to the powers that be?
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Laura Bechtolsheimer
13 Sep 2008 13:25
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Pammy definitely over stepped the mark this time. She can damn our team performance as much as she likes, things went wrong and I am sure any reasoning sounds like excuses - fine, but Emma did amazingly, Carl's best Olympic result was 13th so if I were Emma (who came 7th) I would be very disappointed at the lack of attention she has received over here.
Pammy has her facts about results, soundness and past Olympic performances so very wrong, yet all it takes is a click on the net to see the real facts.
How many of the top combinations such as Nadine Capellman of Germany didn't even get 68% in the GP Special in Hong Kong, are all those top international names so stupid compared to Carl? And if he can do it on a "donkey" I am sure Pammy could have loaned Carl one from Talland!
Pammy bigging Carl up like that doesn't do him any favours, now we are all wondering why he isn't entered for the Nationals if he should and could have been at the Olympics?
For the 1st time we have a team that on paper, is actually capable of scoring high and getting medals; before they didn't even have a look in ....wait and see, we are on the verge of good things. Being a ***** about everyone doesn't achieve anything, and how easy it is when you've no idea what its like at the top.
Here I will end my aggro' rant but trust me I could write pages!!
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Nikki C
13 Sep 2008 20:26
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Team selection is always difficult. Generally the only people who think that the selection is right are the members of the team and their connections, and even they will sometimes think that the other selected riders should not be on the team.
Every rider sets out to do their best in competition and, if things go wrong and they do not perform to expectation, they are suffering enough, without someone saying they should not have been there at all.
Every person believes that they know the team that should have been selected. Of course, it is impossible to know whether the team they would have selected was the best one since only the selected team are the ones that get to show how they perform in the competition itself. How can we know how other riders would have performed in the circumstances? This means that it is far too easy to criticise team selections, particularly after the competition has taken place.
Of course, few armchair critics make comments before the competition – they usually hide behind the statement that making their views known would demoralise the selected team, but it could also be that their comments might be proven wrong when the actual competition takes place.
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Diana
23 Sep 2008 20:21
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This is a brilliant comment, Laura, and is absolutely right. I find it very odd why certain people think Carl Hester is the only person who can ride in our Country!! He is a very good rider, with past results but look at the quality we have now- it is proven.
Horses are horses and I have been so proud at what the team achieved- my parents watched everything too and they aren't even that horsy!
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Nikki C
25 Sep 2008 19:45
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I have looked forward to reading Laura and Dr Bechtolsheimer's letter in Horse and Hound all week, and I was not disappointed. It was a balanced and well structured response to Pammy Hutton's comments, although I thought the editor's response was a little harsh. That being so, I was most impressed to read Richard Davison's comment, since it is so unusual to hear experts disagree so strongly in print
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BT
13 Jul 2009 17:58
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Typical, I don't buy H&H for a few weeks and it all kicks off. Any chance someone could cut and paste the comments, or just give an outline of what was said? Cheers.
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13 Jul 2009 20:06
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"Typical, I don't buy H&H for a few weeks and it all kicks off. Any chance someone could cut and paste the comments, or just give an outline of what was said? Cheers"
I have the column from Pammy hutton but not the letter from Laura - it was quite cutting for the people involved.
I admire any rider that can get to the high levels but agree with everyone else, that it can get a little frustrating for people if there are one or two that can do no wrong.
But Pammy is her own person and has her own thoughts, and as we have seen, will voice them regardless.
I for one, was pleased to see an all girl team in Hong Kong and to see the UK finally coming back up to a level that presents a challenge for the leading nations - ie Germany and Holland.
I say keep it up, and do us Brits proud girls!!!
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jasper
13 Jul 2009 21:06
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Hi BT - To avoid any confusion this was last year, 2008, before the Olympics.
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BT
14 Jul 2009 14:41
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Ah, that would explain things! I remember some of the in-fighting around that time but hadn't seen anything untoward recently so was a bit confused.
I agree that its good for people to have their own opinions and not necessarily agree with others. It makes for good debate and helps progression. However, personal insults or finger pointing aren't particularly healthy.
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