Mistakes

Malcolm · Mistakes

Since my horses have been put out to summer pasture and innoculated for African Horse Sickness, I've not been thinking horse as much as usual for a few weeks. But newsletters come around and my interest in the history of horsemanship is strong.

I have just watched this and history now records Pat P as the first RTTH competitor in its 8 years to experience a dishonourable dismount which is what polo players call falling off. But even his friend Tootie says flat out that he got bucked off. This is now a highlighted moment in the hundreds of hours of RTTH.

As any horseman will tell you that this is luck of the draw and can happen to anyone, and as Ray Hunt would say, "I never make the same mistake twice - too busy making new ones"

So there is nothing dishonourable about getting bucked off but I think there is in trying to make out that you dismounted intentionally to save face. That is where the saying comes from - pride comes before a fall. The fall in this case is from grace in the public eye. In Greek mythology, Nemesis (Greek, Νέμεσις), also called Rhamnousia/Rhamnusia ("the goddess of Rhamnous") at her sanctuary at Rhamnous, north of Marathon, was the spirit of divine retribution against those who succumb to hubris (arrogance before the gods). The Greeks personified vengeful fate as a remorseless goddess: the goddess of revenge.

Interesting that it the female who takes revenge on the male characteristic of arrogance. This bears out Tom Dorrances' view that PP is too macho to be a true horseman and he was more interested in his ex-Karen's horsemanship.

I am putting this out here so that anyone who has different views and evidence can set the record straight. Rick Lamb calling it an honest misstep is too kind.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjsOmMFD-Nw&feature=player_embedded

thebundychick

I'm confused, did Pat say he dismounted intentionally?

That video is 20 odd minutes long, is there a bookmark for the "Pat" bit?

Thanks :D

Gillies_mom

18 minutes on the nose

CoolsLadyInRed

I didn't get the impression Tootie was being critical. I watched the show yesterday. I think it was a compilation of all the riders in all the years. He just happened to be the only one desaddled.
In 20" it has to be hard to put together an interview that covered the highlights of several years and many participants. Don't you think? She didn't seem vindictive in my perspective.

Malcolm

Yes he did D, and that was the Inc line. There was a thread on here with commentary started by Michelle (Tigerlily).

whisperingwindfarms

Who cares?

PasoBaby_CarolU

Malcolm

No point, except in the interest of my writing of history to be objective. Speak now or let me close my case on Inc with in ink. The sheer weight of evidence mounting is what got me going hoping that someone might come up with pithily to counter. I close the case: dishonour is thus declared undefendable. I also have nothing to get over except two home bred delinquents that P Inc made subscribers believe that they could start themselves. My gain having never spent a cent on Inc. I have no grudge but would appreciate a better defence for the record.

Malcolm

Malcolm

I forgot to ad that the homebreds led me to a new home with many acres of prime pasture. I refused to take on any more "gift" horses until I got a bigger place and it has come from those who admire my horsemanship for being gentle and successfu;. So I can only thank P Inc for that. I am here not to tell you I am good - I try and hope for the best - but to ask if I am reading the passage of history accurately. That is all . . . .

jackspark

Chablis

I thought Pat handled the situation really well. I just tend to ignore the 'Inc' part of the business.

ztmag

Hertha

Mark Weiler evidently said

Malcolm

Well exactly Hertha. If you are in a hurry you are less likely to notice the orange light before the red comes. So Pat got his come uppance for putting the show before the horse. This is not to say that the others are less deserving of learning by this mistake. But Pat coming back for the next international RTTH proves that he has not learnt from the big mistake which was entering in the first place.

As Carol has pointed out we have been through this to reach this conclusion. By starting this thread (could not find the old one) I was just tightening the case with the official RTTH verdict of what happened. Like PNH, RTTH is about show business and celebrity. It made Stacey Westfall and others rise in the public eye who were not media moguls like Pat. Tootie Bland reckons that it has done more for NH than anything else. Certainly the alternative Legacy of Legends which shuns Parelli is not managing to put many bums on seats yet. But RTTH horse started that way 8 years ago. So Pat being bucked off can add to the publicity for NH but like with much showbiz, important things get compromised.

In today's world, the cameras are so ubiquitous that little goes unrecorded. Sportsmen find that fouls that used to go undetected are analysed in the finest detail. So the new social media have given a double edge to the camera which is not only in the hands of the filmakers any longer. Pat found this with Catwalk at the Royal Festival of the Horse in the UK and at RTTH. His mediagenic personality is being bitten on the ass by the very media that made him famous.

I do not want to indict him. I am like the holders of the cameras only recording him being "hoist by his own petard" to use an old expression. But that would only be in some people's eyes like Hertha who has taken the message of NH more to heart than the folk in the Inc selling it.

I am just as interested in the irony of Buck who makes out as if he is not media oriented becoming elevated by the media to the point where people are scrutising him to find fault as well. This is what celebrity is all about. At the moment the really big ones are down the road from me in Durban at COP 17 trying to use their fame to save the planet. The horsey ones we are talking about are also trying to make the world a better place and improve our relationship with nature.

I have spent as much time studying Monty Roberts Buck or Pat and do not have a particular axe to grind with any of them.

Putting this out here is important since I want to hear the views of thiose who owe PNH for bringing their horsemanship to a higher level. So those who think Pat handled well have a valid perception that I am informed by and thanks for taking the trouble to say that.

Malcolm