Medal winning performances?

The Olympic Equestrian events have finished and we have had some great viewing and the sport has reached a wide audience. But sometimes, for me, that viewing had been uncomfortable, some dreadful images are doing the rounds on the internet like this

I still can't believe this woman was rewarded for riding her horse like this with a silver medal.....but the marvellously relaxed combination of Carl Hester and Uthopia were denied a medal. The chairman of the judging panel, Stephen Clarke, was on BBC Breakfast this morning and he actually said that Parzival, the horse pictured above, was crossing his jaw and leaning on his rider's hands. So why such a hight mark then???

The FEI's Facebook page is still being deluged with images like this, they are not only deleting them but denying the posters  access to the page, so much for freedom of expression!!

The showjumping was an undeniably exciting competition to watch, but why do a lot of the riders feel it necessary to shove a load of metalwork in the horse's mouth and strap its head down and its mouth shut? Why do they need to jab them in the mouth so much?

And the cross country took a heavy toll with 15 eliminations due to falls. I cannot imagine ever asking one of my horses to jump down something like this

But it is great viewing, and I have watched as much as possible, and winced at the pulling on horse's mouths, but I decided a long time ago that jumping and cross country and anything more difficult than a walk trot dressage test just isn't for me.....