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laid floral tributes. Now it is time for HARDtalk. Mary King is a | :00:10. | :00:15. | |
sportswoman like few others. She's 50-years-old and still at the | :00:15. | :00:23. | |
pinnacle of her sport. That sport is three-day eventing. Next year, | :00:23. | :00:27. | |
she's hoping to collect her first Olympic gold medal at what will be | :00:27. | :00:29. | |
her sixth games. But is equestrianism, as its enthusiasts | :00:29. | :00:33. | |
insist, the toughest sport in the world? Or is it less a test of the | :00:33. | :00:43. | |
:00:43. | :00:58. | ||
person, more of the horse, and a preserve of the rich? Tel-Me how | :00:58. | :01:03. | |
you came to was riding? It was not the usual route, was that? | :01:03. | :01:13. | |
:01:13. | :01:15. | ||
total. I was one of those young girls who wanted to ride ponies and | :01:15. | :01:24. | |
Beanie a maul that time. -- be near them all the time. My parents were | :01:24. | :01:30. | |
not involved with horses. Weaved in a small cottage in Devon with no | :01:30. | :01:38. | |
land and very little money. It was difficult at the start. You took on | :01:38. | :01:46. | |
a lot of different jobs to to afford this pursuit. Yes, that | :01:46. | :01:52. | |
was after I left school and decided to start up my and business. I had | :01:52. | :01:58. | |
to start from scratch. Added not mind what I did. I always had lots | :01:58. | :02:05. | |
of energy and did not mind working hard. I did a butcher's rounds, | :02:05. | :02:12. | |
some gardening jobs, cleaning work. On I did not mind what I did as | :02:12. | :02:21. | |
long as there was paid money which helped to pay in tree fees, a new | :02:21. | :02:29. | |
boots etc. After you placed quite well at Badminton, one of the big | :02:29. | :02:34. | |
event in tournaments, you were first offered some money. -- event | :02:34. | :02:40. | |
in tournaments. You were quoted as saying that she would rather be | :02:40. | :02:47. | |
famous and rich. I used to buy young horses, bring them on and | :02:47. | :02:54. | |
sell them to make money. I had one horse who I could tell was very | :02:54. | :03:00. | |
special and would be the cause that would fall from my childhood dream | :03:00. | :03:06. | |
of riding at Badminton Horse trials. That was the top event to aim for. | :03:06. | :03:12. | |
I could tell this was was going to get to the top level and I was | :03:12. | :03:20. | |
offered a decent amount of money for him. I knew I should sell | :03:20. | :03:24. | |
because I needed the money, but I knew he could take me to that top | :03:24. | :03:31. | |
level. Still, to this day, I get teased by other people. They | :03:31. | :03:35. | |
remember when I said I would wipe the be famous and rich. It was a | :03:35. | :03:41. | |
good move, definitely, because I kicked him. I will ask you about | :03:41. | :03:48. | |
the costs involved in a minute. But before we get with that, because | :03:48. | :03:52. | |
there are US who are not for me with three-day eventing, tell us | :03:52. | :04:00. | |
about it. It comprises three very diverse disciplines and uses just | :04:00. | :04:07. | |
one horse to do all of them. A bit like a try athlete in human terms. | :04:07. | :04:11. | |
One is stress large, where you perform and obedience test within | :04:11. | :04:21. | |
:04:21. | :04:24. | ||
an arena. Three judges assess you. Precision, training, obedience. | :04:24. | :04:33. | |
Then you have the cross country phase way you gallop over five | :04:33. | :04:37. | |
miles and you jump solid fences that do not fall down if you knock | :04:38. | :04:46. | |
them. And to jump into water, over banks, over hedges. It is a time to | :04:46. | :04:51. | |
cause, so it is important that you gallop at speed to get around the | :04:51. | :04:57. | |
course inside the time. That is a be exciting phase which tests the | :04:57. | :05:04. | |
bravery of the cause. The final phases showjumping. The general | :05:04. | :05:09. | |
public are more used to seeing that. You jump coloured fences in an | :05:09. | :05:15. | |
arena and you are penalised if you knock a fence down or up if you | :05:16. | :05:21. | |
have a refusal. It is a unique sport in that it is the only one | :05:21. | :05:27. | |
way men and women compete on equal terms. If anything, the women are | :05:27. | :05:34. | |
definitely as good as the men, sometimes better. Dressage itself, | :05:35. | :05:41. | |
a very arcane, complex sport. Very difficult to follow unless you are | :05:41. | :05:51. | |
:05:51. | :05:55. | ||
and any Shi'ite. -- initiate. It is quite popular. We wear a | :05:55. | :05:58. | |
traditional top hat and tails and the horses are turned out | :05:58. | :06:05. | |
beautifully. The whole picture looks very, very smart. Two people | :06:05. | :06:13. | |
who do not understand, you cannot really work ally work s going on. | :06:14. | :06:20. | |
When you do get to know it, it is fascinating how the course will | :06:20. | :06:28. | |
perform various movements, going sideways, it's, going at different | :06:28. | :06:35. | |
paces. Doing things within the paces. They do it so precisely and | :06:35. | :06:43. | |
calmly. As a rider, it is so fine. The little things that you ask the | :06:43. | :06:50. | |
horse. The Aids to ask the horse to do these movements. An onlooker | :06:50. | :06:58. | |
would wonder how the horse knew what to do. That is because the | :06:59. | :07:02. | |
indications are same minute. A little pressure from your legs, a | :07:02. | :07:07. | |
slight movement of your body. what do you say to people who say | :07:07. | :07:12. | |
that it cannot be considered a true sport because you cannot | :07:12. | :07:18. | |
standardise the horses. It is not a true test of the Capalabar of the | :07:18. | :07:20. | |
sports person because so much depends on the standard of the | :07:20. | :07:28. | |
courses. -- Capalabar of the sports person. You could not to a three- | :07:28. | :07:36. | |
day event without a rider on top, and a good rider. But as a | :07:36. | :07:40. | |
professional rider you need a talented horse. But the forces need | :07:40. | :07:47. | |
to be produced. It takes years to take a young, five-year-old was up | :07:47. | :07:52. | |
to the top level of competition. The EU need to be fit to be a top | :07:52. | :08:00. | |
rider? In your autobiography, I was struck by a quote. You describe how | :08:00. | :08:04. | |
the team was instructed to take out running. You said it was probably | :08:04. | :08:10. | |
the first time that any of us had a really worked on our fitness. That | :08:10. | :08:16. | |
sounds remarkable, it was only 15 years ago. We did not have to be | :08:16. | :08:24. | |
incredibly a rogue refit. I think we are up all naturally strong | :08:24. | :08:29. | |
because of the general work. Day after day I am working mainly with | :08:29. | :08:39. | |
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the horses, riding six was as a day. That is not many. Other riders ride | :08:39. | :08:46. | |
with more horses every day. So, you are feet. Your core strength is | :08:46. | :08:53. | |
very strong. You have had very good balance. But, as far as running, I | :08:53. | :08:59. | |
am not very good at that. In terms of the cost of maintaining the | :08:59. | :09:04. | |
courses, breeding them, buying them? What does it take to compete | :09:04. | :09:11. | |
at the top level? It is a very expensive sport. It gives the | :09:11. | :09:16. | |
impression therefore of being an elitist. I promise you, that is not | :09:16. | :09:23. | |
the case. But it is mostly rich people who take part in it. No, it | :09:23. | :09:31. | |
is not. The money comes in with the owners and the sponsors. Most | :09:31. | :09:39. | |
riders are not wealthy people. The majority are, like myself, who have | :09:39. | :09:43. | |
had an urge to want to ride and have worked hard and then have | :09:43. | :09:50. | |
attracted owners and sponsors. of them, you are the glaring | :09:50. | :09:54. | |
exception, come from families that can afford the land and the courses | :09:54. | :10:01. | |
to get them interested initially. Not most of them, no. Obviously, | :10:01. | :10:07. | |
there are sum, but an awful lot of riders are 20 yards, trying to make | :10:07. | :10:17. | |
:10:17. | :10:18. | ||
ends meet. It is not as it seems. - - riders are renting yards. It is | :10:18. | :10:27. | |
not rich people. We have backing. All the horses I ride are and by | :10:27. | :10:33. | |
other peopleher people own any horse as myself. That is the | :10:33. | :10:38. | |
majority of how it works in house is bought. One of the things I | :10:38. | :10:43. | |
think many people do not have a correct conception about when it | :10:43. | :10:47. | |
comes to three-day eventing is that it is not a genteel sport. It is | :10:47. | :10:57. | |
:10:57. | :11:00. | ||
quite dangerous. You, I mean, break your neck. Yes, it is one of the | :11:00. | :11:06. | |
few things you can do these days that is exciting, given all be | :11:06. | :11:10. | |
health and safety regulations. I broke my neck going for a little | :11:10. | :11:16. | |
ride around a field at home. Any one who gets on board a pause is | :11:16. | :11:20. | |
obviously be skiing something going wrong. I was cantering a young | :11:20. | :11:25. | |
horse around a field, a pheasant came up to their heads, the horse | :11:25. | :11:35. | |
was booked, and I fell and broke my neck. He said, fortunately the | :11:35. | :11:39. | |
accident did not dent my confidence, but it did make me think. That was | :11:39. | :11:47. | |
what you wrote. It did not put any of wanting to compete at all. Maybe | :11:47. | :11:52. | |
if I had had a full eventing and broken mind it, that may has made | :11:52. | :12:02. | |
me a little nervous. I don't know. -- broken my neck. If you do fall | :12:02. | :12:11. | |
of, is the ease lucky how you land. One export I spoke to said: Forget | :12:11. | :12:18. | |
boxing, this is the tougher sport in the world. Would you agree? | :12:18. | :12:24. | |
not feel I am a particularly brave person. I just loved doing it. I | :12:24. | :12:29. | |
ride horses that I have trained, that I know are perfectly capable | :12:29. | :12:35. | |
of doing what I have asked them to do. But even then, there is the at | :12:35. | :12:41. | |
risk of things going wrong. That is what makes it so exciting. Do you | :12:41. | :12:51. | |
think it could be too dangerous? The president of the US Open team | :12:51. | :12:56. | |
Association, said the overall risks were too great and it was | :12:56. | :13:04. | |
unacceptable. Riders have actually died during competition. It is | :13:04. | :13:09. | |
about one rider per year. You yes, but if you think of how many | :13:09. | :13:15. | |
millions of people right. It is much more dangerous driving a car. | :13:15. | :13:22. | |
Think about road accidents. It is obviously something that is there. | :13:22. | :13:30. | |
We riders know it is a risk. But it is minimal and the sport is very | :13:30. | :13:36. | |
aware of being as safe as it can be. So, you think he was overstating | :13:36. | :13:44. | |
the case. You yes. A lot of safety measures have come in since those | :13:44. | :13:53. | |
said the accident. Now there are special peans on the cross-country | :13:53. | :13:57. | |
fences that great hit there is enough pressure. The fall with a | :13:57. | :14:02. | |
cause, the one we all dread, and irritation will form where Acors | :14:02. | :14:06. | |
does not peaky his front legs up enough, catches them and | :14:06. | :14:14. | |
somersaults over the fence. If you are a rider then, you are under the | :14:14. | :14:19. | |
cause. It is the worst for you could ever have. These things | :14:19. | :14:29. | |
:14:29. | :14:34. | ||
prevent that happening. -- the If you have something that | :14:34. | :14:38. | |
collapses on contact you are spoiling the sport. They do | :14:38. | :14:43. | |
collapse on contact. They are meant to withstand a certain amount of | :14:43. | :14:50. | |
pressure. But the pressure is quite great. The pressure on the top of | :14:50. | :15:00. | |
:15:00. | :15:01. | ||
the rail it that the rail will suddenly dropped. It is all very | :15:01. | :15:11. | |
:15:11. | :15:11. | ||
rare. I have been eventing for 30 years. You have a lot falls. You | :15:11. | :15:21. | |
:15:21. | :15:23. | ||
have fodder injuries. You have also written through pregnancy. I'll ask | :15:23. | :15:33. | |
:15:33. | :15:34. | ||
you about that if you do not mind. When you're pregnant with your | :15:34. | :15:44. | |
:15:44. | :15:47. | ||
older child in 1995 he said that when the news came out there was a | :15:47. | :15:55. | |
fevered debate. Someone said that they could not make up their mind | :15:55. | :16:05. | |
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if you were very brave or stupid. did right up until I was six months. | :16:12. | :16:22. | |
:16:22. | :16:26. | ||
I had the backing of my team doctor. My horse was doing fine. It was as | :16:26. | :16:31. | |
safe as you can get. As safe as you can get is to stop writing. I felt | :16:31. | :16:36. | |
more comfortable on the horse than I did off. My team doctor was very | :16:36. | :16:45. | |
supportive. If you want to do what then just keep getting back on. | :16:45. | :16:53. | |
There was a risk that if you had a bad fall then it could have been a | :16:53. | :17:03. | |
:17:03. | :17:05. | ||
nasty accident. Apparently the most dangerous stage of riding is in | :17:05. | :17:09. | |
those first six weeks of pregnancy. If you have a fall then, things can | :17:09. | :17:19. | |
:17:19. | :17:21. | ||
be bad. After that things are much safer. But at first to do not know | :17:21. | :17:29. | |
you are pregnant. I felt it was the right thing to do. Maybe it was a | :17:29. | :17:37. | |
bit silly. A couple of years later you had the trauma of miscarrying | :17:37. | :17:47. | |
:17:47. | :17:47. | ||
after 12 weeks. You wrote about that saying that he went to a | :17:47. | :17:51. | |
competition experiencing severe stomach pain and bleeding. Who | :17:51. | :18:00. | |
decided to carry on as if nothing happened. You said after that you | :18:00. | :18:09. | |
won, imagine if I had won a three- day event and it forced a baby all | :18:09. | :18:19. | |
and the same weekend. I did not know how I felt. Miscarrying is | :18:19. | :18:29. | |
:18:29. | :18:31. | ||
nature's way of getting rid of pregnancies this cannot write. I | :18:31. | :18:37. | |
carried on and won the event. It is just one of those things. I was | :18:37. | :18:46. | |
fortunate enough not to be dragged down by it. It was just one of | :18:46. | :18:54. | |
those things that happened. You do not think the fact you have been | :18:54. | :18:59. | |
riding through it could have induced the trauma? Definitely not. | :18:59. | :19:06. | |
The doctors say definitely not. It is very common. It is one of those | :19:06. | :19:16. | |
:19:16. | :19:16. | ||
things. Riding does not come into it. One thing that ride in | :19:16. | :19:25. | |
unfortunately shares with all sport is doping scandals. Some say there | :19:25. | :19:32. | |
needs to be a tougher approach to this problem. For example, banning | :19:33. | :19:41. | |
all herbal supplements for courses. Where you stand? They have a strict | :19:41. | :19:48. | |
programme for not only the horses but the jockeys. We know that that | :19:48. | :19:55. | |
is in place. Years ago you were allowed to give your horse is | :19:55. | :20:05. | |
:20:05. | :20:09. | ||
certain amount of substance, a drug that was a painkiller.ainkiller. | :20:09. | :20:18. | |
allowed to give them a certain amount. Different horses test in | :20:18. | :20:26. | |
different ways. It is now a bend substance. There is no discrepancy | :20:26. | :20:36. | |
:20:36. | :20:41. | ||
about it. Other drugs in the sport? There are not. One of the theories | :20:41. | :20:44. | |
his first boards were the horse has to be under control it would make a | :20:44. | :20:54. | |
:20:54. | :20:57. | ||
lot of sense to give the horse a drug to calm it down. That would | :20:57. | :21:07. | |
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not make sense. There could be side effects that would carry on. It | :21:09. | :21:18. | |
:21:19. | :21:19. | ||
could affect the competition for you. There are various horrible | :21:19. | :21:28. | |
things, but there is nothing apart from training the horse correctly. | :21:29. | :21:36. | |
You have a cheap day massive amount. -- achieved. How desperate are you | :21:36. | :21:45. | |
win -- to win Olympic gold? I have been fortunate over the years and I | :21:45. | :21:52. | |
would love to try and get to London next year. I still absolutely love | :21:52. | :22:01. | |
the sport. I have some fantastic horses in my yard. I've managed to | :22:01. | :22:11. | |
win a silver and a bronze. It would be fantastic. You are also 50 years | :22:11. | :22:17. | |
old. You are in remarkable shape. How much longer have you got? | :22:17. | :22:27. | |
:22:27. | :22:31. | ||
not know. My son keeps asking me when I am going to quit. I decide | :22:31. | :22:41. | |
:22:41. | :22:44. | ||
it may be after the London Acklam - - Olympics was a good time. But | :22:44. | :22:48. | |
then I apparently he is a big Rio de Janeiro fan and he does not want | :22:48. | :22:55. | |
me to quit we're to go to Brazil. The London Olympics want more | :22:55. | :23:03. | |
people to get involved in sports. Is there a chance more people get | :23:03. | :23:13. | |
:23:13. | :23:15. | ||
involved? The border for entry is quite high. It is not just buying a | :23:15. | :23:20. | |
pair of shoes are referred for. It is more intensive. A horse is a big | :23:20. | :23:30. | |
:23:30. | :23:34. | ||
commitment. There is a lot of extra expenses. Hopefully the Olympics in | :23:34. | :23:44. | |
London and the horse racing in Greenwich Park, it is fascinating | :23:44. | :23:52. |