Addington High Profile show - update

Carefreegirl

Carefreegirl

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High Profile Show - Update

Unfortunately British Dressage has refused the rearranged date due to their inflexibility in their rules regarding show dates and British Dressage's inability to allow competition between show centres.

Addington Manor are considering the future of holding British Dressage Shows.

Any comments or queries please contact British Dressage


Just copied off the Addington home page. Not surprised ;) but hope they sort it out, be a sad day if not.
 
Totally unsurprising, BD have a real issue with allowing decent new venues to run competitions, a really good one near me was turned down despite a lot of local support, so I am not surprised they were so inflexible about this.
 
Having twice been on the receiving end of very poor experiences at Addington I am not at all surprised by this 'toys out of the pram' response...

At the winter regionals in 2011 we took Blitz having specifically requested a stable with a full grill. Two stables later and the removal of another stable front and one very well mannered stallion finally got a stable :o The full grill was to protect us against people who might not realise he was entire and inadvertently allow their horse to get a little close.

We then tried to give him a leg stretch and were effectively kicked out of every warm-up as we were not competing till the next day.

We then traipsed through walkways which were 10 inches deep in sludge.

We were unable to exercise him in the morning of our test as we were not a priority as competitors warming up for their immediate tests were... fair enough but a venue the size of Addington should be able to accommodate riders staying and wishing to exercise prior to their competition. What about if we had taken 5 horses for the duration, did they expect them all to stay in their box until the day they were competing?

The final straw for me was warming up outside, as both indoors were being used for tests, in an arena lit by a solitary floodlight which at 5.45pm went off, plunging the warm-up into total darkness and by darkness I mean pitch black.

Mr W had no option but to stop, I had no rug for Blitz which was back at the stable block, and I couldn't leave Mr W or Blitz who was quite lit up! In the pitch black having stood for 10 minutes while they tried to sort the lighting Mr W is then called in to do his test...

Needless to say it was memorable for all the wrong reasons.

It was shambolic, there was no apology, they would not allow Mr W any extra time, they didn't give a monkeys. We spent just under on £100 on stabling and entry fees, not to mention money spent in the canteen, hook up etc for a disastrous outing which in my opinion was by Addington being greedy and taking far too many entries over the weekend.

I have vowed never to return and this year we are heading to Merrist Wood.
 
ihatework said:
Might be worth looking on the BD forum, a slightly different slant ;)
Click to expand...

Hilarious! :D

Well in that case, BD should just withdraw support for them - god knows they are quick enough to stop venues who want to run from doing so because of competition - time to give somewhere new a chance I'd say!
 
Worried, you have probably just found your way onto addingtons compulsory ballot list for that comment :D

I'm hoping to make summer regionals this year .... Funny that the further away (sparsholt) is the venue that is blocked out in my diary!
 
Ihatework... Good! :D

To top it off that weekend we all had the norovirus... Can you imagine mini worried, me, Mr Worried, the worried-in-laws... It was horrific! The only one not puking was Blitz!

Still got PTSD from it all!
 
Addington should possibly not be throwing its toys out of pram like that. It is their business to be staging events, isn't it? Diplomacy and PR skills possibly needed.
 
Actually BD have acted correctly, there was little chance of reorganising a national level competition in the time scale , as there is a high profile show , regionals and premier league all in the calendar . ( Addington were wanting a march date)
In dressage term Addington think they are indispensable and display a wonton disregard for polite and reasonable customer recourse.
It is a fab venue in terms of facilities, but in terms of atmosphere and enjoyment it is very low ( subterranean) on their list of priorities.
There are a huge number of people that have had experiences as Worried one, they are totally not alone and is why the BD forum has the response it has.
With new, well run and frankly enthusiastic venues like Bury farm in the vicinity then Addington will get the competition it craves and people will vote with their feet.
It is not an accident that the national convention,national judges convention etc are no longer held at Addington.
Oh yes ansd passing comment will get you banned.
 
Well judging by the people who've commented on the BD thread if they blacklist you for commenting then it doesn't really matter whether they get another date or not, it won't really be a HP show because they won't let half the class enter ;)
 
BD has been working together with Addington Manor to try and find an alternative date to hold their High Profile Show. Unfortunately due to the number of existing bookings at Addington and the already congested calendar in February and early March we have been unable to come up with a suitable date that avoids conflict with Winter Regionals and Myerscough Premier League and therefore the show will not be rescheduled.
 
Partoow ~ some interesting points particularly about the banning . Are you the voice of experience ~sounds like you have been ?
 
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