BE overhaul

What really makes me cross is that years ago Pre Novice was there for the young horses and the amateurs, it was the training level if you like. Then it go a bit too technical, so they introduced Intro, now Intro is more like the old Pre Novice and is getting a bit more technical with skinnies and corners etc, so they are dropping the height again!
What the hell is going on? Is this all to get a better profit margin I wonder?
If BE had stuck to the xc courses that good old Pre Novice and even Intro used to be, there would be no need for all this change.
I am not in favour of changing the class names either, it's getting beyond absurd and I am seriously questioning whether I will be re registering next year at all.
 
when we competed in america it was so much more cost effective and everyone can have a go with this hike only the really rich or the professionals can do it i do not think it is fair. I do think we will be having a lot more good unaffiliated events arising!
 
and i am wondering if i, for example, having not evented for years, would have to go through all the levels (at huge cost etc) or cn i just enter a prenovive straight off if i like? how is that working these days now everyone is getting qualification mad
 
Name change is confusing, why not stick to Training Level, etc.

I still haven't got my head round all these CICCCCCCCs, instead of the old one start, two star.
 
They'll have to find another £50k - £100k for the new website presumably. Couldn't possibly have a marketing person at BE bored with the existing one, it's been all of 2 years since that was introduced!!
Amateurs will simply do what I intend to do, buy a couple of day tickets and stick to that. Gone are the days when people had a membership & planned a season of an event a month
 
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Flippen heck Kerilli, so why o why cant BE do something similar here instead of price hiking and name changing?

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exactly. i suppose the reduced fee for winter BD for eventers is a start, i wish BSJA would do something similar.
re: smaller levels being big money spinners... hmm, but where will it end?! seriously, i think "affiliated eventing" over a course that i could, quite seriously, jump on my own two feet, would be a bit much! as far as i'm concerned, any horse who is fit to be called an "eventer" should cope fine with Intro level as long as it's done some xc schooling and is reasonably rideable, and the rider has a decent trainer etc. i know we've all got to start somewhere, but somewhere used to be hunter trials, not affiliated! and an averagely brave horse should sail round an Intro, anything smaller, it would probably be dangerous! (i've had horses in the past that came straight out at Novice and thought it was a lark, and i rode like a clueless muppet back then by the way! They would have been ridiculously blase at Intro or Training level, let alone anything smaller.)
 
Personally, I believe that BE DOESN'T need a complicated website. I've only just learnt how to use the current website! >.>

Regarding the name change, why exactly have they done that? (Also, why is there a optimum time at Training level?)
 
siennamum, some of the justification given at the AGM for the high admin/staff costs was that it was IT costs for the new website, so it won't be an additional cost now, if you see what i mean... it's already been paid for. well, that was my understanding of it, anyway.
sophos, they've done the name change because, they said, it makes more sense and sounds better than (and this was the exact example they gave) "WFP is competing at Training level"..." at BE 80" apparently sounds better. Hmm, not so sure about that myself. Having thought about it a bit more, i think the levels could have been called after the colours of the numbers on xc - Advanced = blue level, Intermediate = Green level, Novice = Yellow level etc. It would have made things a LOT simpler for spectators!
 
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"WFP is competing at Training level"..." at BE 80" apparently sounds better.

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You see, to me that sounds ridiculous however you say it. Can't imagine WFP bringing his young horses out at BE 80!!
 
Re. Sophos - why do you question the optimum time at training level? I personally think it's important for horses and riders to go and learn to attack XC at a reasonable pace - I was personally glad to see training level riders coming home with big piles of time faults and realising that they were actually traveling at a snails paces.

The name change feels a bit wrong too. It really is creating a two tier system. Almost in line with the BSJA intro/progressive/amateur type ratings. I'm still undecided about the training events anyway - I even DID one this year, but mainly because I was already a BE member (as an owner) and horse needed to do her first ODE - would happily do unaffiliated, but the training event was more convenient for me. It was a good educational experience for her. She will go straight in at intro next year (because frankly, most horses are capable of intro) and my last horse went straight in at Pre-Novice - because he was capable, bold and well hunted.

I really hope we don't get BE70, or BE60 or anything along these lines...
 
I second everything RachelFerd said. I did a training class for exactly same reasons and again Blue will come out at intro next year.

Was just looking at a coupe of early schedules for next year. I already dont understand new dr test names...saw a PN with test BE101. I already know that test from intro.....
They'll be much studying of new rule books before next March i think
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Sophos, I very much doubt he does, it was just the example they used for some reason!
Now, having the same colours as ski slopes would be good... Badminton could be a "quadruple black diamond" course! i wonder if it would make it clearer to the non-horsey public, or maybe there isn't much point...
 
The 10.3% increase is to cover the abandonment insurance - BE is not a good prospect for insurance companies to take on given the number of days cancelled this year & last, therefore the only option available was a v hefty premium that has to be passed down the line. Lucretia I think it was probably the quantity of days cancelled as opposed to it just being Blenheim!
 
Dont like the sound of the price increase will def be thinking twice about koining next year.

Where can I find info on the new dressage test names?

Oh and has anyone got anymore on the 2009 calander, saw a preview of it on here a few weeks ago but nothing since.

Thanks inadvance!
 
I hate the new names. Why have BSJA not given in and not changed newcomers or foxhunters? because surely 1.10m for horses who have won less than x makes it much clearer!

I have to say though trying to explain the levels to a non horsey person is a nightmare. They understand intro, but get very confused about PN and N when actually to go round N you are not that much of a novice. I always have to explain in terms of intro is grade 1, PN is grade 2 and N is grade 3 etc.
 
I must say, as annoying it might be I can see that the current class names could be meaningless to a non-horsey person. I mean, Novice isn't exactly what it says on the tin is it??? I actually takes a whole lot of work and a good horse to get to Novice competitions.... i have never managed to get beyond Pre-novice and I am sure there are many out there in the same boat. At least if you are describing to an outsider what you do, BE110 actually means something.

The 10% increase might be a bit more palatable if we were able to spread the cost perhaps over the year. I would definitely do that. It would be like paying for your horse insurance in installments. I wonder if this could be done?
 
Because BSJA fecked it all up years ago when they stopped having Newcomers as their starting class, and went down the line to whatever hop skip and a jump level they start at now.
It really destroyed the young horses with potential ridden by amateurs, and has created the gulf between the pros and the rest of the world that exists now.
It breaks my heart to see BE going the same way, and another lengthy thread on the Comp riders forum has served to only further my belief.
It is so important to understand how to ride a horse to be a successful and responsible rider in eventing. The XC is the thrill, but not the be all and end all. To dumb down the SJ as they did before to let incompetent riders go XC on the adrenaline on their horses was unbelievably stupid and short sighted. I agree with Kerelli, (although I may be a bit too vehement for reciprocation!) about the muppet user phase..........
What doesn't ever change is the horse. He may now be bred differently, have cost (a lot) more, and be expected more of. Ultimately, he is still the same animal, and having learned to gallop flat out round SJ/XC courses for the buzz of the rider, if he's learning that at less than 1.10m, he's very unlikely to progress.
A current coursebuilder I know is tearing his hair out at even having to introduce Intro, it won't happen in the future under his jurisdiction at his event, because he saw how scarily the riders change even at PN level. I can see the sport heading to a separation of pros and amateurs and that would be a terrible shame, as money will out even more than at the moment.
God forbid a closed shop as the US appears to have at the moment.
Phew..........rant over...........
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Quite!

How can you be scared of an SJ course at 1.10, yet be happy to let your horse take it's chance (life!) at the same height over unforgiving obstacles?
 
I thought there was already a BE supporters' club or am I thinking of the EHOA?

All sounds rather complicated to me and I only follow the sport as a supporter.
 
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Quite!

How can you be scared of an SJ course at 1.10, yet be happy to let your horse take it's chance (life!) at the same height over unforgiving obstacles?

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Umm, i can see exactly what you mean, but personally i find xc far less daunting than the sj, certainly at the bigger levels, and a lot of horses (e.g. my mare) are a bit casual over sjs and give them a tap so don't have the best results on paper, but are natural xc horses and make it feel easy (and safe, btw.) that's the trouble... results can lie... it's possible to have a really dodgy sj round where you somehow manage to leave everything up, and equally to have a really good rhythmical sj round but tap down a couple.
hope you can see what i'm trying to get at here! (btw, i don't go round the xc like an adrenalin-driven nutter, as some seem to!)
 
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