Belton today, the 'word on the street' is...

lui23456 said:
how funny. WFP has some good contacts. And oil is slumming it hope he gets there ok and can get back for badders
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You have to wonder at WFP's attitude, that seems a mean thing to do although I appreciate it possibly wasn't his decision who could be included on the jet. But on the strength that both 'teams' are Brit's and should be helping each other out where possible, I'll firmly be in the OT camp from now on - and that is an about turn if ever there was one!
Best of luck to OT and ACM (especially as he is a local horse!)
 
How can anyone know who has "lorded it over" whom and what the parties involved did or did not have control over? How do we know WFP didn't get a seat someone else gave up (and I highly doubt it was his choice who was or was not included on the flight) or that OT hadn't already made arrangements? It seems pretty harsh to assume this is some plot or example of poor sportsmanship! There are lots of people trying to get where they're going right now, however they can.
 
Back to the issue of the ground I think Thistle makes a very valid point regarding the NT status - I commented on the BE thread about how much time they are really allowed on the course and realistically how much ground prep they are permitted to carry out. Yes the dressage arenas were shocking, but then again I havent competed on a good arena yet this season! It certainly seemed as if they were thrown on that particular area last minute.

I was doing the Int on sat and whilst the XC was by no means level, the ground was pretty forgiving and cut into nicely - you just had to really pick your lines in between the fences to try and avoid the ridges.The actual ground infront of the fences was ok but then again the Adv & 3* took additional loops so I didnt see some of their fences and by sunday maybe the ground was slightly more baked.

On a slightly different note, I think the courses were very cleverly designed; technical and testing but they really asked questions on accuracy, control yet rewarding horses with good striding inbetween fences if you read the questions properly. Precise walking of the course and deliberation was def order of the day!! I think lessons were learnt from last year and riders opinions listened to which is a positive step.

Would be interested to see if the organisers respond to concerns over the ground and arenas but I would certainly say NT will have a part to play in taking some of the blame.
 
Just to add it wasn't just the competitors that were unhappy at Belton, I was trading there and the number of spectators was woeful. Everyone I spoke to said they would not return.

The ground generally was pretty uneven, in the parking area we were allocated it was so bad we nearly grounded the car so I can quite imagine the state of the xc course and some of the arenas. The ground was very dry and hard by the end of the event with the hot dry weather.

I guess high numbers of withdrawals would explain the very early finish on sunday.

The officials were very ummmm jobsworth too - we got told off for moving vehicles before 6pm despite everything having finished and packed away and vehicles already being on the move - very annoying.

I'm just hoping chatsworth will be better for us traders, and for the horses!!

Ellie, I saw your near fall (it was so quiet I watched loads of the SJ, from a seat near fence 4) and you and your horse did very well. Couldn't believe it when your horse jumped the second part of the double, and was amazed not only that you stayed on but also that you managed to carry on so calmly afterwards - well done!!!!
 
only_me said:
Love the fact the WFP is lording over OT, who is slumming it :p

Now, could you imagine OT and WFP together, alone, in the private jet?! :p
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From what I've heard, OT would enjoy that!!

Horrendous about D'arcy though. His connections must be devasted.
 
Katt - ref. your comment about low turnout of spectators. A number of people I know said that they were not going this year due to cost. They found £10 per person + car parking fee a bit steep.
 
it cost £7 each per adult, no charge for car, to get into Burnham Market, £10 per adult + £3 per car for Belton. Quite a lot more, in fact.
I hope Oli's not stuck for long, surely as long as he gets there by Thurs he'll be okay, someone else could trot the horse up if he's not made it by then.
Re: the courses - I thought the A/CIC*** corner question early on was designed to trick the horses, and unfair. the direct route meant you had to gallop alongside the post and rail and then jump the corner on a v oblique angle. long route, gallop past corner, circle left, come back to jump other end of wedge. you'd have wanted to push out more to get a better angle to the direct route, but the post and rail prevented it, and a rider told me she thought horses were assuming they had to go through the gap, not even getting a chance to realise there was a fence to be jumped.
the novice direct route of log to skinny brush was a bit horrible too, unless you severely angled the log at A (which i didn't see anyone do) you'd go past your line on landing (part B was that weirdly positioned) and have to loop back to the direct line, within a few strides, not nice really.
btw, i think that to condemn WFP on the strength of a couple of comments on here is the absolute limit, i've seen some exceptionally daft stuff posted on HHO over the years but that takes my breath away... we know NOTHING of the situation at all. shame on anyone who assumes someone else is 'unsporting' based purely on vague rumour!
anyway, i'm disappointed, i liked the idea of them as Thelma and Louise... ;) ;)
 
OT has just been on sky news apparently - seems he has managed to sweet talk a couple of taxi drivers to get him moving again, god knows how much that is going to cost but where theres a grand slam at stake.....
If I heard correctly, OT set off on Saturday where as WFP was still competing - may provide the simple explanation as to why they did not go together as opposed to conspiracy theories!

K- re; the novice log to arrowhead combo, i assume the intention was for riders to really angle the log in order to make the correct line, thus making it more difficult for those who wanted to play safe. Although maybe not the nicest idea for so early on in a novice course. The thinking was much the same at the offset houses at 18 for the int. The angle you needed to take looked seriously undoable and caused much head scratching from me but I watched a fair few take the angles and they actually jumped well if ridden positively - I took the safer option of the extra stride detour however but as it was only our 3rd int i didnt want to chance it so late on in the course.

We did comment that course designers seem to be really pushing the limits at the moment as to how much they angle some of the combination fences to the point the direct route doesn't seem possible - guess they still havent found that limit but at least they are using forgiving profiles.
 
gosh, i didnt mean it in a bad way! More the fact that WFP is travelling in style whilst OT is travelling defo not in style!
 
Actually, I found an interesting explanation of the different travel arrangements - on WFP's website - puts it all in rather a different perspective (and shows one shouldnt always jump to conclusions, tempting as it is...:-))

(quoted from his website)"We rushed home on Saturday night as panic was setting in that I was not going to be able to get to America on my Monday morning flight out of Heathrow due to the volcanic ash cloud. Alice and Hannah had been franticly looking for alternative ways across the Atlantic for myself and Oliver Townend and by Saturday evening we eventually managed to book a flight from Madrid to Miami on Monday afternoon. But then came the drama of trying to work out how to get us to Madrid. We booked ourselves onto the Eurostar from London to Paris on Sunday afternoon, Oliver made it and I managed to miss the train at Basingstoke! But thanks to local hero and hunt master James Gibson-Fleming we commandeered his single piston airplane and he agreed to fly myself and Teresa Stopford-Sackville (Cool Mountain's owner) to Madrid at 4am on Monday morning by visual controls.

Oliver, once in Paris hit a brick wall with no trains or busses available due to a strike, so he hijacked a taxi, at vast expense, to drive him the 900 miles to Madrid. He has made it to Madrid airport and I will update my progress later on today."
 
Yes the cost was mentioned and it did seem a lot to pay for an event of that level.

Sadly many shows seem to be victim of greedy organisers, if entrance fees for spectators and plot fees continue to increase then the spectator numbers will fall, and traders will find it harder to cover their pitch. So less will come so the quality of the shopping will decline meaning that the spectators are even more reluctant to pay the ticket price and so on.......

Already I'm begining to think that county shows are going to be more profitable than eventing as a trader due to the cheaper pitches. Shame.
 
Taken from WFP's website which follows up Tanta's post:

Travel Update - Monday 19th

Great news, after a beautiful flight down the French coast Teresa and I have arrived at Madrid airport. We have checked in for our flight to Miami later this afternoon, are all booked into the Miami International Airport Hotel for tonight and Oliver, T and myself will catch the 6.30am connection to Lexington tomorrow morning all being well.
A million thanks must go to James Gibson-Fleming, Yogi and all the team in the office for getting us this far.

Fingers crossed it looks like they are going to make it?
 
Thelma and Louise? Planes Trains and Automobiles?

After the effort of getting there i how its goes really well for both of them, go boys:D
 
amyneave said:
according to wfp's website they were both going by eurostar to paris, but wfp missing the train, so someone offered to fly him by private jet.
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It probably isn't a private jet, as Jet Engines suck the ash in and get clogged. It is more likely a light aircraft powered by a propeller as they are not affected, however they also tend to be pretty limited in size and space. It could be a two seater plane!!! :eek:
 
amymay said:
:eek: Ain't it just ;):D
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Lol, he's wearing us natives down; whenever we see him, he's always cheerful and waving so you can't be churlish and not wave back, can you?! :D
He's also riding a local owner's horse and he's now living locally so I'm supporting the home team, it's only neighbourly but whatever happens, I just hope it's a Brit who does best.
 
MFH9 said:
Lol, he's wearing us natives down; whenever we see him, he's always cheerful and waving so you can't be churlish and not wave back, can you?! :D
He's also riding a local owner's horse and he's now living locally so I'm supporting the home team, it's only neighbourly but whatever happens, I just hope it's a Brit who does best.
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I recently saw him at a demo - and must say I found him thoroughly entertaining, and rather charming :D
 
I have these images of OT and WFP going through their dressage test, discussing what they think the course may be like! Odd times...
Hope they both make it there ok and like the rest its worth the hassle...i wonder how they'll get home :o
 
Katt said:
It probably isn't a private jet, as Jet Engines suck the ash in and get clogged. It is more likely a light aircraft powered by a propeller as they are not affected, however they also tend to be pretty limited in size and space. It could be a two seater plane!!! :eek:
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It will be a Cessna (prop plane) or something similar, to be honest having a plane is pretty swanky, but this is probably not your Simon 'Cowellesque' jet that peeps have been imagining.
It would take the prize money to be very huge for me to fly anywhere in one of them.
 
was probably a bit like this :eek:

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