Blair Castle 1*

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SusieT

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Any views? Don't have the handy list to hand that critiques events. For an experienced novice combinations first 1*? Facilities? Stabling? Likely to get balloted? Thoughts in general? What's normally in the course (i.e any big ditches/corners etc?) Never been so no idea what its like.
Thanks and appreciated to any who reply :)
 
Personally I would always like to have had at least 1 Intermediate run before doing a 1 star. Its pretty hilly, or at least you go up 1 large hill & go back down it again!! I would tell you that you need a fit horse but I am afraid to say I completely & utterly overdid the fitness thing & got completely run away with...:o Another thing I found very different was the stringing of the course, not something you find much of at ordinary One Days. On a bold free running horse you really need to walk the course very carefully.

There are plenty of fairly substantial fences although nothing terrifying but I had done quite a few Intermediates.......... You really need to go onto EWW to look at all the jumps.

It is a great event, last year was utterly marred by the weather. You also need a decent groom & be organised. Its a mega marathon to walk to the horse inspections.

Stabling is all fine, you need stable guard or similar if you want your horse to look out as they have full guards on all stable doors. They do their best not to ballot. You need to take a fair bit of your own food unless you are very rich & quite fit. Its a bit of trek across to the main arena to find catering. Good parties...........
 
Really nice event very well run. They have balloted before though. As Joss said hilly & a trek if you want to get from A-B so a bike comes in pretty handy. I've been when it's glorious weather & it was really lovely & the ground didn't get firm. Have also been when it just rained all week & the organisers worked so so hard to keep the event running & managed this very well. Facilities are pretty much what you'd find at your standard 3 day. Courses are bold, well built with a couple of water complexes & not 'trappy'. I would agree that it would be best to do an intermediate before you go and make sure you're confident with your brakes! But it's a nice event & you'll be well looked after. (There's a good chippy down the road if you find someone with a car!)
 
Thanks guys-balloting is random or is it on points like Badders?
Big bold fences as in big spreads or weird big bold fences? (lol-iykwim!)
Sounds like a nice event!
 
Joss said:
I would tell you that you need a fit horse but I am afraid to say I completely & utterly overdid the fitness thing & got completely run away with...:o
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Me too, on a previously sane horse. Though in my case the steering went to a greater extent than the brakes.

I did it alone, with only the addition of my husband for XC day and got on very well that way. I was also there in a very wet year (2008) and it was a bit miserable dealing with all the mud, especially in a tent, but surely they're due a dry one now?

I would say that it walks reasonably OK. I don't remember any yawning ditches, the odd smaller one in front of a fence maybe, and there was a half coffin (angled ditch to a skinny barrel) at the top of the first hill. There's a corner or two and a proper decent drop into the second water, followed by a skinny in the water. The good ones made it look easy. The rest..... The XC wasn't as 'dressed' as some of the big events down south. You get the impression that they'd used more of the budget for blooming big timber and less for flowers and carved animals! I've seen most of the UK 1*s and Blair wouldn't be anywhere near the easiest but a lot of Northerners do it as a first 1* so it isn't impossible.

Absolutely echo what the others have said about an intermediate, and a CIC* if you can manage one (Hutton entries have just opened and their CIC* is really lovely).

FEI rules, if I remember correctly, are that at the lower levels the horss with the most BE points are balloted first. The year I did it they accepted all the entries.
 
Forgot to mention that as they run up to 3* it feels like a MUCH bigger event than a lot of the 1*s and attracts a LOT of spectators. The upside is that you feel part of something pretty big, the downside is that a LOT of people see your every move!
 
Ditto everything said above. It does feel like a big event and the crowds at some fences are 4* crowds which can be intimidating. The same goes for the show jumping.
If you've not been before: the road to get there is a good one and it's no distance from the main A9 into the event, the setting is fantastic esp. if it's not raining!
There is lots to see and do, but it is expensive to eat etc.
If you are looking for a lower key, compact & friendly CCI* Burgie is unbeatable, just quite far! Not that much further than Blair tho'. Maybe too early for you?
Lots of people do now go around Blair 1* without intermediate run(s) first, but def. an advantage if you can do some. It would be a big ask coming from just ord. novices.
 
I rode in the CCI* in 2000 and also in 2004. I've also been to spectate for the past two years and would say it's the one event that would most make me want to take up eventing again! Beautiful setting and you really feel like you're at the "big time", with dressage and showjumping in the main arena.

The course has been slightly softened since I last rode there, and you now only run halfway up the big hill and back down, with an extra loop on the flat where the steeplechase used to be. Fitness is still essential though. It's normally towards the upper end of the distance for CCI*. I think last year it was 8min rather than the 9min (CCI* maximum) which it was the two times I rode there (and that was long format).

The first water is much softer than previously, you just run in and jump a small log (used to be a big drop in, out to a skinny and back in to a fence in water - that's now the CCI** water!), but as others have said the second water is still decent - and I've been swimming in it and don't recommend it, it's cold and smelly, so definitely lean back.

I'd say it's at the upper end of CCI* difficulty, but mainly because it's quite bold looking in the way it's built, rather than because it's particularly technical. I'd echo those who say try to do an intermediate before you go there.

If they still have the Scottish dancing evening in the castle, definitely sign up for that as it's a great opportunity to have a gawp inside the castle and do some reels.
 
Forgot to say, re balloting. Last year they ran two CCI* sections to avoid balloting. One was meant to do cross-country on Friday, but it was so wet they had to postpone so they ended up showjumping on Saturday, then doing cross-country on Sunday, then finishing the event with a trot-up (with special FEI permission to change the order of phases).

CCI* ballotting used to be done on a system that took into account things like the horses previous recent three-day starts, but that part seems to have disappeared from this year's rulebook, unless I'm just being stupid and can't see it?
 
Whisky - the OT was 9mins-ish in 2008. They scared us silly at the rider briefing by reminding us that some slower people would be on course for over 10mins :eek:. That's a looooooong time!
 
Yeah, I think that was probably me in 2004 - I had a silly stop at fence 2 (in my defence after a long hold in the 10min box), then went fine all the way round, then fell off in the last water. Dragged myself out of the damp to finish. Think I was on course for about 11 or 12 minutes!

In 2000 I managed to go clear inside the time at my first one-star so that was rather better... it was just a shame I had six showjumps down the next day.
 
Actually the very best advise we can give SusieT if she is going to Blair is to avoid HHO - we dont have a very good track record there. By the sounds of things Whisky had a slightly eventful time. Gamebird didnt quite get on as she would have liked. Kirkton had a fairly miserable time. I had an absolutely useless time - most problems caused by the weather. I even managed to not get enough dressage warm up because I was still trailing back from the 1st trot up, hows that for bad luck. Then had to SJ before XC arrrggghhhh. The other HHO person I met there failed the 1st trot up.

Not trying to curse you or anything:D;):)
 
The first time I went I got on well (apart from the showjumping)! And I did complete both times in one fashion or another...
 
Joss- maybe it's just the HHO support team aren't up to scratch?!
shifty.gif
;) We'll try harder this year! :D
 
Nevermind Pompoms you two - its a strong & frank discussion with the weather god that is really needed.

You can go & practise this year in readiness for Echo being there in 2011. I am afraid there is no chance of us putting in an appearance at Blair 2010, I will have my mind on otherthings:eek:

Although I suppose I could just pack off Andrew & Echo & leave you guys to look after him. He can do most things except plait & tie his own stock;);):D
 
I'm on it! :cool: As we'll be camping, it's in our best interests to have a sunny year at last. Then we can all complain about the ground being too hard etc...!

Still can't believe your bad timing of mini-Joss's arrival! ;) I think Mr Joss may also be required to be yelled at/share in the lost sleep etc around about that time, so Ithink you should just ship Echo up and I recall Nic saying the 1* looked perfectly jumpable last year, so I'll groom, she'll ride and we'll post Echo back after with your share of the winner's cheque?! :D
 
I've been to Blair a few times just to watch (can never afford to compete!), Im experienced at novice level and TBH I dont think the 1* there is too bad. I did the CIC* at Burgie last year and found that a step up enough and looking at Blair fences, they look like a similar level - I'd have been up for Blair if I could afford it (so it cant be that terrifying!). Blair is a lovely event, it has just been marred by the atrocious weather...!

Why not do Burgie 1* before Blair? It's in June and they run several suitable classes a 1 day or 3 day 1*. Burgie hasn't had horrendous weather the last few years either (oh god, just watch - now it'll be horrific!).
 
Joss said:
You can go & practise this year in readiness for Echo being there in 2011.
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Fugly would like to come too (en route to Badminton 2015 of course) but I've told him he has to wait until 2012. I have some Blair demons to lay to rest so I really ought to make a return visit at some point.
 
FigJam said:
I'm on it! :cool: As we'll be camping, it's in our best interests to have a sunny year at last. Then we can all complain about the ground being too hard etc...!

Still can't believe your bad timing of mini-Joss's arrival! ;) I think Mr Joss may also be required to be yelled at/share in the lost sleep etc around about that time, so Ithink you should just ship Echo up and I recall Nic saying the 1* looked perfectly jumpable last year, so I'll groom, she'll ride and we'll post Echo back after with your share of the winner's cheque?! :D
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:eek::eek::eek: No. No riding. POMPOMS!!!!! :D

Looking forward to Pimms O'clock on the Friday already! :D
 
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