Bramham xc course....thoughts?

georgiegirl

georgiegirl

Well-Known Member
Joined
4 August 2004
Messages
2,455
Visit site
Just thought I would start a thread for peoples thoughts on todays xc course. I personally LOVE this event however the xc this year has been particularly influential.

Some very technical fences which allowed absolutely no room for error mixed in with big old fashioned ones too. I think ian stark has done an excellent job.

I must say though the water caused a huge amount of problems with some nasty falls and plenty of duckings and it was very odd today hearing about the number of times the course was held to repair frangible pins? seemed like a lot were broken today?
 
I'm still in shock that Billy Landretti's perfect record has been scuppered :eek: :( Hope they're both ok!
 
Walked the whole CCI course last night and was there until about 1pm today, think part of the trouble with the frangible pin in the water was that because of the nature of the fence (ie in the water) the horses were going to slither over it anyway and so causing the pin to break. Thought the course was excellent actually, really lovely big old fashioned fences that were cleverly placed along with some good technical combinations. Only thing we did wonder though whilst walking the course was if (god forbid) a horse fell at the Y corral type fence over the first fence and they needed to get an ambulance to it there seemed to be no way of getting in there without physically removing the fence posts
 
Hi, if you're on facebook I have put our pics on the 'live to event' page. Please feel free to have a look at them. We had a fab day and I agree about the fences. Some of the top riders made it look easy but there were a lot of problems. Thank goodness for frangible pins judgin by how many were replaced aswell! :)
 
I think Ian Stark is really proving himself as a fantastic course builder...as long as no horses hurt I think this is what we want - the X country being influential again
 
There seemed to be a lot of holds on course today but I don't attend many big events so that may be normal. I was suprised by amount of fallers/withdrawn, fence 23 it took about 15 mins for a horse to come through with no holds.
Loved the water complex, a real test and saw some great riding and honest horses but some unfortunate mistakes as well.
 
am sorry to go against the grain here but I was disappointed with the course today dont get me wrong love Ian Stark but feel somewhat let down by the fences yes on the whole they were up to height and more traditional galloping fences but it lacked challenge the water obviously was fab,the landrover corners sorted one or two out,and step up to sonic the hedgehog didnt cause a lot of trouble but was good to watch. also felt let down by the lack of atmosphere, where were the crowds,felt like there were loads less people than usual never mind get up and do it all again tomorrow enjoyed the SJ and mounted games:D
 
I thought it was pretty packed to be honest - especially the sj arena towards the end of the day. One thing I do miss with the new courses is the bit through the woods that has been missed out......

I must say though (and dont know if its just me) but I was a little dissapointed with the trade stands this year - a few of my favourites weren't there and the food tent which is normally amazing was tiny! I also remember 'world of the horse' having more in it but that may just be inaccurate memory!

Still love the place though!
 
....

I must say though (and dont know if its just me) but I was a little dissapointed with the trade stands this year

Still love the place though![/QUOTE]

there did seem to be a lot less this year love it enjoy it have supported them since 1974 as its a local event
 
thanks georgiegirl - you'd think if the bbc filmed a coursewalk they would at least have had some red button coverage! :confused: :mad:

and jeni - some great pics! was it not that warm yesterday? - cracking the flags west of the pennines!
 
Bad back meant we couldn't walk the whole course but we spent most of the day by the water and have to say, the Under 25's rode it completely differntly to the Seniors - in fact they rode it better (big generalisation I know).

Those who rode the jump in the water and attacked it, cleared it; those trying to collect and get a bouncy stride had problems.

Interesting to see that no penalties have been given for breaking the frangible pins, although I think those penalty points are discretionary?

As I said, can't comment on the whole course but fences 4 and the water seemed to be the bogey fences and yet they were definitely rideable.

And it was freezing cold - sales of horse rugs and jumpers/fleecies must have soared!
 
It is interesting, you barely see a frangible pin here, Saumur had none, and not a single hold in the CCI***, yet I believe also caused a fair bit of trouble spread out round the course, possibly not as much as Bramham though. I noticed the difference between the xc penalties, both time and jumping, between the u25s and the seniors, it's the same most years!
 
tigers_eye said:
It is interesting, you barely see a frangible pin here, Saumur had none, and not a single hold in the CCI***, yet I believe also caused a fair bit of trouble spread out round the course, possibly not as much as Bramham though. I noticed the difference between the xc penalties, both time and jumping, between the u25s and the seniors, it's the same most years!
Click to expand...

I was told on very good authority that a certain very high profile European course builder "does not believe in frangible pins and will not use them" which might be the cause, I suspect.
I really don't know what to say about that tbh.
 
Looking at the results I am not sure that for the seniors you cannot say that the course was not very influential...there are some real movers on the leader board?

Comment about the under 25s is also borne out with the results....

Kai Ruder's comments about why he went there very interetsing as well!
 
Well seeing as he builds every course I've jumped in France that would be why ;-). Thinking about the course though there's only one fence I can think of where they could have been fitted, the oxer fence 18 on my fb course pics. But can't recall seeing any at Breda (Netherlands), not sure who builds that, and they're yet to be seen at a national Belgian event. I will keep my eyes peeled at Arville (built by the Willis Bros), and at Waregem later in the year if I go there.
 
My pics from yesterday are here, which show a lot of the fences:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1734662447165.2087562.1256686644&l=7727560c5b

I'm particularly pleased with this pic, it was one of those chance pics that I couldn't have set up if I'd tried:
250159_1734686687771_1256686644_31493742_747674_n.jpg


:echo: the comments about the trade stands, the food hall in particularly. We had a good day out though - I hadn't been to Bramham for a few years.
 
Pippa and him fell at fence 4, which seemed to catch a few out yesterday. Ditto the comments about food tent - tiny and disappointing. Trade stands too but I wasn't looking for anything - I have way too much stuff!!!! Good day but a bit cold!
 
Jeni Ball said:
What happened to Billy Landretti?? Which fence caught them out??
Click to expand...

He stopped at 4a and Piipa fell off when he ducked away from it. She had been on him quite a long time with the holds on course and had to keep stopping and starting his warm up so he just switched off on her a bit. Just one of those days for her although he did stop in the CIC 3* at Houghton last year too.

The penalties for breaking a frangible pin are discretionary and it was felt that the horses wouldn't have fallen if they hadn't broken so they didn't deserve penalties.

It was a good course that required bold horses and riding. The horses could read the questions but needed to be fit. Any horse a bit short of jump was going to find it hard work.
 
I saw a few mess it up at the double of corners (fence 18? - two before the tuffa boots water fence) and was there when the girl fell causing one of the longer course holds. The girl just came in with not enough oomph, and horse flipped over the fence, landing hard on the other side, with the rider's legs underneath his belly. She sat on the floor for a while, but was ok. I was surprised at the amount of landrovers that drove over full of importance who's occupants then all sat in the car watching :rolleyes: Horse went back in the trailer, and rider in the ambulance both were up and walking though.

The guy one before her totally missed the flags at the second corner, ended up going over the widest part of the fence, and knocked off the wooden owl on top :eek:

I hate that leap of faith fence (pictured above) and I didn't see one person go over it without legs rubbing the top made me :eek: Better than Bill Levett who nearly gave me a heart attack there last year! :D
 
I really liked the course this year. Although i'm sure alot of lessons will have been learned, both by the horses and riders and also the course designer and builders.
 
been again today and have to say the sj in particular the grand prix and the Bramham mix and match were great there were some fabulous jumping rounds but the whole place lacked atmosphere,crowds. The parade of hounds and mounted games were very muted:(
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top