Bramham xc course....thoughts?

yeeharider said:
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:(
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I was there today, and I also noticed how quiet it was :confused:. At least I got a good seat for the SJ though :rolleyes:!
 
We went for the whole thing and camped on site. We had a fantastic time. I would do that every year.

I thought the course was really good this year - way better than last year. I think that the fact that there was a lot of faults, falls and eliminations on the course made it much more exciting, and the XC more influential. Do I sound awful if I say that it made a change to see William FP and Pippa etc actually run up some faults and let some other people into the final ten!

You needed a good ditch/trakhener horse on that course! Fence four caught loads out - perhaps it should have been a couple of fences later in the course?

I thought that the winner was a real class act. Even in the trot up this morning, he had time to smile, laugh and pat his horse as he had a bit of a crowd gazing moment as he should have turned to trot back down. His show jumping round was foot perfect too.

I agree that the food tent was pretty poor, but totally disagree that the atmosphere was poor. I think Bramham is great because it is more relaxed, and more "Yorkshire" than the others. Its also much cheaper - we paid £70 per person for season camping tickets - which gave entry each day plus camping from Tuesday to Tomorrow, which is less than we spend on parking and entry for one person at Badminton. I think that they do so much more at Bramham to make it crowd friendly - the pony club games and show jumping, the BS competitions and the mix and match competition was fun (although scared the pants off me - seems an accident waiting to happen, and certainly seemed that way when the first XC rider fell through going too fast!). They really need a grandstand for the show jumping though.

Generally speaking, I absolutely loved it!
 
Was there all weekend as 'groom' so walked it a couple of times. B did it last year and said that this year was as big as last year but far more technical - fences like the first water needed attacking but still accuracy, and 4 caused a heck of a lot more problems than we thought it would on the first course walk... Perhaps people underestimated it as it walked well?

Tannis said:
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).
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Got to agree with you there - I know it helped that the seniors were on before the U25 section, which allowed younger riders to watch a few riders go through each combination and see what was working and what wasn't. The rider I was with changed her plans about the first double of corners - the ranch? - having seen it done well on seven (and even eight) strides, and some riders making a hash of it on six, despite having walked it on six.

The showjumping also seemed pretty technical - dogs legs, related distances, skinny-poled-oxer to planks etc - all with a very very very tight time...
 
Stencilface said:
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:
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That was scary - we saw that (and someone make a bit of a hash of it before him too) and promptly left before any more disasters happened :o Both of them seemed to get a big jump in, not get together enough for the turn and miss the line & stride because of it. Honest horse for doing it though - but saw a very similar horse (although there are lots of bays with stars, so it might not have been the same one) looking very sore at the stables that night so was probs not the best idea to carry on after completely taking out the owl!
 
Honey08 - totally agree - I love the fact that Bramham has more on than other events, it gives everyone something to watch. Also, now that they have the 3 events running CIC, CCI and U25, the xc lasts all day, which is more than can be said for the other big events I think so there is far more for people to watch.

I disagree about the granstand though, I love the fact that everyone can watch the SJ and that it isn't restricted access like Badminton and Burghley, the fact that kids etc can sit there with their dogs is just really nice. The falconry guy is ace too :0 Agree about the food tent, although I did still manage to eat my weight in curry ;) Good year for me, managed to no buy a single thing! :D
 
No I just meant an open grandstand on one side that you could just go and sit in - a bit like at Hickstead - not a closed off affair like Bad or Burghley. I agree, its great that you can see it all without having to pay to get in the ground, then pay again to see the SJ like at other big events..

The falconry guy was the best we've seen. Normally the birds all booger off!

I also agree with those that said the u25s seemed to ride it better. I was wondering if it was because they were on older more experienced horses that had already done bigger courses with more experienced riders, so weren't shocked by things as much?? That and the fact that loads of the u25s kicked on like pony clubbers rather than checked!
 
There was some really impressive riding from the u25's , particularly at the water where we saw quite a few of the seniors go wrong. That said, I think for quite a few of those who it went wrong for was simply rotten luck - lucinda fredericks had a cracking ride into the water and was unlucky to come to grief there.

my mum camped over for fri and saturday night (which includes admission for sat and sun) for £55 which i think is amazing value and she had a brilliant time. I drove over each day as was on horse and dog duty at home - my turn next year hehe
 
although the u25s seemed to find the xc less problematic than the seniors - it looked as though they found the showjumping more challenging. :confused:

can anyone who was there shed any light??
 
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