British eventing- added benefit at grass root?

[Pony club mum]

I think I may be out of touch on the eventing front. My 12 year old son would like to ode this year so I went onto the British eventing site to see what events/training was on offer in our area. There wasn't much but what there was is, in my mind and comparing to other disciplines, was expensive. For example their jas - round of showjumps with xc jumps- was £31 for non members. Show jump training consisting of, from what I can tell, accompanied course walk and warm up advice followed by a round of show jumps, was £38 for non members. Cost of a be90 event was around £70 when he could enter a ode at the same venue, not under be, for nearly half that.
My current feeling is that I stick to a personal coach and do the competitions on a ticket if he felt he wanted to enter nearer the time but am interested in others experiences of be and it's added value at this stage.

 

[James6]

You will probably get more responses in the Comp Riders Forum but yes, BE is expensive and personally, although your son could do BE, I would stick to Pony Club events which are much cheaper and mean't for children. Is he in the Pony Club?
As you say, some of the unaffiliated events are held at BE venues for half the price so I would do these and then see how he gets on!
Good luck

 

[Pony club mum]

Thanks. He is in pony club but has really grown out of it and the branch we are with, at least, doesn't do much at a higher level (ie 3ft). He is jumping Bsja discovery but we have a pony that could event so wanted to have a go. I will post on the competition bit - thanks for your suggestion.