BS - total confusion, please help.

[Roxylola]

Considering doing some BS over winter (covid permitting)
I'd like to keep costs down as we're only going to be low level so I looked at club membership but there don't appear to be many club shows near us. There's plenty of BS though.

I'm not particularly expecting to be qualifying for anything so I'm wondering if it would just be easier/cheaper to go on a ticket. This has the advantage that some of the venues also run unaffiliated days which would be an alternative.

I'd probably only be doing once or at a squeeze twice a month. Ideally once and do two classes but then if I'm doing 2 would membership work out cheaper?

Then, I can't work out what classes I can do. Neither horse nor rider has any points. Only looking to jump up to 100 tracks really. This "starting height" concerns me a bit, I'm not a total wuss, but starting at 95 is one thing, but what's the max height those fences would be?

At least one schedule talks about a class being for grade C with less that xx points (125 I think) will we be grade C? Is everyone grade C initially? Or not? ?

I need to budget my winter memberships (BD as well) so I'm trying to plan a bit ahead

 

[DabDab]

Yes every horse is grade C initially.

I haven't looked recently but when they first started doing day tickets it became cheaper to do membership after, I think, 4 in a year.

Depends a bit on the context but by starting height they usually mean the first round. The jump off/second phase will usually be up to 5cm higher. E.g. Discovery is 100cm, but the jump off will be 105cm-ish. If you are not bothered about double clears or placings then you could just opt out of the second phases if you don't fancy it

 

[Roxylola]

That makes sense, thank you. Possibly better off being members then, even just for 6 months. I'm wary of committing after last years BD winter membership and I managed to get out a total of twice with lockdowns ?
The whole starting height thing feels so ambiguous to me it reads like the fences will be no lower than that height - like ok you start at 95 but where does it stop ?

 

[McGrools]

That makes sense, thank you. Possibly better off being members then, even just for 6 months. I'm wary of committing after last years BD winter membership and I managed to get out a total of twice with lockdowns ?
The whole starting height thing feels so ambiguous to me it reads like the fences will be no lower than that height - like ok you start at 95 but where does it stop ?

Hi, i went to a few day ticket shows last year and you without full membership you compete HC so no prize money or glory if you do well. I would go for full 6month membership in future if intending to go out a few times.
Also the novice which starts at 90 will easily have some very full up oxers in 2nd half of course which depending on venue look to be nearer 1m to me. The discovery class 2nd round is massive! The width of the oxers make them seem much bigger! Xx

 

[Roxylola]

Weirdly I'm pretty OK with width. We'd probably look to start at an 85 class, I'm quite happy to enter 2 and see how the first goes and possibly scratch the second if needed

 

[RachelFerd]

Most venues run single phase, so most courses will have 7 fences at the 'starting height' and then a second set of 7 fences timed for jump off up to 10cm higher (and most venues tend to use that full difference). So a British novice single phase will be 7ish fences at 90cm and then another 7 or so up to 1m. There's no club around here and limited unaff so affiliating for 6 months makes sense.

 

[smurf]

DabDab I am afraid your 5cm is not correct

"Rule 135. Heights in Jump-Off. In principle, jump-off courses for all classes up to and including 1.30m to be increased by 10cm from the upper height limits set in first rounds, unless exceptional circumstances require otherwise. Courses above 1.30m to be increased by a minimum of 5cm "

All venues I go to make sure that they use the full 10am. So a discovery starts at 1m and ends up 1.10cm with good square oxers in second half

 

[dixie]

Are you a member of a riding club?
if so, you can can great deals when registering with BS. In fact it would be worth your while joining a riding club and then getting the deal with BS.
I haven’t looked but a while what the discount currently is but have a feeling it was about half price.

 

[dixie]

https://www.britishshowjumping.co.uk/membership/new-member-discounts

 

[Roxylola]

Once I'm on and jumping I can live with 10cm, at least I know its no more than 100 even if it looks ginormous I can rationalise it.
Most of the decent venues seem to be affiliated only for sure.
I'm not a riding club member and tbh I'm not sure I'd use a riding club for anything other than that discount but I'll certainly have a look at it.
I just think it will do us a lot of good to just go out and jump round some proper courses over winter

 

[LEC]

Once I'm on and jumping I can live with 10cm, at least I know its no more than 100 even if it looks ginormous I can rationalise it.
Most of the decent venues seem to be affiliated only for sure.
I'm not a riding club member and tbh I'm not sure I'd use a riding club for anything other than that discount but I'll certainly have a look at it.
I just think it will do us a lot of good to just go out and jump round some proper courses over winter

its worth it for the discount otherwise do 6 month membership which is a lot more palatable. Plus if you do it on 2nd of each month it’s actually 7 months…

I don’t bother joining BS unless horse needs to jump above 1m but well served by decent unaff round here.

 

[oldie48]

Not had anything to do with BS for years but we always preferred their courses because they were built properly although full up they didn't have stupid related distances that you sometimes get in UA classes.One of our local venues does BS classes but also runs regular clear round days which are built by the same course builder, do you have anything like that in your area?

 

[RachelFerd]

OP is same area as me I think. We're well served with BS venues, but the only one running regular unaff/training shows is Kelsall Hill, and those are on Thursdays, with BS running at the weekend. So only useful if you don't work a normal 9-5.

Local venues for me in the winter (indoors) are Kelsall, Aintree, Northcote, South View, Myerscough, Bold Heath, Reaseheath. The latter few run occasional unaffiliated, but not enough to plan any kind of season around. If you affiliated you can jump every weekend locally.

 

[Roxylola]

RF is right with area, we're pretty fortunate in terms of good quality affiliated venues and we are super handy for the motorway but I'm scuppered with working Monday - Friday. There are unaffiliated venues but nothing comparable really for quality, and nothing like as regular
I can do arena hires of course but I find I'm better when I just have to go and jump what's there. If I know I'm going out regularly jumping someone else's set course I have a bit more faith in our ability, I can set a decent course up and measure it all but it still doesn't convince me the same way