BSJA International Selection Commitee???

Very well said. I think this decline has been happening for a while and not overnight which begs the question of the effectiveness of the BSJA in not recognising this and putting measures in place to halt this decline.

For me a starting point needs for the BSJA to be a regulatory body with teeth and totally transparent. ( Posts offering private Pm's , whats that about ) they are supposed to lookout for the interests of all their membership not just an elite few.

There was a post here a while ago about why SJing couldn't attract new owners and part of the response was the fact that unless you place a horse with the Whittaker, Smiths, Skeltons of this world you had no chance of being on a team

Media opportunties for the public to become aware of SJing appear to be lost, and i'm not just talking tacky pants and affairs, can anyone say they have attracted interest following celebrities on horseback, was any mention made of the benefits of sponsorship, horse ownership on TV ( Olympia )

British SJing needs to get its act together before it disappears altogether and those current few breeder/owners realise their talented offspring will fare better being produced from abroad.
 
So who do you suggest should be a selector? 4 required. And would it make a huge difference? For all the budding selectors amongst you what would your dream team be for the Europeans and what would your alternative team be?
 

Personally I think Steven Smith is a very good choice,yes he has a very small select group who he teaches and his name is smith, so what - but he goes to all the important shows, knows every horse jumping decent tracks on the circuit, its form, history, the riders etc and I think would be bloody good at it.
How many people were happy with the last olympic team? At least the BSJA are appearing to do something.
Im sure you'll all go off on one now as you all know so much about the inner workings of the BSJA and the nature of every person in it!! But just my opinion.
 
The name of the game at the Olympics is medals and we didn't get any. Now i'm sure people will always find reasons / excuses as to why but the bottom line is we came home with Zilch. How much worse is that gonna be on home soil in 2012. I don't know of any other sport where things don't change following under / lack luster performance.

Why are people just appointed as selectors why not do things democratically ie advertise for them and those who put themselves forward put their credentials on the table and the membership then vote. No-one that way can feel aggrieved that they haven't had their say.
 
You are right, it would most probably make no difference at all, which is the point I think people are making.

Why not have one manager and an assistant to make decisions like most other sports and they can be sacked or rewarded upon results.
 
i see the bsja have joined the discussion.....
anyway i think if people were employed to be selectors they would go to more shows. i also like steven smith as one by the way and i think corinne bracken should be a senior selector by now because she is very familiar with the younger riders and goes to loads of shows and sees everyone. and maybe it is about time we had a selector who is based in europe, after all many of the hopefuls compete there and several brits are based abroad.
if selection criteria was openly discussed it wouldnt matter who the selectors were, everyone could see how and why choices were made. and that doesnt only appy to showjumping by the way.
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After 2 years of producing my horse in the small international shows on the continent,I was aware that i had a pretty special jumper. Not particularly a critisism,but wouldn't you think there should have been some interest in that horse with regard to the future?
I am not a superstar rider,by all means,but absolutely nobody approached me even to ask to ride the horse or if he would be for sale from the UK.
Ultimately I sold him to the USA for an Irish rider,where he is doing 'pretty well' but what a shame for the British sport to have 'lost' him abroad......
I am a patriot,really,but I also need to eat!
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and i didnt realise that mike florence has retired as young rider chef, why isnt he being a senior selector. i would think if anyone knew which way was up it would be him, after all you have to go back a long way to find a young rider squad where we DIDNT win a medal so he must know who is who surely?
 
I think the powers that be are pretty blinkered about horses & riders based abroad competing at 2* level. The international calendar is far more crowded that it used to be, and I don't think that it's in anyone's "job description" (unfortunately) to be keeping an eye on them. Our top-ranked riders usually are at higher level shows so would not see for themselves the good horses such as yours.
 
The BSJA issued a press release about Mike, who wants to move on to pastures new. Surprised that you are not on their mailing list. I don't know how much 4 & 5* competition he's been able to see over the past few years, and have no idea what plans he may have (he ran Towerlands for a brief period if I remember rightly). Many people seem not to realise that there is quite a big difference between 3* , YR championship and AT level and 4 or 5* and Senior championship level. AITs (whi had the name changed to ITs then ATs) were designed many years ago to sort out the potential team horses and Riders, but the standard required in ATs has gone down significantly. That is why the new County Show series should be given a warm welcome.
 
Going back a few posts in response to Rambo, I certainly was not comparing Tim Gredley to Duncan! I would let Duncan rider any one of my horses - Tim - NO! I was merely making a point that TG would have the advantage of Steven winging and pushing him all the way forward, helped of course the fact he is on the payroll - which if you read earlier comments you will see the line the comment I made had taken. I also agree with you that Duncan has produced some very good young horses and is very well respected - but unfortunately not many people remember the good rounds and whether his horse had an injury or not it was not up to competing in a Super League competition. Please don't get me wrong, I have alot of time for Duncan and we are on friendly terms but we are all entitled to our opinions and these were mine. Mike Florence, on the other hand together with Corrine Bracken made a formidable team and as Lucretia said he must know who's who!!! I also agree with SJFAN - the new County series should be given a warm welcome because some of the AT's this year left alot to be desired!
 
i am not on anyone's mailing list tbh SJFAN. and while there is a big gap obviously in any discipline between young riders and seniors, most of those who do well at young riders ride extremely well and for example there were several individual medalists riding at Zurich this week assseniors and doing a good job.
i do agree that those who choose to comppete out in europe permenatly are sort of 'out in the wilderness' but it seems a shame to me that it should be so when it is so easy to get from one place to another and there is coverage of others on the web.
 
Perhaps then its time to look at the bigger picture and for the BSJA to advertise globally and employ a Non British Selector, to even things out! It works for premiership football.

As long as the rider has a passport/dual nationality he/she can represent their country. They don't need to be living, competing or based here. Edwina Alexander competes for Australia but is based full time in the Netherlands. Jessica Kurten competes for Ireland but has been based in Germany since 1994.

Why should we have to loose our British riders for team selection just because they are not under our noses. I can think of a couple of Brits based abroad who could have potentially helped with our medal tally, Jamie Wingrave, Leslie Mcnaught ...

Dave Mcpherson rode Pilgrim for German owners on British Teams, it gave the horses owners a chance to have him campaigned at that level and for a while, gave Dave a great horse to ride. I would have thought that attracting foreign owners such as these and for young Brits to learn their trade around the European/International circuit can only benefit Team GB in the end.

Perhaps we could also have Derrek as our BSJA rep and another selector employed by the FEI to keep things really neutral. I understand the thought process behind a panel of selectors, but I worry it may be a case of too many cooks.....
 
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