Building small at start of season

[greenbean10]

BS people, is it normal for venues to build a lot smaller around this time of year? Just seen pictures of the newcomers at a venue renowned for building enormous - and it looks more like a medium-size discovery! I know the indoor season has just started so thinking they perhaps build small at this time of the year, but the middle/end of the summer every course I jumped seemed huge. Makes me think October is the best time to step up if this is the case? Or is this just wishful thinking!

 

[blood_magik]

I think it really depends on the course builder on the day - some are know for building big and technical and some are a little bit more encouraging, shall we say...?

I was speaking to one of our local FEI course builders the other day and he was saying that he builds according to the venue (in/out), the class (first round/second round/qualifier etc), course style (two phase, a10) and the standard expected for that class, so it could be that the newcomers you saw was part of a training show (ie more encouraging) or the course builder was just feeling generous.

We had a one stride, one stride triple in the middle of a British novice the other week 🤷‍♀️

 

[greenbean10]

Wow really! I thought you didn't get triples until newcomers! Okay that's interesting, there are definitely certain venues that I avoid if I'm doing a class at the top of my comfort zone...I feel like the discovery at some venues is more like a newcomers at others! Thank you for your reply