Eventers - what would you change?

kerilli

kerilli

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Refunds? Waitlists? Ballotting? Cost of Entry Fees? Start Fees?
Other topics? (please list...)
I'm going to the ERA meeting later, as unofficial Eventing-HHOers' Rep, that's the whole point of me being on the ERA UK Board, to air everyone's concerns. So, I really need to hear YOUR thoughts about BE & the whole eventing picture... What would you like to see ERA campaign about on your behalf?
Over To You... ;)
 
Three stops and your not allowed to jump anything else in the ring... taught my naughty horse to be a naughtier horse!
 
I would very much like to see a discount membership for riding club members (im pretty sure there isnt one?)

Im BE'ing autumn next year and already worrying about the cost!
 
Someone did a really good thread on this not that long ago, I am searching and searching for it as I wanted to print off my response to bring tonight!
 
Balloting at 3 days- I was balloted out of Hartpury (nothing to do with the starting in previous 2 months rule as there were horses who did Houghton left in) with horses left in that were still pending quals... Surely those ready to go should get priority?! I got an email back from secretary saying it was random and then BE's job to sort out those qualified to run two weeks before event... So why do we have to tick "Pending Quals" or not on the entry form?!
 
All events to carry a visible wait list, so if you withdraw, and are replaced, it can be 'seen', then refund given minus perhaps £10 admin fee
 
Refunds with vet/doc note. I withdrew before date with vet note and didn't get a penny. thats not on- I can understand holding an admin fee and have no problem with that but consiering I helped at the event as well I was pretty annoyed.
 
Clear & visible wait lists, no unofficial ones
Ballot system to be reviewed, fairer for one horse riders maybe?
Change of withdrawal policy ie:provision of one, no one seems to mind a £10 admin fee so this should be incorporated
However my biggest gripe is the start fee, I have no idea what it's for, most events have walloped it up to the higher level, it's bad enough that you've forked out £60 (ish) to enter then have to pay another £15 is a joke, £5 in my eyes is sufficient
Have a good meeting:D
 
wench said:
Three stops and your not allowed to jump anything else in the ring... taught my naughty horse to be a naughtier horse!
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I agree with this - I think esp for the 80T class. As long as you are not deemed to be a danger then you should be allowed to continue provided your not in the way of other riders. So three stops SJ u get to jump a SJ before you leave. If deemed safe by the trainer who helps with the class then u can ride the XC and like normally XC move out the way of other on comming riders. I think that would be a do-able thing for the T class as you have a pro trainer there to deem who is safe and who isnt.
 
Not riders as such but I hate the fact that Badminton and Burghley are closed shop to fence judges. My sister in law fences judges at Burghley every year and puts nothing into the sport but knows the right people. Seems grossly unfair.

Personally I think riders volunteering should earn extra ballot stickers/rewards for helping, I know you get into the event you help at normally but sometimes its not the biggest and most popular events you are helping at anyway.

Prizes at BE90 & 100 should be at the minimum the same value as the entry fee. A lead rope for 3rd place in an intro is disgusting.

The BE levys should be published - what each event is charged and the proportions BE makes out of it. I am sure it used to be in the rule book!

It will be interesting to see if the RC/PC members sections take off. I have a feeling they will as that is how I used to do all my eventing round affiliated courses when I was 17.

I want to know what is being done to help protect and grow intermediate and advanced courses? Every course pretty much being built is BE90 &100. Just because I am grassroots and amateur does not mean I do not have ambition. I think BE forgets this.

I would like to see BE being more proactive about bad riding. Good riding should also be rewarded.

I would like to see the BE committee shaken up. There should be more representation of the membership. At the moment there is very little and it drives me crazy. Having the rider rep on the board as an organiser is ludicrous. What other business would have that?

Have the AGM at a time when people can actually attend - I would like to see the same as what the USA does which is a hall of fame, interesting speakers and then AGM for a day. Postal votes would also be good and more laymans language so we know exactly what we are voting for and how it will affect things. We do not know the current system so how are we supposed to vote on changes!

I would like to see better training opportunities especially for jobs like scorer, fence judge etc

I am very very anti this huge proportion of entries for the abandoment fund. We have no choice about it, its just enforced.

I also think the pricing structure at Novice, Intermediate and advanced needs to be looked at. The costs are huge now.

I agree about start fees. They were supposed to be for first aid and now they are a cash cow. £15 is ludicrous.
 
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Ems207 said:
I agree with this - I think esp for the 80T class. As long as you are not deemed to be a danger then you should be allowed to continue provided your not in the way of other riders. So three stops SJ u get to jump a SJ before you leave. If deemed safe by the trainer who helps with the class then u can ride the XC and like normally XC move out the way of other on comming riders. I think that would be a do-able thing for the T class as you have a pro trainer there to deem who is safe and who isnt.
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Well my horse has done it in to 90 classes, as no 80 classes around here. But now he doesnt even bother trying to jump just stops dead. If you were allowed to jump one after hes been naughty, it would really help.
 
Ditto Wench, my horse discovered by accident that if you stop in SJ you get to go back to the lorry, not the best lesson he has learned, it is his latest party trick, we are just getting over it now, 2 months later! Would be useful if you could just bob over another fence to finish, I can't see it hurting at lower levels, pony pulled the same trick at an unaffiliated ODE and being able to jump another fence really helped me out, foxed the little **** somewhat and we are now on the road to recovery (I hope :))
 
wench said:
Well my horse has done it in to 90 classes, as no 80 classes around here. But now he doesnt even bother trying to jump just stops dead. If you were allowed to jump one after hes been naughty, it would really help.
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This would really help my chap too, but isnt this what unaff competitions are for? I think it would cause alot of chaos, and confusion if im honest :/
 
It is what Unaff is for but the atmosphere is not always the same, we have gone great guns at unaff level but at BE, he got stage fright and got eliminated, the tradestands and the tannoy blew his brains, which didn't enter my head, as he was absolutely fine at RC ODEs, he then realised he didn't actually have to go and it was MUCH more fun waiting on the lorry for his pal who came back all hot and sweaty! I think it would just help young/greener horses, just my opinion though ;)
 
PS it does state in the rule book that following elimination you are allowed up to 2 attempts to jump any single obstacle (in the right direction ;)) but this never seems to be allowed in practice, which I think is a shame
 
I live in Scotland and I personally don't think its fair that I have to pay the same amount in membership fees for BE when my event season is 2 months shorter and there are no JAS/ arena events up here for me to compete in compared to those in the south.
I don't have a solution but maybe it's a point that needs raised if others feel the same.
 
Do you guys not go back in the practice arena/lorry park and work the horse hard?! There is no rule which says that a) you can't jump the practice fence again and b) you have to load back up - you could easily go to a quiet bit of the lorry park and work your horse hard enough that they don't learn that stopping = easy life and a ride home.....

I know in the past when I've had an issue I've done both of those things.
 
Sorry I think the rules are fine at BE80 and 90. BSJA its 2 stops and you are out so being allowed 3 stops is generous. The problems arise with timings and if you are taking 10 mins just to get your horse round the sjing you should perhaps not be there. I have been there with a horse that stops as well so do not think I am totally unsympathetic but I worked through it at home, BSJA and schooling not at events.
 
SpottedCat said:
Do you guys not go back in the practice arena/lorry park and work the horse hard?! There is no rule which says that a) you can't jump the practice fence again and b) you have to load back up - you could easily go to a quiet bit of the lorry park and work your horse hard enough that they don't learn that stopping = easy life and a ride home.....

I know in the past when I've had an issue I've done both of those things.
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Thats exactly what we did when he was E'd XC! It worked after a while i have to say..
 
LEC said:
Prizes at BE90 & 100 should be at the minimum the same value as the entry fee. A lead rope for 3rd place in an intro is disgusting.

I agree about start fees. They were supposed to be for first aid and now they are a cash cow. £15 is ludicrous.
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Although I only ever BE'd on a ticket, these thing got me the most! As an amateur, I don't have time/money to compete more than about 4 times a year anyway, so membership fees would have been out of the question (on top of full BS fees). A day out BE used to cost me £100 for an intro - before you even start thinking about diesel etc.

Prize money is disgusting - even on an average placing BS I can cover my entry fee and some of the diesel (or chips - whichever! :p )
 
The problem is at BE once you are eliminated you are no longer insured.

To get back to the original post, what I would like to see changed:

Along with everyone else a transparant and fair ballot. Especially at Intermediate level, where there are fewer competitions, so getting your one horse ballotted out of a local competition could mean a 4 hour drive to the next nearest Intermediate run within a fortnight, which the multi horse rider, who didn't get ballotted, was going to anyway.

A standard and fair withdrawal/waitlist system.

Reward from BE for volunteers, not just at the organisers discretion

A fairer membership and entry fee scheme, where the one horse rider is paying less membership than the multi horse rider who is getting a lot more runs, and hence a lot more for their membership in a year.
 
I think the prizes in kind situation at the lower levels need looking at. I know the events heavily rely on sponsors to provide these prizes, but there needs to be some kind of lower limit on the monetary value of these prizes. As somebody has said a leadrope for 3rd is not a suitable prize when you have spent about £70 in an entry and start fee! I won a BE90 section last year and was somewhat miffed to win a rambo saddle cloth with a RRP of £16.99!!!!!!!! What really took the biscuit was when the prizes were given out for the other BE90 section (at same prize giving). 6th place got the same saddle cloth as I got for winning, and 1st got a Whitaker bridle (RRP around £90!). I was livid, I did complain to the organisers who said the prizes were up to the sponsors so nothing to do with them!!!!! Surely if BE aren't taking the responsibility the organisers of the event are responsible for ensuring the prizes are of sufficient value????

I also once won a Be100 open section and got a really cheap bodywarmer in a size XXXL!!!! What use is that???? Surely if you are a size XXXL you won't be eventing (or if you are god help the poor horse!!!!!!)

I think the prizes in kind should have to have a minimum monetary value which is greater than the cost of the entry and start fee. So the minimum value of a BE90 1st prize should be around £75 going up to more if the event charges more for the entry.
 
Have to say that I generally find BE pretty good about the stopping in SJ'ing issue. I've never seen them stop anyone from jumping a single fence before leaving the ring :confused:.

Some poor girl's horse was being a proper S**t at AUW the other weekend, napping and rearing for ages and they gave her loads and loads of time before being forced to eliminate her. Someone had to lead the horse out the ring it was being that nappy.

They have a lot of horses to get through in a day and, at the risk of sounding unsympathetic, it's not clear round schooling.

I too would like to see a totally transparent wait list and entries system. I entered ALW 3 the other day and they don't seem to be displaying an entries list?!:confused: Why would you not display entries received?

I have been glad to see that BE seem to be cracking down on events that are not looking after their ground too. The entry fees and start fees are exorbitant but then to find that the ground is too bad to run on is disgusting. I have run at all my events so far this year during the dry spell and the ground has been very acceptable, why can't all events manage it? :rolleyes:
 
RomanyMayday said:
I live in Scotland and I personally don't think its fair that I have to pay the same amount in membership fees for BE when my event season is 2 months shorter and there are no JAS/ arena events up here for me to compete in compared to those in the south.
I don't have a solution but maybe it's a point that needs raised if others feel the same.
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I'm with you on that one as we are discriminated against due to geographical location and do not get the same support/training/events as those across the border unless we travel silly amounts and we still have to pay the same membership costs. There is a lack of visibility of BE North of the Border bar at events.

Start Fee's-----Who, Why, Where & How???
 
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You should not rely on BE insurance as the excess is over £1000. 3rd Party would be the best option anyway to cover you for everything. You can get comprehensive 3rd party for £55 from BHS or WHW.
In fact BE insurance is an absolute rip off with that excess and they advertise it as a good option. It would be good to have an alternative to paying for this as there must be some cost implication and the majority of us all have 3rd party.
 
Transparent waiting lists would be a change that I would definitely like to see implemented.

Refund on entries with vet/doctors cert less an admin fee would be nice but can never see this happening.

Review of the membership fee cost structure - I think that a reduced rate would be a nice touch for one/two horse riders, especially as BE have stopped the riding club members discount.
 
LEC said:
You should not rely on BE insurance as the excess is over £1000. 3rd Party would be the best option anyway to cover you for everything. You can get comprehensive 3rd party for £55 from BHS or WHW.
In fact BE insurance is an absolute rip off with that excess and they advertise it as a good option. It would be good to have an alternative to paying for this as there must be some cost implication and the majority of us all have 3rd party.
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Lec, sorry misunderstanding I was referring to the Organisers insurance, not the riders personal insurance. So if a horse/fider, that doesn't have its own 3rd party insurance, causes an accident the organiser is covered up to the point the horse is eliminated. - Does that make more sense ?
 
From a slightly different point of view: I don't event, but was asked to help out at a local BE event this year. I was scoring, which I've done before and it's quite interesting. The problem was that the event was short of help (I assume) and I ended up scoring from 10am until 6pm, with breaks that were only just long enough to run to the loo. The scoring caravan was uncomfortable, the food was pretty rubbish and if I'd been being paid the hours of work would have been illegal! Needless to say I won't be doing the job again next year, which of course will only add to the shortness of help for the event. I know some of the jump judges were in a similar frame of mind by the end of the long day. If it had been better organised, with proper breaks to go and watch some of the action elsewhere and look in the tradestands, I would probably be quite happy to go back. As it is, there is no incentive at all. I've been involved with BE events in the past that have totally taken advantage of their helpers and I think BE really needs to look long and hard at how help is organised. I know there is a suggestion above about reward in terms of entering other events, but that's not much use if you don't event yourself.
 
The only reason I dont do BE is the entry fees. I'm not expecting BE to drop the fees that much but maybe have reduced fees for under 18s or pony club/riding club members. IMO they would get alot more entries and young riders going through the ranks. :)
 
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