Eventers ...what would you do if ...

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kirkton

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Eventers ...what would you do if ... you were CEO of BE for the week.

ie what is the thing you would most like to change about our sport or how it's run.....

I'm curious but also preparing an article on a similar theme.
 
Go back to having junior classes at the lower level, like it was a few years ago. I don't want to open a whole can of worms by saying this, but I know there are a lot of adults at BE90/BE100 who are fed up trying to compete with 12/13 year olds on expenisve horses who don't have to worry about entry fees/training costs/fuel.
 
1) Change rule on wearing beaglers at lower lever - daftest rule change out!! No accidents to cause rule change - grrrrrrrrrrr H&S gone mad
2) make every new rider to get accredited before allowed to run at 90
 
Noodlejaffa said:
Go back to having junior classes at the lower level, like it was a few years ago. I don't want to open a whole can of worms by saying this, but I know there are a lot of adults at BE90/BE100 who are fed up trying to compete with 12/13 year olds on expenisve horses who don't have to worry about entry fees/training costs/fuel.
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Trouble is not all teenagers are on expensive horses etc, my daughter is now 15 and has brought on both of hers from 4 yr olds, we DO have to worry about entry fees etc so why should she have to compete against the lucky kids who have it all on a plate.
 
jrp204 said:
Trouble is not all teenagers are on expensive horses etc, my daughter is now 15 and has brought on both of hers from 4 yr olds, we DO have to worry about entry fees etc so why should she have to compete against the lucky kids who have it all on a plate.
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Did I say ALL young riders were on expensive horses? I merely stated that I thought they should go back to having junior classes at the various levels, as they did in the past. Does that mean you think they shouldn't have JRN?!?!
 
Junior classes (ie. from 14 to 21) for all levels but no pro riders can enter them.

Get rid of foundation points.

:p
 
No, you didn't say ALL but funnily enough there are adults competing at lower levels on expensive horses who have a bottomless pit so should they be in a BE90RICH class?
I wouldn't worry about my daughter (if and when she gets her rising 6yr old to Nov) doing JRN or Nov alongside adults, i thought, possibly wrongly that JRN was a inter regional comp
qualifying for a champ, just like the grassroots etc, we are not at that level and cannot afford to buy a horse to do it either so we are probably just like you, competing against a mix of abilities and incomes. Do you have a problem about competing against the pro's in lower classes too?
 
Now now ladies ... play nicely!!!;)

So JRP204 what would you do if you were 'BE's boss for the week'?
 
God knows, bring some comps to cornwall for a start.
Actually i do think some sort of affiliation should be brought in for all ages, the kids are limited as to what level they can ride at but there are also adults that have questionable riding but they can move up through the levels.
 
Can an ex-eventer play?
I'd turn the clock back a few years and re-focuss on eventings roots.
So out go BE80 and BE90.
Dressage scoring back to to 3/5ths of penalties so not so influencial.
XC courses back to big rider frightners that required bold riding, not skinny combinations that allow wibbly riding.
SJ would be up to height, not just 2 fences with first 3 significantly below height.

Oh and I would give myself and all future horses I might ride lifetime membership so I could afford to play again.
 
[Dressage scoring back to to 3/5ths of penalties so not so influencial.

As a % mark the dressage is not significantly more influential, many tests have 200+ marks so % is not very different to 3/5.

I support the Junior classes, I dont care if it is justified or fair, as a geriatric rider I just hate competeing against children.
 
blue2262 said:
[Dressage scoring back to to 3/5ths of penalties so not so influencial.

As a % mark the dressage is not significantly more influential, many tests have 200+ marks so % is not very different to 3/5.
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I think you misunderstood me. Dressage used to be 3/5ths of the % you didn't get. So a 30 dressage now would have been an 18 before the scoring was changed, a 35 would have been a 21 so less than 1 pole difference or just a couple of time faults.
 
I would:

1. Change the ludicrously unfair withdrawal/waitlist system which penalises those of us (who make up the vast majority of the membership) who do not have a string of horses. I would insist that all over-subscribed events carry a waitlist, which people are put onto in order of being balloted, and which are made public (much like the Badminton one). I would then insist that as someone w/d, the next person on the waitlist gets their space, and crucially, the person who w/d gets a full refund minus an admin fee - lets say £10. Anyone on the waitlist can w/d without penalty. I would also set up a system whereby if a late entry takes the slot of someone who has w/d, then the person who w/d also gets a refund minus admin fee. This includes the situations where someone turns up on the day with an extra horse on the lorry 'just in case'.

2. Get rid of the fee for renewing membership late.

3. Commission an independent report into whether it is cost effective to do away with rider and horse memberships bar a token cost for insurance etc (say £20 each per year) and incorporate the membership fee into entry fees. I think this 'pay per ride' system would make things more equitable. And then make it public and act on it.

4. I would initiate some recognition for owner/riders or amateurs - even if it is just a 'best placed amateur owner/rider' rosette. Ideally I'd want some kind of nationwide league though at each level with a prize given out at the BE ball.

5. I'd alter the AGM so it is interesting and fun and run more like the USA - they run it over a couple of days with talks, demos and brilliant initiations into the eventing hall of fame - they are online for people to watch and BE should think about doing the same rather than whinging no-one comes to the AGM.

6. I'd overhaul the rider-rep system so that it isn't someone with multiple rides whom you can never find because they are always out riding.

7. I'd use the 'sounding board' for useful insights into what the membership want instead of pointless surveys about the design of the membership card/newsletter.

8. I'd bring back the car pass.

9. I'd initiate an election for a proper grassroots rider to serve on the Sports Committee - someone who understands what the lower level rider (who only has one or two horses and does it for a hobby round a full time job) wants, which can be and often is very different from what the pro riders want.

Is that enough to be going on with?!
 
Spotted Cat All excellent ideas, agree totally.
Juno XV I had misunderstood, and yes I would like that as my D is rarely as good as I would like.!
 
Oh yes, and:

10. I'd bring in a membership for non-riding owners, which is say £50. BE brilliantly say that most memberships are owner-rider, but how they can work that out when lots and lots of people who send their horses to someone else for a specific reason (sorting an issue at the beginning of the season/selling/pregnant/too busy/whatever) just let the rider register them as their own to save £££ baffles me.
 
Sort out the ridiculously overweight staff structure and wages at the higher levels!

Employ people with proven track records of turning round companies and promoting good will as non-executive directors and then listen to them as they went through the organisation with a fine tooth comb weeding out inefficiencies, standardising policies and making sure that maximum commercial benefit was made of sponsorship opportunities.

Sort the IT system out - I couldn't believe how awful it is, include sort out ownership of data in that as well.

Pass on savings made by losing the fat so that BE's "overhead" on entry fees could be reduced and would let prizes at all levels be a reward rather than a token.
 
Life membership at a cost of £500 :D

Change the courses to how they use to be, even back in the early 2000s!

Change the Withdrawal/refund rule.

Scrap all start fees.

And scrap the BE90 BE100 and bring it back to Intro/PN
 
BBs said:
Life membership at a cost of £500 :D

Change the courses to how they use to be, even back in the early 2000s!

Change the Withdrawal/refund rule.

Scrap all start fees.

And scrap the BE90 BE100 and bring it back to Intro/PN
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ETS, I didnt realise theyve scrapped the car pass sticker !!! BRING THAT BACK!
 
I'd also haul in all the people I have on my hit list for being incompetent, dishonest, inept or because I just don't like them and give them a damn good grilling and threaten them with loss of their job, event or membership unless they significantly changed their ways.
 
Encorporate the membership and start fee into the entries, so the more you run, the more you pay for your membership. Seems bonkers to have the venues paying a crippling subsidy to BE when the members already pay £200 a year for the same thing...

The more expensive the entries get (and that includes hiking the start fee by £10 a year :eek:) without an obvious correlate in the standard of event and prize money, the less people will want to support BE. They will go to Pony Club instead (entry fee £30). Better to keep them on side with lower entry fees and more entries than lose the goodwill entirely.
 
I'd also seek to encourage volunteers.

I think I'd do that by offering a choice of BE-sponsored reward: so a reduced competition entry fee voucher, or an extra special "get you through any ballot" sticker, or significant reductions on spectator entry at "significant" events. This to be on top of reminding event organisers that a cup of ditchwater (sorry, that'll be the soup) and a roll for lunch with a Tesco's value mini swiss roll and a cup of ditchwater (sorry, that was the coffee) in the afternoon with one loo break in a nine hour day are not good enough conditions for people who have given up a whole day of their time.
 
Several people have mentioned the start fees. That's the only part of the cost of entering that goes straight to the event organiser. Your entry fee AFAIK goes straight to BE who then pay out to the event organiser the portion that they actually get for holding the event.
 
Noodlejaffa said:
Go back to having junior classes at the lower level, like it was a few years ago. I don't want to open a whole can of worms by saying this, but I know there are a lot of adults at BE90/BE100 who are fed up trying to compete with 12/13 year olds on expenisve horses who don't have to worry about entry fees/training costs/fuel.
Click to expand...

I competely agree. It is sooo annoying to lose to a child who has an expensive pony that has been trained by professionals!
 
jemima_too said:
Several people have mentioned the start fees. That's the only part of the cost of entering that goes straight to the event organiser. Your entry fee AFAIK goes straight to BE who then pay out to the event organiser the portion that they actually get for holding the event.
Click to expand...
I think you may be mistaken the entry fee goes to the organiser who then pays a levy to BE based on the number of entries left in at the withdrawal stage.The start fee is the icing on the cake and some are getting greedy .The only part of the entry that goes straight to BE when you pay it is the abandonment insurance.This is also the reason events do not have an official waitlist as if they put people in after the withdrawal stage they are not liable for the levy on those horses.
 
jemima_too said:
I'd also haul in all the people I have on my hit list for being incompetent, dishonest, inept or because I just don't like them and give them a damn good grilling and threaten them with loss of their job, event or membership unless they significantly changed their ways.
Click to expand...
See you would be brilliant at Stoneleigh you have just created another full time job for somebody!!!!
 
jrp204 said:
Trouble is not all teenagers are on expensive horses etc, my daughter is now 15 and has brought on both of hers from 4 yr olds, we DO have to worry about entry fees etc so why should she have to compete against the lucky kids who have it all on a plate.
Click to expand...

I agree, its like saying we should make seperate classes for the professionals because all their 5yo's doing BE100 were at least £15k and they are paid £500 to compete it and do the best on it. (I know they are thinking of doing this (grrr)). Only the minority of teenages have no appreciation for what they are doing, how much it is costing etc. I did ponies and i'd say no less than 90% of kids on the circuit worked hard to get there, producing thier own ponies and we were all so appreciative of being able to compete alongside adults and professional. It had always been my dream and i was bought my 3yo pony from the sales for under £1k and took her to novice and ponies myself.
Plus, equestion is the only sport where people of all age, sex and level compete together and to me this is one of the best parts of the sport...why change it..? rant over.! :D
 
There are some very talented teens out there and not all have money, if the adults have a problem with them, and it is a level playing field for all, then maybe they have to up their game?
 
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