Great Witchingham

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beckypj

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23 October 2008
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Well, as GtW is my local event, I decided to pop along yesterday and have a look at the cross country and basically have a wander (not having the horse power to ride myself, and a water-phobic mare I guess watching the horses jump into water is the closest I'll get!). After a mile and a half wander down the railway track from Lenwade where I'd left my car, I found myself right in the middle of all the action. I could see the horses showjumping, lots of scary looking x-country fences (even the BE90 ones!) and well behaved ones doing the dressage. I don't know what possessed me then (but I am glad it did) as I found myself in the Secretary's tent volunteering my help. They jumped at the chance and I soon found myself in the commentary box, right near the X-Country finish, pen in hand, noting down all the dressage and showjumping scores, before transfering them to slips of paper (one per horse) for the person on the right of me to do X-Country duties. I got a first-hand view of course communication, commentary and all the horses finishing. Unfortunately not all did as quite a few retired, or were elimated, and lots of horses were seen galloping back towards the trailer park. We did see a nasty fall in the final round of the day which led to a 30 minute hold on course. I had to leave before the action restarted, so I didn't hear if everything was ok, so if anyone knows, I'd be glad to know if she was ok. All in all, I had an excellent day, would definitely do it again, but I still didn't get to see the X-Country course!!
 
Hi there,

I'm glad you were able to help, I was there helping too; it's normally a lot of fun and definitely puts a new perspective on competing when you get to see the amount of work that goes into putting on an event from 'behind the scenes'.

The accident that you refer to was fine in the end. The girl headbutted a tree between fences and I think it gave everyone a bit of a shock but the result was that the girl was allowed to go home with her mum in her lorry - a good result. She will be a bit bruised today I'm sure, but all in all a pretty good outcome.

Maybe we'll see you helping again. Are you going to be at Burnham Market next weekend??
 
HI,
i was the girl who took over your job in the control as dad was the person next to you and we came in to see what went on. Its such an eye opener in there you really don't understand how much they do and how acurate everything has to be done, especially when they hold like they did for poor girl who hit the tree. Thanks for filling in nearly all the scores before you left haha meant i didnt have to use the radio lol henry was so funny his humour is brill! also very strict.
As lizh said the girl was ok and allowed home with her mum. We managed to finish by 6 which was good considering how many falls there were during the day.
 
oooh... you werent in with Sir Henry of Symington were you ? He makes it look very easy and is great fun to be around.

Glad you had a great day.
 
yes we were it was great fun but pretty tense at the same time!! everything has to be spot on! Learnt that should never complain how long have to wait at start and when theres a hold as they have so much to sort if the is a problem. Henry was great and hes such a pro with the whole thing!!
 
Yes, will be at Burnham Mkt on Friday, but watching not in the commentary box! Want to actually walk the course and see some famous peeps this time! Sir Henry was very entertaining, him and Julie were so good at what they were doing it made a doubtless difficult job look easy! I can't believe what goes into running an event like that. And they were so organised and the course changes happened in seconds! Got told off for my maths on several occasions (disgraceful when I work in accounts! - thank god for calculators!!) but I enjoyed having a walkie talkie ("control to showjumping!"). Well done cparker for your results and it was nice to have a novice scorer like your dad sat next to me so we could get told off together, inbetween writing down endless scores and pinning together pink bits of paper!! Want to be a fence judge next time please!
 
Please volunteer to jump judge, David is usually in need of offers of help and is extremely grateful for all assistance, as are most organisers. I jump judged on Thursday but couldn't do anymore as have been away on holiday. It is good to see what goes on and is also very informative, there's another event in the summer so the weather should be kinder too!

JDx
 
Bearsmum said:
Please volunteer to jump judge, David is usually in need of offers of help and is extremely grateful for all assistance, as are most organisers. I jump judged on Thursday but couldn't do anymore as have been away on holiday. It is good to see what goes on and is also very informative, there's another event in the summer so the weather should be kinder too!

JDx
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Agree with you there . I can't fence judge anymore, for the the foreseeable future , as my Husband has changed his job & the hours don't suit ( I don't drive . )
You will be well looked after & it's a very friendly event
 
Just want to thank all you guys who do volunteer - at any event.

I'm a groom and couldn't function without all those who volunteer at these things! Also all who stop to say hi, or have a chat make it so pleasurable, but all in all just anyone who helps make things run smoothly.

Also to whoever was at Burnham Market, one of the jump judges had a little dog stop with water out and dog biscuits, which was very sweet of them. :D
 
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