H&H this week . . nothing included for the showjumpers (RANT)

[wonkey_donkey]

I was really miffed with the H&H this week . . . . no regular show jumping report, no show jumping comment from Graham Fletcher and not even any show jumping results except for a couple of lines about riders abroad.
Have they forgotten about this phase all of a sudden as the SJ coverage seems to be less and less each week.
I could understand if it was a big thick magazine but instead it seems to be getting thinner and thinner too.
I can feel a cancelled subscription coming on !!

 

[Jumper123]

I know!! The main reason we get the h&h is for the showjumping. If it continues to do this I'm cancelling my subscription too!

 

[charliebo]

H & H looked a complete mess this week. No main topic and a very confusing layout. It seems that all their market research (what's your favourite cover photo? Do you like fashion? What sort of nail varnish do you use on your pony's hooves?) has resulted in a magazine that caters for the sort of people who respond to surveys rather than serious equine enthusiasts. It seems to be becoming a cross between "Your Horse", "Cosmopolitan" and "Heat Magazine".
What will be next? Horsey Horoscopes?

 

[3BayGeldings]

i no!! I was so irritated. I had a quick flick through it in the shop, but i assumed id just missed the SJ section, or vaguely hoped there was a large feature that i hadnt noticed. So i was really disappointed when i got home and there was nothing!

 

[98274957]

[ QUOTE ]
It seems to be becoming a cross between "Your Horse", "Cosmopolitan" and "Heat Magazine".
What will be next? Horsey Horoscopes?

[/ QUOTE ]

HaHa totally agree!!

 

[MandyMoo]

i was irritated too!! thats my main reason for reading H&H for the sj-ing!!

i agree that it wasn't the best layout atall this weeks and also that their stories were a bit average xx

 

[sport horse]

I have been told that Lucy Higginson, the Editor, is not keen on show jumping. I have no way of knowing if this is true or not other than we had better coverage when she was on maternity leave than we do now she is back. Hopefully she will read this and take action. I already have one friend who has cancelled a subscription from USA after 40 years and I will be following very shortly if things do not improve. I am sure we will be told that Badminton is very important (as it is) but not to the exclusion of evrything else.
Take note H & H. SHOW JUMPING does exist and its supporters do buy H & H (but not for long unless you give us more coverage!)

 

[measles]

Totally agree - I think there was another recent post on a similar line a month or so ago. No SJ at all this week is a record, though. The dressage coverage seems to be expanding along with "easy reading" type articles - remember the totally vapid "funny" piece about what the horse world might be like in the future a few weeks back? I think there should be a balance between all disciplines but no SJ is a poor show.

I've posted on this countless times - H&H needs to decide if it's the serious magazine that most of us subscribed to or something like Charliebo's describing. I could also express dismay about the countless spelling errors in the classifieds that makes the whole thing look so amateurish but I won't.

 

[3BayGeldings]

It has totally changed. I remember when i was younger, just bought my first horse etc, and H&H was this imposing, serious magazine that all the competing adults bought! I would flick through it and hardly understand a thing. However, i LIKE that. It should be a serious magazine for the serious horseperson. We have plenty of 'easier to digest' horse magazines, e.g. Horse and Rider, Horse, Your Horse which are good and focused on their target audience. Horse and Hound needs to make a decision as to what it's target audience is going to be... i wish it could make the right choice and revert to what it used to be.

Make your mind up H&H!

 

[measles]

[ QUOTE ]
It has totally changed. I remember when i was younger, just bought my first horse etc, and H&H was this imposing, serious magazine that all the competing adults bought! I would flick through it and hardly understand a thing. However, i LIKE that. It should be a serious magazine for the serious horseperson. We have plenty of 'easier to digest' horse magazines, e.g. Horse and Rider, Horse, Your Horse which are good and focused on their target audience. Horse and Hound needs to make a decision as to what it's target audience is going to be... i wish it could make the right choice and revert to what it used to be.

Make your mind up H&H!

[/ QUOTE ]

Well said - couldn't agree more.

 

[SJFAN]

Glad to know I'm far from being the only one seriously disappointed by this week's issue. I wonder whether the new SJ editor has enough experience or confidence to fight for the necessary space. I've taken H & H since 1964 and cannot remember ever before reading an issue with no national SJ coverage. I agree with all of you who think the magazine should concentrate on news and reports on recent events - that's what a weekly magazine should be doing, not trying to ape the monthly ones, one of which is from the same publisher.

 

[Mithras]

Very dissappointing this week and its been taking me less time to read each week! I'm going to stop buying it soon if theres no domestic showjumping coverage - my horse won her first Newcomers a couple of weeks ago and of course it was just then that they stopped listing the results. So dissappointed.

I very rarely buy Your Horse, Horse and Rider, etc because I feel they are aimed primarily for the novice or non-competitive rider, the last thing the market needs is a weekly version of those - total saturation.

I wonder if it is the result of magazines now being peopled with journalism degree holders - they are told, generically, what a readership wants and deliver it regardless of the specific market or history of the publication.

 

[jess_asterix]

I was also very disasppointed, its the only i buy it to, also i know for sure there were a lot of BSJA shows on last week and i find it bizarre that not one of them could be covered