Hickstead Sunshine Tour Roll-Call

JennBags

JennBags

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Who else is going this weekend? Somehow George and I managed to qualify for the Novice Dressage (have no idea quite how we managed it!) so a friend and I are doing the arena familiarisation on Friday evening, then N28 championship on Saturday and the Novice Combined Training on Sunday - makes it rather a busy weekend, but as we're only about 45 mins away we're not staying over.

I've not actually jumped a course of SJ away from home yet, let alone an 80 so am rather bricking Sunday, but we've got a lesson tomorrow morning at Coombelands so hopefully I will be better prepared than I'm feeling right now.

Hope to see some of you there :)

JB
 
Yes me we're showing on Saturday and when I entered it was suggested our class might start at 7.30 so I/we opted to camp however once the final showing schedule was out my class is at 9.45 so could go on the day, however will be fun camping over and will be nice to have a stable so all's good.
 
Yes we'll be there! Coming Friday for the arena familiarisation and novice warm up class and then back on Sunday for the elementary championship. Maybe see you Friday JennBags, just need to get rid of my stinking head cold first but looking forward to it! :)
 
I will be there jumping early Saturday and camping for the eventers challenge on Sunday! Really looking forward to it! 3 of us are camping with 2 horses and are looking forwards to our mini break! It's my first night away from my nearly 2 year old daughter too so have almost forgot that I'm meant to be riding and have mainly been worrying about that and if I have packed enough wine!! Good luck all!
 
Newlands, sounds like you're going to have a great weekend! If stabling weren't so expensive, my friend and I would be tempted to stay and camp on Saturday night as we're on first thing Sunday morning and fancy the bbq party.

Miss Bossy we're not doing familiarisation until the evening, good luck with the warm up class if we don't see you! Hope your cold has gone by tomorrow.

Dornrose, I think the camping will be fun!

Good luck everyone.
 
How did you all get on? Camping was fun and think it helped to have the horses stabled, as although their stables were right on the road they chilled out nicely and were very well behaved. I came 10th in my class so have a lovely Rosette and my daughter's horse came 3rd in hers so she has a lovely Rosette and a goody bag.

It was so busy I found it very overwhelming tbh but was so pleased to have had the opportunity to compete at Hickstead.
 
I was stewarding on Saturday and I met so many super people and honestly had on the whole a good day. However on the other hand I was sworn at, shouted at, berated, glared at, muttered at and made to feel like crap on a shoe by a large amount of competitors. It was disgusting.
I empathized and understood the reasons for competitors frustrations but I cannot believe that they were taken out on me, and other helpers and staff, particularly as some volunteers were younger it was bullying and condescending.
Critism is necessary to drive change for the future but abusive and foul language and behavior just made me glad to leave. Shame on those people !
I've seen lots of negative reviews on the Facebook page but also there are people trying to put constructive suggestions forward too.
 
Well done Dornrose to you and your daughter, that's brilliant! Ahh Lucemoose that's horrible, sorry you were made to feel that way. If people behaved nicer then maybe there would be more volunteers but who wants to put themselves out there and give their time for that! I had a lovely time, I personaly only had experience of ring 4 and all there were lovely and I jumped on time with no delays (that I'm aware of, I was a bit OD'ed on rescue remedy!). My friends had a couple of issues with gaining access to the show ground and delayed start times but it didn't ruin our weekend you just get on with it and make the most of it. I think some people will never be happy and I hope they get some more positive feed back and take on some of the advice as I would love for this to run again next year. It can only get better!!
 
JB - I was in the same classes N28 and CT ( we probably spoke!! )
Lucemoose I witnessed a man being so rude on the friday night to the younger stewards even I told him to P*** O** back home as there was no place for people like him

Yes there were a few things that could have improved but are we all perfect - NO and there are not many brave shows that would manage nearly 1800 horses over 3 days.

I hope there is a 2016 and that negative comments have not ruined it - I personally would be taking names of face book including all the 'likes' let them enter next year and reject their entry!!

I loved it and so did l the people that we near my trailer, great atmosphere and BBQ was excellent............well deserved thank you to all the Sunshine Tour Team, stewards and judges.
 
I was there for the arena familiarisation on the Friday,camped the night and did prelim on the saturday. It was manic as so many horses and people everywhere but overall enjoyed it. My only criticism was the dressage warm up in with those that were in the eventers challenge. I ended up having to do my test with a horse more tense than before the warm up as there were too many in there and a few out of control horses and riders including one horse that was leaping sideways kicking out at anything it could get near. Heard alot of complaints but I found all the staff extremely helpful and polite and just severely stressed out by the amount of enquiries they were trying to deal with. I've seen the reviews left and while there were alot of valid comments on there I also think some of the comments were not neccessary and they seem to forget the hard work that has to go into running a show let alone one as big as it was.
 
just to add 3rd and 6th in Novice and Elementary on the Friday, 10th in Novice Championship and a double clear in GT 80cm SJing ( in top 20 - circa 93 entries ) and I ruined CT today - I was just too knackered and rode a bad test and had to pull up at fence 8 even though i was jumping clear - Hen-ri was just to strong even after 3 days!!
 
We went too and had a pretty sad time, no space to warm up, no clear round, no idea what time we were running as the list we printed off their website had changed by the time the class started and we were told 4 different things. In the end we just waited in the queue like everyone else and not surprisingly our green pony did not go well. We had high expectations from the website that it would be professionally run and I don't think it was at all. It was not a charity run local show it was meant to be The Championships At Hickstead. Sadly we came away feeling disappointed. I have read the reviews on facebook too, it seems to be a very mixed bag.
 
Lucemoose that's terrible being spoken to like that. I did think the organisation was appalling, they have over faced themselves by making it such a huge event I think, I heard a lot of very poor reports on the stabling side especially.

Meandtheboys I know who you were now, I was just outside the ring when you came out, I thought it was a real shame you retired as you were going so well, but only you know the horse underneath you. I was the one on the huge bright bay who kept yelling "good boy" after every jump :D We got a huge round of applause when we finished!

We had a super last day, got 7th in the CT, there are a couple of pics on the Sunday Morning thread in the Club House but I'll try to get a full report out in a couple of days.
 
We did the arena familiarisation and the warm up on Friday, and the intro and Prelim on the Saturday. I was shocked to be told by one competitor quite brazenly that she had given her horse a calmer! Erm, it's meant to be under BD rules! And lots of people had helpers in the arena on foot, which was against the rules on the website but not enforced on the day. The admin before the show was great, so I was disappointed with the organisation on the day. No stewards in the warm up arenas, show jumpers galloping around in the same warm up arena as the dressage competitors, huge queues for the secretary's office..... I do think they were under-prepared for the number of entries. Not sure I'd do it again at Hickstead, although I am so pleased to have been given the opportunity to ride there.
 
Well most of the complaints are from people that expect to be told everything, don't read the rules properly or don't attend championships regularly!!! We had brick stables (how LUCKY!!) with lights as we were there early....there were people on our fantastic block moaning that they ONLY had a light outside!! Some poor people were stuck in normal temp stables with no lights, boggy floors in the field!! BUT this is to be expected at away shows??

People moaning about this that and the other, it was mental championship, hugely subscribed, yes some things need improving for next year but on the whole, considering the lack of helpers and staff (I am sure they will double them if not triple them next year) they did amazingly well. With a smile I hasten to add!

We managed to pick up two placings, wonderful rossies and prizes. Timings and presentations all mucked up but all in all SJ ran well, huge classes, Showing ran fine from people that I know who were competing in those disciplines.

They just need automated scoring for dressage next year (excel format) and only a select few running the scoring hut which should be tucked away somewhere out of view from nagging competitors!!

Well done all and hope it is back again next year, would be sad if because of the grief it disappears.....
 
That was probably me!!! My horse needs a calmer to get up to the ring and under BD rules you can use them!!! As long as no banned substances! Rather that than him squish a small child or spectator! - read up on the rules before throwing accusations around!!!
 
exactly!!! Everyone with a manic horse and who has any common sense uses them for a first major championship if they have responsibility and don't want to injure anyone or anything! We are talking natural calmers, not sedaline or bromide lol!!!
 
JennBags said:
Lucemoose that's terrible being spoken to like that. I did think the organisation was appalling, they have over faced themselves by making it such a huge event I think, I heard a lot of very poor reports on the stabling side especially.

Meandtheboys I know who you were now, I was just outside the ring when you came out, I thought it was a real shame you retired as you were going so well, but only you know the horse underneath you. I was the one on the huge bright bay who kept yelling "good boy" after every jump :D We got a huge round of applause when we finished!

We had a super last day, got 7th in the CT, there are a couple of pics on the Sunday Morning thread in the Club House but I'll try to get a full report out in a couple of days.
Click to expand...

The stabling is down to Hickstead NOT the sunshine tour, parking is down to hickstead and their stewards....
 
Cowpony said:
We did the arena familiarisation and the warm up on Friday, and the intro and Prelim on the Saturday. I was shocked to be told by one competitor quite brazenly that she had given her horse a calmer! Erm, it's meant to be under BD rules! And lots of people had helpers in the arena on foot, which was against the rules on the website but not enforced on the day. The admin before the show was great, so I was disappointed with the organisation on the day. No stewards in the warm up arenas, show jumpers galloping around in the same warm up arena as the dressage competitors, huge queues for the secretary's office..... I do think they were under-prepared for the number of entries. Not sure I'd do it again at Hickstead, although I am so pleased to have been given the opportunity to ride there.
Click to expand...

If it was a black horse, large, it was me!!!

Yes I did use calmers (mag based and natural) it is NOT against BD rules and I do my research. My horse naps and rears and it is safer to take edge off than hurt anyone, if I had a badly behaved horse you'd probably moan about that. Before assuming I have broken rules, maybe read up on it. I must have spent days reading the rules and revised details because most of the information was there to see.
 
We had a great time, there will always be teething problems with a new venue and hopefully lessons learnt for next year. To my mind the competitors causing the most problems just needed to be a bit more sensible and help other people and the stewards out more than they did. Crowding round the dressage scores whilst still mounted is utterly selfish and thoughtless for example. Standing around the horse walk holding your pony - equally thoughtless, and don't be surprised when someone using the horse walk to, you know, safely get somewhere whilst mounted, asks you to move. At one point the people jumping in the warm up were totally out of control, making snide comments loudly about other people who were warming up nicely - I'm sure they felt that they looked great speeding about, but just you try that at affiliated and see what happens. There is no excuse for bad manners and I wish a bit more had been done about it. A dressage warm-up might have been nice too....but all in all a great day out, and the sun really had his hat on!
 
I had a mixed weekend, arena familiarisation on Friday was good, lack of warm up area to do the novice Friday evening wasn't ideal but managed to come away with 5th place :) the stewards in the lorry park were rude and didn't listen to concerns which resulted in my lorry getting stuck! I read some of the reviews online on Saturday and wondered whether to return on Sunday however when I got there the parking seemed better and the dressage arenas seemed well organised. I managed to find a quiet sj warm up arena and warmed up ok, went it for my test a few minutes late and the results were up fairly quickly, I was surprised to find out we were 2nd in the elementary class so all things considered not a bad weekend. I think it future they need to look at restricting numbers, perhaps the top 3 qualify through out the year, which reduce the numbers at Hickstead and make it more manageable.
 
the problem with reducing numbers means entries will go up as Hickstead is VERY expensive venue and to cover your costs at the level we paid entry fees, they need the numbers......not sure I would want to pay much more for big classes such as we had in all disciplines?
 
You're right, and most people are happy to pay a slightly increased entry fee to ride at a venue like that. The danger is that people won't return the following year - I for one am not really interested in entering another dressage class where my only warm up option is a big chewed up / boggy field (especially when paying over the odds to do so). We really enjoyed our day out, I think they were just a little overwhelmed and unfortunately there were too few stewards to control the masses. I'm sure a lot of people here have been to Hickstead for the international showjumping and seen how the venue can operate...there's no reason why unaffiliated should be any different.
 
Well we had a great time on Sunday. Yes parking was tricky and no separate warm up area was interesting but not an issue for us. I got 4th in P13 and I don't know about N34, we were in 5th place when we left and no results posted anywhere. I will go again and I'm sure they will learn from this year's experience.
 
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