Hopetoun showjumping disgrace

Kirkton I'm prepared to put my money where my mouth is as I've stated I'm a regular volunteer if I decide not to ride at hopetoun next year I'll steward the showjumping.
 
An unfortunate event indeed, but I was at Hickstead 10 days ago when a rider in ring 5 fell off, and the horse panicked and bolted with the bridle dragging on the floor. It ran into the arena fence, bounced off and then went through the next section of fence and bounced off a tree. It then galloped past cars and a tractor (possibly hitting one) before trying to jump the hedge and getting stuck in some wire. It was horrific to witness, and took a fair while for the poor horse to be cut free, at which point it ran off again.

There was no stopping this horse in its blind panic - if the OPs horse was anything like it (she says he was upset and galloping) then I doubt putting rope in front of it to trip over would have done much good.

Glad it seems to have a happy ending anyway.
 
angelish said:
very interesting to read both sides of the story

a very similar situation happened at hexham and my reaction was "why didn't they have the rope up"
but when you think about it if your horse was moving at the same speed as the horse at hexham was , a piece of rope is in no way going to stop him.

he would have no doubt fell when hitting the rope or like already said ripped the posts out and injured himself and spectators around the arena

you should be thanking the sj stewards for there quick thinking in preventing a dangerous situation.
although its not ideal to have a loose horse galloping about , this seems to me like a well thought out plan of action from BE

you should be gratefull to them for allowing you to run xc as even riding club would not allow this.

i would be very embarrassed if i were you
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I was in the collecting ring at Hexham when the loose horse galloped through and I am very glad that the rope was lowered. If it hadn't been then it would have either flipped over, causing possible serious injury to itself, or have taken the rope and posts with it, injuring the stewards, other horses and riders in the process.

Sorry but if I had been the steward I would have done the same, not risking others or myself serious injury (remember these people are volunteers and have a real job to go to on Monday morning!?).

These things happen - I was walking the xc and a rider fell off her horse which could not be caught - it made for the lorry park, cantering across the dressage arenas on it's way. It was loose in the lorry park before it was caught - how could this be prevented and how is it different to what happened to you? A piece of rope will not stop a panicked horse. If you had fallen off xc would you be as annoyed?

You were very lucky to be allowed to go xc.
 
DarkHorseB said:
Oh dear :o I guess this just goes to show there are 2 sides to every story.

My understanding from OP was that the rope had not been across which allowed the horse to escape when it would otherwise have stopped. Not that someone had to make a split second decision when said horse was in blind panic which of course puts a totally different slant on things.

Also, in my opinion, there is never, ever any excuse to be abusive to stewards and organisers. If in the heat of the moment I lost it I would be extremely embarassed and apologetic afterwards. If OP spoke to officials as badly as it sounds on paper then I would say very lucky indeed to be allowed xc - after all there was no right to be able to do this.
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Yes, hear hear. Now I've heard the rest of the story I regret my earlier post. There is never any excuse for rudeness to volunteers and/or officials.
If your horse had careered into the rope while in a blind panic he might well have ended up injuring people or injuring and/or further panicking himself.
 
My horse was never galloping in a blind panic to be honest he's to much of a lazy lump to do that. He even stopped in the entrance way to look for the string before becoming free in the parkland.

My mother and I were not rude to the stewards and personally think they are trying to cover their backs for there own mistake.

As i've said if not competing next year I'll put my neck on the line and say I'll stewdard the show jumping and I can garuantee now I'll do a proper job.
 
kerilli said:
Yes, hear hear. Now I've heard the rest of the story I regret my earlier post. There is never any excuse for rudeness to volunteers and/or officials.
If your horse had careered into the rope while in a blind panic he might well have ended up injuring people or injuring and/or further panicking himself.
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I agree. Some people are so ungrateful and don’t consider what it takes to run an event, I think OP sounds rather unsporting. For me, things often don’t go to plan but I have NEVER thrown a tantrum or been abusive to anyone who has given up there time, without them, there wouldn’t be an event to go to.
 
ok right iv'e never been rude on this forum

but this is beginning to look like someone trying to cause trouble now

you have had a post pulled from the BE forum i have not seen it but it must of been offensive for them to pull the post

being rude to officials at any event is not acceptable behavior

YOU FELL OFF though no fault of anyone else
you should not have been allowed to go xc ,they let you out of kindness

now stop whining !!

i don't know what you expect to achieve from this other than to bad mouth the event you attended.
grow up , pick your dummy up and stop chucking your toys about
 
Probably naughty but I feel somewhat peed off with the OPs inability to accept any blame.
To me they seem more worried by the elimination than the fact the horse may have been at risk.
Hopetoun Horse Trails Showjumping DISGRACE

I feel this matter need to be brought to BEs attension as it could have had very dangerous repercussions. Whilst competing in the BE 90 section at Hopetoun horse trails on Saturday my showjumping round was going fantastic until at fence 8 (the second last fence) my horse put in a very out of character spook which unseated me. When this happened the horse was at the far end of the showjumping arena giving the stewards plenty of time to ensure the string was across however the stewards were paying no attension to what was going on and left the entrance to the arena open leaving my horse to escape out into the park land. This could have cause a major accident to either my horse or a spectator. What upsets me the most is the stewards made to attempt to contain my horse within the showjumping arena and therefore i was eliminated. I have read my rule book cover to cover and i know i should have been allowed to re-mount and attempt the fence another 2 times due to the stewards complacency i was denied this oppertunity. Had the stewards been paying attension they would have been able to catch my horse as he had slowed down as he got to the arena exit however instead he was left to escape into the parkland . I have never even seen such shoddy stewarding at a local show and I feel that I paid £63 to compete at hopetoun and could have accepted if I had been eliminated by something my horse or I had done wrong however I feel extremely upset that it was the behaviour of the stewards which lead to my elimination. I am very upset that my horse now has an elimination on his record through no fault of either him or I. When BE are charging this amount of money I feel very strongly that I should be refunded or compensated for these actions as you dont expect this sort of shoddy organisation at a british event when you are spending this amount of money. I am very upset that my horses record has E3R on it especially as i only presented at the fence once and would like this exsponged from my BE record. Or at least rectified in some form as I dont appreciate the fact I was eliminated cause the stewards can't do there job. I know everyone is a volunteer however I volunteer at BE and was showjumping steward all day on the Sunday of Hendersyde horse trails last year I am also a member of my local riding clubs committee and therefore help out regularly at riding club competitions. I HAVE NEVER ALLOWED THIS TO HAPPEN AND HAVE NEVER SEEN IT HAPPEN BEFORE. All of the other competitions agreed with me that this should never have been allowed to happen. And I did not appreciate the fact the stewards were very very rude to me and tried to make it out this was all my fault. Finally when I made an offical complaint to the BE steward I was very hurt when John Tullochs response to me was the answer is simply not to fall off. I found these coments were very hurtful as noone intends to fall off. I await a response from BE as this type of organisation is not on. If this os the type of organistion BE and Hopetoun are going to display I wont be back.

Re: RE: Hopetoun Horse Trails Showjumping DISGRACE

blame the stewards as It was entirely their fault they had let the rope down to allow the next competitor in however they had sufficient time to get rope back up before my horse exited the arena. All the other competitors at the event who saw this happen were shocked an appaulled at such an incident occuring at a be event. It should never have been allowed to happen.

I am not just a ranting competitor and I would never expect anyone to put themselves in danger however if the string had been across I would have been able to catch the horse myself. I volunteer at be regularly and have been involved in organising and running events for my local riding club. Never in all my years as a volunteer or competitor have I ever seen such an event occuring. In fact I was show jumping steward all day sunday at Hendersyde horse trails last and I can garantee nothing like that happened on my watch. I pour my heart and soul both into my competing and volunteering.
Ok so not everyone shares my enthusiasm however I feel very hurt and very let down by be. A half arse volunteer is probably about as good as no volunteer at all.
I feel very strongly on this matter and have issued a letter of complaint to the be chief executive. I'm not upset that I fell off I'm upset at the stewards complacancy. I also want to prevent a similar preventible incident the horse was put at risk and in the future the result of such an incident my be alot more serious than a bruised bottom and bruised ego.

Furthermore after the incident and a talking to from the be steward the rope was kept closed and tight however it's kind of like closing the stable door after the horse has bolted. I'm not letting this matter drop as I do t pay £63 for my horses welfare to be compromised in such a manner
 
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Once again the OP is not thinking about the stewards/volunteers position. In fence judge briefings I have attended we have all be told to think about our safety before attempting to assist if a horse got loose, stuck ona fence. This same principle would apply in the SJ ring, we do not volunteer to be hereos if a horse got loose. If they or whoever is stewarding is not confident to catch a loose horse then that to me is fine. Could you imagine if the steward was injured in the process of catching your horse?!
 
lizzie_liz said:
once again the op is not thinking about the stewards/volunteers position. In fence judge briefings i have attended we have all be told to think about our safety before attempting to assist if a horse got loose, stuck ona fence. This same principle would apply in the sj ring, we do not volunteer to be hereos if a horse got loose. If they or whoever is stewarding is not confident to catch a loose horse then that to me is fine. Could you imagine if the steward was injured in the process of catching your horse?!
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exactly! I have fence judged too and the most important thing is that you must not put yourself in danger. We all participate in this sport and should take into account that there is a risk to ourselves and our horses. We as competitors cannot pass the buck if there is an incident - if you cannot deal with this you maybe shouldn't be competing in horse trials.

As i said in my previous post stewards are volunteers and in their other lives have jobs to go to on monday morning - i can just imagine my boss's response if i didn't turn up because i'd stood in the way of a freaked out horse trying to get out of the sj arena because i was the steward. Therefore i was responsible to keep it in the arena so the competitor who fell off could get back on to complete their round - i'm sure he'd be delighted to hear they had completed!!!!!
 
I somehow get the impression that Hopetoun will not want you stewarding the SJ next year...!!!

I admit that I dont compete now, but I used to event very seriously in my Junior and Young Rider years, and I too very, very rarely had a fall. Infact, I think i only ever fell off a couple of times in my competitive eventing life. Yes its a shock. Yes its frustrating and yes its even more frustrating when circumstances then lead to elimination or having to withdraw, but thats eventing! S**t happens. Stop moaning and hope for some stick-ability next time. Maybe rather than rant and moan about this incident it would be wise to use it as a learning curve to reiterate that your horse is not a machine, he can be spooked and maybe the fall will be avoided next time!


(P.S Sorry if my post sounds harsh people!!! I find it SO annoying when people come on here moaning about a bad result at an event when some of us would just love to be in the position to be able to get our horses out to events in the first place, win, lose or fall!! :D It is supposed to be FUN, if you cant accept the bad as well as the good with a degree of good sportmanship and repect towards those involved you shouldnt be taking part IMO. )
 
unab said:
i somehow get the impression that hopetoun will not want you stewarding the sj next year...!!!

I admit that i dont compete now, but i used to event very seriously in my junior and young rider years, and i too very, very rarely had a fall. Infact, i think i only ever fell off a couple of times in my competitive eventing life. Yes its a shock. Yes its frustrating and yes its even more frustrating when circumstances then lead to elimination or having to withdraw, but thats eventing! S**t happens. Stop moaning and hope for some stick-ability next time. Maybe rather than rant and moan about this incident it would be wise to use it as a learning curve to reiterate that your horse is not a machine, he can be spooked and maybe the fall will be avoided next time!


(p.s sorry if my post sounds harsh people!!! I find it so annoying when people come on here moaning about a bad result at an event when some of us would just love to be in the position to be able to get our horses out to events in the first place, win, lose or fall!! :d it is supposed to be fun, if you cant accept the bad as well as the good with a degree of good sportmanship and repect towards those involved you shouldnt be taking part imo. )
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i so wanted to say that hopetoun will not want to see op again, as a competitor or a volunteer but wasn't quite brave enough, and also knowing how valuable volunteers are!! So thank you for saying what i was thinking!!

All i can think of is the brave op standing at the rope with a scared, panicking horse galloping towards her -what does she do? According to her she could keep horse in the arena without threat to any other competitor, spectator or horse, and allow rider to get back on and complete without a cricket score. Every horse trial needs this volunteer - quick snap her up!!!! (sorry can't use these new smileys!)
 
op can you not see that a steward who is a stranger to you might have thought that your horse was capable of and was running in a panic...... even if it wasnt they might have thought it was.

as I said earlier split second decisions and unfortunate sequences of events that are not one persons fault.

If you help out as much as you say you should be very aware of that
 
I am sorry that you fell off, but ranting and raving is no where near as effective as a quiet polite word with the person in charge.
I once had an incident xc when I fell off between fences (pony shied at a patch of sand!!) the pony legged it back to the lorry park with me in pursuit, caught pony hopped back on and continued. I was given fall penalties even though the incident wasn't related to the fence. I wasn't mad, angry or dissapointed, that's horses and sport.
I do think that as competitors nowadays we 'expect' so much to be done for us in relation to events that it has been forgotten payment of your entry fee only entitles you to compete IF you agree to be bound by the rules and the decisions of the officials!
I find it hard to believe quite honestly from the tone of your OP that you were polite to the officials, and quite a few people on here volunteer, I hope it hasn't left a bitter taste with them.
Well done for offering to steward the SJ next year though.
 
I think I will speak for several and say if this is the worst thing that ever happens to you at BE you will have got off very lightly!!!!!!!
So smile and enjoy competing as it should be and be a little less serious.
 
From your original post:

"My horse isnt used to people falling off his back therefore was very upset and galloped round the parkland before being caught. "

Later on you say:

"My horse was never galloping in a blind panic to be honest he's to much of a lazy lump to do that. He even stopped in the entrance way to look for the string before becoming free in the parkland."

You can't have it both ways, either he was galloping round the lorry park or he is to lazy and stopped. If the later is the case why didn't anyone else in the collecting ring catch him ???

You also say:

"My mother and I were not rude to the stewards and personally think they are trying to cover their backs for there own mistake."

Well if your tone on this and the BE forum is anything to go by .......... !!!!
 
I think we should draw a line under this one as endless posts are just massaging the ego of the OP who is clearly intent in causing as much trouble as possible.
It's obvious from their user name and a look on BDWP of horses elim in SJ at hopetoun with similar names who they are.
I can't see them being welcome at Hopetoun as a rider or steward in the future. Or, for that matter any event that any HHO are volunteers at.
 
QR

As a regular fence judge (most weekends), I can guarantee that I would absolutely not put myself, or others, at risk for a loose (or potentially loose) horse.

You're dealing with a fast moving, unpredictable, unknown animal. I have a full time job. Monday to Friday, 9-5. I don't get sick pay. My horse is on DIY livery, I have to drive there. If I can't drive or look after my horse, she has to be on full livery until I've recovered. So if I'm injured while catching a loose horse, I'm out of pocket to the tune of £1500 a month (wages + livery costs). I can't afford that!

I am very happy to help BE and accept that accidents may happen, but I do my utmost to keep myself (and OH and puppy who FJ too!) safe. I have caught loose horses, but I keep my distance until they've slowed to a walk/trot, then approach them. I have also "let" a horse jump some rope on the XC because I felt it was safer to let it carry on than to try to stop it and risk it missing it's stride/not seeing the rope at a different angle (it ended up back in the collecting ring, no harm done at all).

I can see why you're upset, but blaming the steward is absolutely not on, especially not on a public forum. If I'd been the steward, I would be understandably furious about what you've said. Take it up with the organisers/BE, privately, if you have an issue.

Spare a thought for us volunteers - we don't get paid by BE, we do have "real lives" outside of volunteering, and some appreciation instead of slating would be welcomed! How often do we see posts on here about a "stupid" dressage judge, an "incompetent" fence judge or a "useless" collecting ring steward?? Yes, some of those comments may be justified, but not a public forum. After all, do you see stewards complaining on here about rude competitors or incompetent riders??

Sorry all, rant over. Been brewing for a while!
 
Rana said:
QR

Spare a thought for us volunteers - we don't get paid by BE, we do have "real lives" outside of volunteering, and some appreciation instead of slating would be welcomed! How often do we see posts on here about a "stupid" dressage judge, an "incompetent" fence judge or a "useless" collecting ring steward?? Yes, some of those comments may be justified, but not a public forum. After all, do you see stewards complaining on here about rude competitors or incompetent riders??

Sorry all, rant over. Been brewing for a while!
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I can feel a post coming on . . .
 
Have just spend ages reading through all the replies to this. Wasn't going to reply, but the tone and attitude of the OP is beyond belief. Immature and spoilt are the two words that spring to mind!

All I can say is I am shocked that someone could be so rude to any volunteer at a BE event. Okay, not everyone has the full knowledge, but they have given up a day of their precious time to enable us competitors to have a fun day. Do you ever consider that they might have given up a day of riding or competing to help the BE run?

I'm not going to go into the details of what you did as it's been comprehensively covered over the last 5 pages. However, surely your behaviour on the day and subsequently on the BE Forum, is what's leaving the bad taste in our mouths. Competitors with an attitude like this spoil things for everyone else in the long run.
 
Noodlejaffa said:
Have just spend ages reading through all the replies to this. Wasn't going to reply, but the tone and attitude of the OP is beyond belief. Immature and spoilt are the two words that spring to mind!
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I totally agree with NJ. (Baa)

As someone who was eliminated in the SJ last year at Hopetoun purely due to rider error, (missed a sj). I found everyone involved to be helpful and accommodating & was just thoroughly relieved/grateful to be allowed to go XC at all.
 
Nicoleak0 said:
I totally agree with NJ. (Baa)

As someone who was eliminated in the SJ last year at Hopetoun purely due to rider error, (missed a sj). I found everyone involved to be helpful and accommodating & was just thoroughly relieved/grateful to be allowed to go XC at all.
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Sounds like the organisers are incredibly generous at Hopetoun as at most events I attended if you were eliminated in the SJ that was it, you had to pack up and go home and forget going XC.

Maybe one day when i got my youngster jumping we might have a go there, sounds a very welcoming and encouraging event! :)
 
My post on the BE forum was written in the heat of the moment I was genuinelly concerned about the welfare of a horse which is my life. I should not have made these statements and very much regret if I upset anyone by them. I was wrong but we all do things and say things in the heat of the moment which we later regret I'm not the first and I will not be the last.
 
It's very wierd - I had a similar thing happen to me at Goring Heath years ago - I fell off on XC, horse high-tailed it across the field, people watching all stood in the gap in the hedge to stop him (sensible) so he neatly jumped up the step (horrible animal). BUT the organisers had no-one stewarding the gate, so he escaped out of the gate, ran across a road (!) and played merry hell through the lorry park. Eventually the TA returned him to me on the XC (I was in hot pursuit in the paramedics 4x4) with a stern face saying 'that was a horse fall' to which I replied 'no it wasn't' and we had a heated discussion which culminated in him telling me to check with the fence judges about whether I could carry on (I could, no HF occured). I got E for going over the time allowed on the XC.

Interestingly, my horse escaped onto a road, and I was E, both through no fault of my own...aside from my obvious inability to keep the horse between me and the ground, and yet it never ocurred to me to make a fuss! I didn't even mention the gate issue to anyone - no-one got hurt, it was a freak occurance and TBH the gate could have been closed and the horse decide to jump it, so what can you do? It really didn't matter by that point, I was never going to get placed (clear XC would have got me placed BTW!). I am fascinated by this thread as it actually never occurred to me to kick up a fuss at the time....though with hindsight it wasn't ideal that the horse got out on to the road!
 
I Know the competitor involved and this is very out of character for them. This competitor has appologised to BE and does regret the statements she made. She is a very keen volunteer who probably does more than most to help at events. Everyones is entitled to make a response but I think this has gone on long enough now.

Most of us at sometime have said or done something in haste which we later regretted. The tone of this is getting quite nasty and out of hand and turning into a witch hunt. I'm shocked horse and hound have not pulled this topic from their forum.
 
Ginger31 said:
The tone of this is getting quite nasty and out of hand and turning into a witch hunt. I'm shocked horse and hound have not pulled this topic from their forum.
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Hi Ginger31, I am afraid I disagree, I don't think anybody has been nasty in this thread, but I do find it refreshing that the majority of people understand the importance of volunteers and treating them with courtesy. I am glad the OP has apologised to those concerned, and lets hope its chalked up to 'experience' and everybody can get back to ENJOYING their pastime!
 
Seems like a big mistake was made by the SJ steward and hopefully they'll have learned from it. As others have said the rope should have been across, full stop. Good for you getting on and doing your XC and for letting the organisers you were unhappy with how the situation was handled.

Last year I did my 1st Novice at Hopetoun and there was an "incident" in the show jumping that left me coming away from the event with a bit of a sour taste in my mouth. I didnt go to the event this year, not saying that I'll never go back but it won't be one of my "definite" events in future years.
 
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