Eventing Kentucky 5* 3DE Back on!

shortstuff99

shortstuff99

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Was just speaking about it at the weekend that given how much money there is in equestrianism in the states, and the fact that it is all there as a horse park (and they are running other stuff) it could likely be funded privately by owners and alike that wanted their horses there.
 
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ester said:
Was just speaking about it at the weekend that given how much money there is in equestrianism in the states, and the fact that it is all there as a horse park (and they are running other stuff) it could likely be funded privately by owners and alike that wanted their horses there.
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Crowd funding was started by a rider plus a new sponsorship deal would definitely cover most costs.
 
I'm in the USA and friends with many of the folks who led the charge and got it where it needs to be. That said I have mixed feelings as well. The biggest issue is the riders explaining that we need a 5* long to truly prep for the Olympics. I'm just unsure that that's the case. The Olympics are a 4* long. Sure the best riders will have a chance to run a 5* as prep at Badders or Luhmulen. But there's still a lot of pandemic related issues.

Add to that we have an image problem being called an elitist sports, not having inclusivity or diversity in our riders and beyond that we have horses that die or get put down from injuries sustained.

We had a fund raiser here for frangible fence technology to be distributed to all events and that goal was $500k. That took over a year to raise. To me its a kick in the teeth that we were magically able to raise 750k in a week to help the highest tier riders to achieve their goals but we couldn't really similar support to help keep ALL riders safer.

It does feel like a bit of the haves and have nots in our world of equestrian sports.

But I don't have a ton of solutions to suggest.

Em
 
Em I have some of the same feelings. It seemed (from my limited point of view as I honestly didn't give the fundraising thing much of my attention...) like the grassroots riders were being asked to donate and almost guilted into doing so. These are the folks that just want to run a clean Novice (roughly the BE90 equivalent) and have no hopes or dreams of running an upper level track. Just seemed a little distasteful to ask the lower level riders who have no dog in that fight to give their hard earned money in the middle of a pandemic so the Olympic team can have a trial run. But many did though, so I guess it wasn't a problem for them. And I agree $750K could go a long way for other efforts especially during a pandemic...
 
teapot said:
Badminton was always going to run spectators or no spectators. Kentucky's back on thanks to a sponsor and crowdfunding as it couldn't afford to run without ticket sales/revenue.

Badminton's problem will be the possible lack of prep runs...
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Or apparenly H&S and securing of the site - it's cancelled :(
 
Just heard the news about badminton. What a shame. Then looked to see whether we could do a bonkers trip and go to Kentucky which we’d love to do, but that’s April and no spectators so that’s out. Maybe it will have to wait for Olympia in Dec ?
 
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