Merrist Wood or Sparsholt?

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Daisy1905

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Which one is less spooky? :)

Not been to Sparsholt but like how organised Merrist Wood are. Not sure how busy the warm up would get for a regional though?
 
Daisy1905 said:
Which one is less spooky? :)
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Not been to Sparsholt but like how organised Merrist Wood are. Not sure how busy the warm up would get for a regional though?
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i think Sparsholt
 
Sparsholt has much less room to decorate their arena as it's exactly 20x60m whereas Merrist Wood can have all the flowers, banners etc. Mine always goes better at Merrist though so will stick to that. With o ly one class running at a time the warmup doesn't get busy. Assuming they both use their indoor arenas as I think winter Regionals have to be indoors.
 
star said:
Sparsholt has much less room to decorate their arena as it's exactly 20x60m whereas Merrist Wood can have all the flowers, banners etc. Mine always goes better at Merrist though so will stick to that. With o ly one class running at a time the warmup doesn't get busy. Assuming they both use their indoor arenas as I think winter Regionals have to be indoors.
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Good point about there being less room! :D My old horses really didn't like banners. The new one seems to dislike the arena letters....

Do they both tend to have school hire the week before? I know Merris Wood do have some slots usually. Rather than just the arena walk.
 
I don't think they have to use the indoor, Patchetts last year had to use the outdoor as they had so many entries (one arena outdoors and one indoors).

Merrist can be spooky due to banners, plus people loading and unloading the other side of the arena wall. Sparsholt can be spooky as well with the viewing gallery and people able to walk down one side of the arena (and the entrance door). Last year due to large class numbers Merrist had to split classes and move some people to a week day (they did ask for people to volunteer to move and they had enough do this that they didn't have to force anyone to move days). Sparsholt have the space if required to run outdoor arenas so if they had larger class numbers than expected could put on extra arenas (rather than extra days).

So it depends how easy it is for you to get move days as well as how spoooky the venue is (if you have to book time off work and can't switch your competition day then I would go for Sparsholt). Both venues are well organised
 
Don't mind booking time off but would like to plan ahead. :)

How is the viewing gallery at Merrist Wood when it is busy as it is further up and the horses seem to pop their head up and stop to look up?
 
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