More British Talent Leaves....

It is a shame but I can understand why the owners would do it. Its such a risky game you have to make your money when you can as things can go wrong / change so quickly.

The issue which SJing needs to consider for the future of the sport is how you balance individuals making a living buying and selling horses for their own gain vis a vie putting national team success on the international stadium higher.

You almost need a pool of national horses which owners / riders get all the support needed to make national team status their goal in return for a commitment not to sell for a period of time. Very hard as a horse can break down so easily and very few people could / would turn down big money especially for some the amounts can set them up for life.
 
This might sound a bit naiive, but the government does seem to fund other sports, say running tracks, pitches etc through lottery funding etc. Couldn't there be government/nationally owned horses for out pros to jump for our country. Not sure how this would work, but at least our good horses wouldn't be sold abroad??
 
The trouble is KW, that SJing is a minority sport with a very small number of people interested. It just doesn't make sense for a government or lottery to spend circa £2 -3 million on one horse for the enjoyment of a few when that same sum could be spent to achieve so much more for a majority. You can buy an awful lot of kit, running shoes, footballs etc for the masses for that same sum.

The other thing is that SJing is inaccessible to the majority whereas most people have access to a playing field or sports arena.

SJing does have some grants, uk sport for example, but even with additional help we have a long way to go. SJing at the top levels is not a quick fix, it takes a long term view so it may not be evident yet of the value these donations are making.

I think one way, and it wouldn't be popular, but BS needs to increase its membership so more people compete and another £1 was added to each competition entry fee which is then hived off to provide separate funds for firstly, increased prize money and secondly towards the retention of good horses.
 
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BBH - the only way this would work [extra membership and entry fees] is for BS to be totally transparent and this fund to be ring-fenced and not used for 'admin costs' :rolleyes: - because we all know where that goes.......:o
 
LOL but thats another nail in the coffin so to speak in that BS is not trusted in the main by lots of members. It seems to be run by the committee for the benefit of the committee and the same old faces churning around. Get some new fresh thinking in there ;)

You only have to read previous threads on this forum to note the dissent from people. I know sometimes the forum content is dissed as negative / irrelevant by those mentioned but there are also some very eloquent posters who put forward some really good suggestions / observations so i'm sure if BS asked their readership ( I don't say members because I think they should grow the membership not just seek the opinions of those already members ) what they wanted to see and implemented the popular, achievable changes things would gradually improve.

Why doesn't someone ask why so few people who ride want to affiliate, watch SJing on TV, etc etc.

At the moment it seems to be a private members club with no-one invited unless you jump in with a really huge wad of cash, and then you'll be coveted profusely until your money runs out. The movers and shakers within the sport seem to be very small in number IMO.
 
:o are there any 'movers and shakers' left who have not been completely subdued by the old boy (and old girl) network?

Its commendable that people give up their time [for BS committees] but they need to lose the self-serving image they have 'acquired', and this can only come from the committee members themselves!

Going back to your previous comment; can you imagine the predicted uproar when the first horse is purchased using this fund and the seller is one of the 'BS closed family'? :D

Back to the drawing board.......... ;)
 
Well, rather than national federations simply purchasing horses for the elite few, there are such things as national studs and national breeding operations which could work. A national stud could be self-funding and indeed profit making. It would need to be run independently of any one disciplines' controlling body though...and supply horses to all disciplines. This is not a short-term thing though...it would take years to develop and with no absolute guarantee of success....not to mention a fairly substantial initial outlay.

If you look at something like Old Lodge or the Billy Stud though, these operations could quite easily be adapted to serve national teams.
 
No national ownership or breeding programme can work - the opportunity for corruption is too great. Also, the UK (&world) is in the middle of one of the worst recessions in living memory. I rather doubt that anyone is likely to offer national support for show jumping when we are cutting input into even the NHS!

The big problem is the value of these horses. Even young grade A's can command sums up to £500,000, sometimes more. What attraction is there to an owner to take such a horse out to jump for a £500/£1000 1st prize (very hard to find many shows offering much more than this unless your rider is in the top 10/12 and able to go to Olympia) when the entry will have been £50/£100. Very often to get into the classes with the higher prize money you have to jump in qualifying rounds earlier in the show and those classes usually only carry modest prize money.

Perhaps the owner might keep the horse for the fun of watching it compete. Try waiting around for interminable hours for late running classes, standing by the rails of a very large show because there are no seats available unless you are there all day, often eating pretty awful food served from a caravan and the attraction soon wears off even for the dedicated! The alternative is to buy a show hospitality package costing thousands but you would need to sell the horse to pay for that!

Perhaps the idea of a ring fenced capitation on BS membership to provide a prize money fund could help but then how would you decide which shows got the money ....... and so continues the problems!!!
 
BBH said:
The trouble is KW, that SJing is a minority sport with a very small number of people interested. It just doesn't make sense for a government or lottery to spend circa £2 -3 million on one horse for the enjoyment of a few when that same sum could be spent to achieve so much more for a majority. You can buy an awful lot of kit, running shoes, footballs etc for the masses for that same sum.

The other thing is that SJing is inaccessible to the majority whereas most people have access to a playing field or sports arena.
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You know, I don't know if it is a minority sport. I do middle distance track running to district medal winning level and have competed in national championships, ditto in triathlon and duathlon in the past, and I've also competed in mountain biking. There aren't any more races and competitors over the country in any given weekend of these sports than in showjumping. For example, there might be 2 track meets a few weekends each summer in the whole of Scotland with as little as 6 or 8 people in each race. There might be one or occasionally two triathlons with max 120 competitors. There will be maybe 10 or 12 road and trail endurance races in the average weekend. None of these part of a national series. Compare that to BS and unaffiliated showjumping combined. Yes, there are one off mass participation events but a lot of the more serious runners don't do them anyway.

Triathlon and mountain biking aren't actually that easy or cheap to compete in. First you can easily spend £5000 on a bike and another £1500 on race wheels, and if you do mountain biking you need 2 or 3 bikes for different conditions. Then there is the other equipment, which I would say is more expensive than equivalent horse equipment. Entry fees are often £60 for one race and I've paid £250!

The problem seems to be the public perception of horsy sports and the increasingly urban oriented ethos of British society. And yes, horse people have just got on with it without any real government assistance or moaning about it too much. But in other countries, there is more government support, isn't there?
 
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