Moreton BE abandoned

To say that I am pissed off is a mild understatement - they knew torrential rain was forecast so why the hell not cancel yesterday? I was 5 bloody miles away with freshly laundered and plaited horse when they cancelled.

I personally think its really bad organisation skills.
 
FrecklesMum said:
To say that I am pissed off is a mild understatement - they knew torrential rain was forecast so why the hell not cancel yesterday? I was 5 bloody miles away with freshly laundered and plaited horse when they cancelled.

I personally think its really bad organisation skills.
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Probably because they know that people want to run, forecasts are not guaranteed and it is expensive to cancel! We were forecast torrential rain all last nite and today. We had a sharp frost and the sun is splitting the stones!!
 
I am also pretty disappointed with them- heavy rain has been forecasted all week and if you can't run an event on wet ground then why even bother trying to run the first weekend of March?!

I know BE probably gave them a date and remain inflexible about it but I think the venue should take an earlier decision. I know a couple of people who got most of the way there. The abandonment insurance may cover their entry fee but it'll do nothing for the wasted fuel!!
 
What a shame for the venue and everyone involved :(

I pretty much stay clear of the very early BE events as loads get cancelled and with needing to request days of work etc to go its simply not worth the risk for me to enter something which is likely to be rained off (although I kno it can happen with any event!)

We had something similar years ago when we were entered for the pn at ivesley and even got as far as arriving at the event (think it was a good 2 hours drive) to find an empty car park and lorries turning for home. Given at the time there were three mobile phone numbers sent with the entry we were pretty pee'd off we were not told. I dont know what the answer is but surely even a 'group text' sent to people who have entered would be better than nothing and would help cut down on people travelling to a cancelled event?
 
In fairness, they did text us ASAP.

Whilst I accept that weather forecasts cant be wrong, it would have be fairly clear at 6 am that there had been torrential rain/continuing torrential rain. Cancel it at this stage, not at 9 am when the comp should have started 1/2 hr before.

Massive grump going on at the mo!
 
I think Thistle will agree we could really do with some of that over in East Anglia.
Although I do sympathise with Moreton competitors,There is no way they could have cancelled yesterday as they would have had no idea the effect the rain would have on the going.
 
It was the right decision - the rain was horrendous and the ground already bad.

We got there, got soaked just unloading, had just started warming up for the dressage ..... back home now with a kitchen full of wet stuff! :rolleyes:
 
popsdosh said:
I think Thistle will agree we could really do with some of that over in East Anglia.
Although I do sympathise with Moreton competitors,There is no way they could have cancelled yesterday as they would have had no idea the effect the rain would have on the going.
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Have you looked out of your window popsdosh? It's coming down now.

Our house has a very old moat round most of the garden. It's usually 3-4ft deep at this time of year, atm it's abot 1ft, the fish (huge ancient carp) are really struggling, the heron keeps eating them as they can't get deep enough to hide.
 
FrecklesMum said:
In fairness, they did text us ASAP.

Whilst I accept that weather forecasts cant be wrong, it would have be fairly clear at 6 am that there had been torrential rain/continuing torrential rain. Cancel it at this stage, not at 9 am when the comp should have started 1/2 hr before.

Massive grump going on at the mo!
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I agree, with the cost of fuel it is better to cancel at first light following a course inspection. TBH I don't mind the bathing, plaiting and prep but I do get very cross at wasting £60- £70 worth of diesel. ATM is is pretty light at 6am
 
Sprout said:
It was the right decision - the rain was horrendous and the ground already bad.

We got there, got soaked just unloading, had just started warming up for the dressage ..... back home now with a kitchen full of wet stuff! :rolleyes:
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At least I didn't get wet unloading/warming up etc and at least its only 40 odd miles away rather than 2 hrs ..... did nearly cry putting lovely clean grey out in muddy field just now though!

Roll on tweseldown which continues hell or high water!
 
I have to say all fence judges etc yesterday were anticipating horrendous weather today so it was raqther odd to cancel at 9 when dr started at about 8.15!

I was in the Novice yesterday, and they've completely changed the course, however due to the bottlenecks in the course(All courses had to go through at 5m gap in a hedge for example) I could see in bad weather this was going to be an issue as it was pretty slippery when I went round at 11am! There was also the fact that there were some combinations built purposefully on a downhill slope(in all courses but the 80), which IMO would have become seriously dangerouse if the ground started to give as it was an upright log combo.

Having been there yesterday I can understand the decision - they would have had carnage XC if they had chosen to run.
 
I suspect the decision was certainly the right one, but would guess (even as a non eventer) that it would help if the organisers were a little more proactive about cancelling and checked the ground at say 6am to make a decision.

FM maybe your lovely clean grey will come in clean.... sorry no that was a silly suggestion :o !
 
Golden_Match_II said:
I have to say all fence judges etc yesterday were anticipating horrendous weather today so it was raqther odd to cancel at 9 when dr started at about 8.15!

I was in the Novice yesterday, and they've completely changed the course, however due to the bottlenecks in the course(All courses had to go through at 5m gap in a hedge for example) I could see in bad weather this was going to be an issue as it was pretty slippery when I went round at 11am! There was also the fact that there were some combinations built purposefully on a downhill slope(in all courses but the 80), which IMO would have become seriously dangerouse if the ground started to give as it was an upright log combo.

Having been there yesterday I can understand the decision - they would have had carnage XC if they had chosen to run.
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Hang on a second, Golden Match - are you suggesting that the TA and the Steward ignore the conditions on the ground, on the day, and leave in the more difficult jumps regardless of the weather? that is simply daft. yesterday the conditions were good and the downhill combination at 4 you refer to was judged suitable. we know it is a harder combo and looked closely at the ground conditions relating to it - and it would certainly not have been in today.

i object to your use of 'carnage'. it would have been muddy and it will have been stud wearing conditions and riders would have to account for the wet when cornering - that's horsemanship but do not go around suggesting that the organisers and BE professionals are just going to do nothing and allow 'carnage' to occur. we throw in course changes, route higher courses over lower jumps, take out anything that presents a risk..... seriously - get real.

today's event was cancelled because we couldn't guarantee to get the horse ambulance everywhere. everything else was in place and ready to go but despite spending 2 hours trying to sort what should have been a simple problem, we couldn't.

we decided at 6am that the ground was handling the rain - and yes it would be a long hard day - but it was just the horse ambulance that couldn't cope - and without that, we don't run. as soon as we established that we didn't have that solution in place, we cancelled.

you could ask - why not stop those who have started dressage already - the simple answer is that if we had solved the problem, the day needs to continue running otherwise we start with a huge delay... if we thought we had a show stopper, we would have said so straight away and saved everyone the pain - including ourselves - but eventing relies on everyone involved trying their hardest to make events run and that's what we all do - and it is a hard moment when you have to say - we can't solve that problem and we are going to have to abandon... but we are decision makers and if that decision has to be made, then it is made.

it was made at 8am and broadcast as soon as we could.

hopefully that will answer some peoples' posts here.

specifically on themule's post about cost of fuel vs abandonment fund - the suggestion is that all competitors lose the value of their journey - yes, true - and that the venue gets fully compensated - well no. the venue doesn't get anything like fully compensated.

just to give you some round figures - this event alone cost over £20k to set up. we expect to more or less break even - just on the event itself and the abandonment fund will go some way to replacing our entry fee loss... but it doesn't cover the thousands of hours preparation, the grass management year in year out, the plant hire for heavy works, the investment in hard tracks and parking - it doesn't cover the cost of not farming the land but keeping it for XC... and so on and so on.

and look at it the other way round - if venues got dumped with the financial risks of abandonment, the venue will say - "take a risk of losing £20,000 if it rains - i don't think so - go and find your own place to ride".

but generally, folks, please understand that a lot of work goes into providing a venue, organising an event, spending gazzillions on hard tracks, car parks, the courses, the arenas and losing on a good farming income from the land... and a lot of detail goes in to deciding what is right and safe and challenging at the right level and changed as required, dictated by the conditions on the day - and not everyone thinks the BE staff and organisers do so little as to roll out of bed at 8, without checking the safety of the course and simply think - it's still raining, lets just cancel.

if you do think that - wise up.
 
The weather is the one thing in eventing that is totally uncontrollable, its in the lap of the gods and there's absolutely nothing anyone can do about it (I know this because I've been praying for the forecast to be wrong all week!).

However, despite it being nobody's fault, it is hugely frustrating!! I've been aiming for this as my first event for ages, with everything I've done in the previous 2 months being geared towards it.

Myself and my amazing unpaid groom (sister) got up at 2.30am, went to the yard, loaded and drove 2 hours there, walked course, sat in lorry for 10 mins looking at the worsening weather and ground, event abandoned - drove 2 hours home again! Gutting but it's the way it goes. Know that Moreton have never cancelled due to weather before so can understand that its especially disappointing for the organisers/volunteers too!

In future, would we all not go at all if the forecast is dodgy???....nahhhh :rolleyes:
 
wessexyeoman said:
today's event was cancelled because we couldn't guarantee to get the horse ambulance everywhere. everything else was in place and ready to go but despite spending 2 hours trying to sort what should have been a simple problem, we couldn't.

we decided at 6am that the ground was handling the rain - and yes it would be a long hard day - but it was just the horse ambulance that couldn't cope - and without that, we don't run. as soon as we established that we didn't have that solution in place, we cancelled.

you could ask - why not stop those who have started dressage already - the simple answer is that if we had solved the problem, the day needs to continue running otherwise we start with a huge delay... if we thought we had a show stopper, we would have said so straight away and saved everyone the pain - including ourselves - but eventing relies on everyone involved trying their hardest to make events run and that's what we all do - and it is a hard moment when you have to say - we can't solve that problem and we are going to have to abandon... but we are decision makers and if that decision has to be made, then it is made.

it was made at 8am and broadcast as soon as we could.

hopefully that will answer some peoples' posts here.

specifically on themule's post about cost of fuel vs abandonment fund - the suggestion is that all competitors lose the value of their journey - yes, true - and that the venue gets fully compensated - well no. the venue doesn't get anything like fully compensated.

just to give you some round figures - this event alone cost over £20k to set up. we expect to more or less break even - just on the event itself and the abandonment fund will go some way to replacing our entry fee loss... but it doesn't cover the thousands of hours preparation, the grass management year in year out, the plant hire for heavy works, the investment in hard tracks and parking - it doesn't cover the cost of not farming the land but keeping it for XC... and so on and so on.

and look at it the other way round - if venues got dumped with the financial risks of abandonment, the venue will say - "take a risk of losing £20,000 if it rains - i don't think so - go and find your own place to ride".

but generally, folks, please understand that a lot of work goes into providing a venue, organising an event, spending gazzillions on hard tracks, car parks, the courses, the arenas and losing on a good farming income from the land... and a lot of detail goes in to deciding what is right and safe and challenging at the right level and changed as required, dictated by the conditions on the day - and not everyone thinks the BE staff and organisers do so little as to roll out of bed at 8, without checking the safety of the course and simply think - it's still raining, lets just cancel.

if you do think that - wise up.
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Thank you for that hugely insightful post. I am fortunate enough to know and appreciate how much effort and time goes into any kind of event (there is life outside BE!). But I think that there is scope for members to be asked to volunteer (as in do one or two days a season as compulsory) in the ground work and preparation of events, this way they don't lose a day that they could compete but they would gain an insight into the forward planning of events (specifically over farmland).
Sorry for those who had a wasted journey but without being too flippant I know of people from the East coast of Yorkshire who travelled a horse to Devon for an early p2p run only to find the ground too fast and leave the horse on the lorry. Now THAT is a wasted journey ;)
 
wessexyeoman said:
Hang on a second, Golden Match - are you suggesting that the TA and the Steward ignore the conditions on the ground, on the day, and leave in the more difficult jumps regardless of the weather? that is simply daft. yesterday the conditions were good and the downhill combination at 4 you refer to was judged suitable. we know it is a harder combo and looked closely at the ground conditions relating to it - and it would certainly not have been in today.
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Hi wessexyeoman, I'm not sure if I worded it wrongly, but I essentially was saying the same thing as you'd posted above - the going was perfect yesterday. I simply said that I could understand cancelling today as the ground at that combination at lower levels would have been slippery as the day wore on had it been rainy!

All I said originally was that it was odd to cancel so late.

Sorry if you read my point wrongly, I genuinely meant to agree with the quoted paragraph. :)
 
"they would have had carnage XC if they had chosen to run."

or

they would have taken into account the weather and ground conditions and adjusted the course accordingly because that is what responsible organisers and BE professionals do... if you had said that, i would have no comment.
 
I think the point you are missing GM is it was not abandoned due to the jumping conditions as the course could have been altered.The problem was the horse Ambulance being able to get about to fences and they obviously tried to find a solution and that can take time.As pointed out lots of things can come into play to make a day go pear shaped.It has implications for everybody involved and I am sure they would rather have not had to abandon.
 
Apologies for coming across in a provocative manner then, but I took it as a given that you'd consider all things in a professional way because I've always had experiences of events being well run, and this includes my experience yesterday at Moreton - I had a lovely time.

I was only expressing my opinion by saying in the conditions it was fair enough for you to cancel because I think the XC would not have been much fun to ride - at least for me, and my mare - after several hours of torrential rain.

Sorry again for coming across as though I thought you weren't professionals, of course you are, I had a great day yesterday.

Edited to Add - PD, sorry I didn't realise this! I never intended to undermine anyone so I am really sorry!
 
Had a feeling this thread might go this way :p And well done wessex yeoman for a clear and pithy explanation - although I'm sure G_M didn't mean any harm ;)

Being another one who sees both sides of the coin, I think it is true that many competitors are pretty naive both about the amount of work that goes into organising an event and the complexity of the decisions surrounding its running. Given the amount of work, and expense, undertaken in the week or so preceding the event, let's be quite clear - Organising teams are AT LEAST as anxious as competitors that their event should go ahead. Ours has had to be cancelled twice in the last six years through adverse weather and I can assure you it is heart-breaking, there is a huge feeling of anti-climax, combined with an enormous amount of work required in dismantling everything again :(

While I'm sure nobody on this thread really meant any disresepct to organisers, it is a bit thoughtless to criticise those who give up their time, usually for no financial reward, for us to indulge our passion ;) It is a shame for those who left home early and froze washing and plaiting horses, but hey that's life, we've all been there :rolleyes: And if the day is cancelled at short notice, you can be sure there is ALWAYS an explanation - usually, as wy has described, the fact that people are desperately trying to find another way round the show-stopping issue... I know that, in the main, I've been more devastated when the event I'm involved with organising has had to cancel than when one I wanted to compete at has - we have to wait a whole year for it to come around again, not just a few weeks for the next opportunity.

So I propose wessex yeoman pours himself a large, well-deserved drink and we all join him in a toast to Moreton (2): and what's the betting that a couple of extra gateways will have been hard-cored before that comes around to ensure this situation doesn't happen again :)
 
^^^^^ ditto this.
a BE Organiser told me a few years ago that if they'd cancelled their event (and it was a very close-run thing, the weather gods were NOT kind that year) they would have personally lost many thousands of pounds... their abandonment insurance didn't cover everything, and if they'd had to do refunds they would have been very far out of pocket. nobody ever wants to cancel an event. :( :(
I've seen the other side of it too, having got two horses immaculate and ready on my own and taken them to a BE event many years ago, got there at 6.45am (so, you really don't want to know what time I started that morning, the horses were at a livery yard too so it was even harder work than when they're at home!) to be turned around at the gate because it was snowing hard. days before mobile phones. argggghhhhhhh.
wessex yeoman - thank you for the detailed explanation, and for putting the horses' safety first, which is what that comes down to, I think. V best of luck for Moreton (2), may the weather gods be far kinder...
 
Rosie was riding a pony for someone else in that class - had done a 35.5 dressage followed by a DC in a blizzard so was pretty fed up about it but safety first. Everyone looked pretty wet and bedraggled when we left mid-afternoon so I can well imagine how foul it must have been :(
 
wessexyeoman - First I would like to say what bad luck to have to cancel your event today after all the thought and effort that goes into the preparation. I have been told what a well run and excellent event it is so I hope the rather ignorant comments earlier in the thread haven't riled you too much.
The reason many events are cancelled is that the emergency vehicles can't get around rather than because of the horses. 4 legs cope with mud a lot better than 4 wheels! Yes, a fence may have to change or be taken out, but that is a different issue. There will be fences purposely built on a downhill slope (they don't get there by mistake!) but it is cross country and you are supposed to be able to go up and down hill as well as on the flat and there might even be narrow gaps and trees to negotiate. These are all part of the test.
To those who thought they should have been let know earlier, there is never a good time to cancel. All factors have to be weighed up, decision taken, disappointment quickly put to one side and then deal with letting everyone know while fielding questions, making other decisions and coping with people who think everything revolves round them. And guess what competitors, if the decision is made at 8 a.m., you are not going to know at 8.01 a.m. Just stop and think what else needs to be done and how many volunteers also need to be contacted. Delegating the jobs also takes time and it all needs to be systematic or something gets missed. It is not only about you.
 
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