Olympia finale

[oldie48]

I thought it was pretty disappointing, I hadn't been for 19 years and had remembered the finale as being quite special!

 

[Steerpike]

The finale used to be brilliant, there used to be a proper story and the competitors and kids used to join in with Santa at the end throwing sweets into the crowd from his sleigh!

 

[Nicnac]

Gosh - just watched the finale. Not disappointed to have missed it on Tuesday. It's rather nondescript!

 

[scotlass]

Me too. What was that?? I'm old enough to remember getting to stay up as a child to watch it in the good old days it was on BBC1. All the showjumpers, displays etc all took part (John and Michael Whitaker, Geoff Biilington, Harvey Smith and David Broome often in fancy dress). Father Christmas came in at the end, and all verses of the carol were sung.
Has 'elf and safety (topical ) gone mad, have the showjumpers etc decided they don't want to get in the spirit of things like that or is it just cost cutting? At the price of the tickets for Olympia, would have expected something a bit more magical than whatever that was supposed to be

 

[Fragglerock]

The finale is definitely not what it used to be but my husband came up with a valid point this week. He wondered if they weren't putting quite as much effort/expense these days as an awful lot of people dash off before/during it?

This was me but that's because I was travelling home on my own and wanted to get a train. I didn't get home until after 11.30 as it was and still had my horse to finish. I have never liked the finale anyway.

 

[Toby_Zaphod]

I went to Olympia many years ago. I watched & really enjoyed the jumping, that was what I went for. The finale has always been awful, cheesy & a waste of time. I was only to pleased to leave & start my long journey home. The organisers seem to think that they can put on anything as long as there's a horse in it somewhere the people will enjoy it. I'm afraid it's wrong.

 

[Snowfilly]

Watched it on red button last night and what a load of rubbish!

It's meant to be cheesy and aimed at the kids in the audience really, but that was dire. No horses, no singing aside from the Olympia Carol, no nothing.

 

[Trouper]

Watched it on red button last night and what a load of rubbish!

It's meant to be cheesy and aimed at the kids in the audience really, but that was dire. No horses, no singing aside from the Olympia Carol, no nothing.

Sorry to diverge on the finale slightly but I was watching the early part of the Red Button coverage last night. Wherever the BBC commentator was located they certainly need to attend to the sound proofing. His commentary was badly affected by the chatter of nearby audience members and his duo with Nicky Henderson was not nearly as interesting as what Clare Balding was trying to say in the arena. One or the other BBC please.

 

[Orangehorse]

I watched it and agreed. BUT after the Muscial Ride anything is going to look feeble. It is a big arena and the dancers just cannot fill it. I daresay they would be good on a theatre stage.

I wonder if it is down to logistics - stabling for the Household Calvary, the liberty horses, they just didn't have the room for lots of horses for the finale too. I do think they should finish with the National Anthem though.

 

[ester]

I ave never seen Santi Serra, willhae to have a look on youtube, but have an idea of who he is. Just out of curiosity, why didn't you enjoy the performance?

The driving trials looked amazing from the snippet I saw, will have to catch them next year! This was the first year I went but definitely want to get down for a few events over the next few years.. all being well!

Neck twitching your horse to get it to lie down is never a good look, and they looked really uncomfortable when he got the dogs involved too.
The final of the driving trials was on the red button last night (they did a look back to the day before) so should be accessible

 

[ester]

I went to Olympia many years ago. I watched & really enjoyed the jumping, that was what I went for. The finale has always been awful, cheesy & a waste of time. I was only to pleased to leave & start my long journey home. The organisers seem to think that they can put on anything as long as there's a horse in it somewhere the people will enjoy it. I'm afraid it's wrong.

The only horses in it are pulling Santa's sleigh, I always though they were cheesy but that was more entertaining than the current bizarre offering of a video.

They did fill the arena before because they had more dancers (enough to have them on every corner and a whole load of ponies -involved). Re. logisitics, the shetlands at least are already there and always used to be involved.

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

I watched the Red Button coverage last night (but not the finale as needed to sort my own horses and daren't pour myself another sherry whilst watching it at that time of night).

Agree with another poster on here that the coverage was seriously cr@p; a lot of the time you couldn't hear what the commentator was saying because the mic was picking up on surrounding noise, which got more irritating as the evening went on.

However the military Musical Ride was excellent and ticked every box!

Not sure about the French "natural horsemanship" guy (wish I could remember his name - Jean-Claude??). There was something about what I saw which disturbed me, but I'm not sure I could say what exactly, if that makes sense (probably doesn't)............. hmmmm

 

[ester]

Jean Francois Pignon.

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

Jean Francois Pignon.

Ah, right, thank you!! Languages (esp French) never my forte!

 

[Cowpony]

I used to go to Olympia every year, but got bored of seeing the same stuff every year. Last night's show on the red button was almost exactly the same as the last time I went 3 years ago. So glad I didn't pay for tickets. And yes, the finale was even more rubbish than usual. Santa didn't seem to know the words to The First Noel. I wondered if he was replacing the words with a naughty version, as the coachman was laughing by the end............

 

[eahotson]

I watched the Red Button coverage last night (but not the finale as needed to sort my own horses and daren't pour myself another sherry whilst watching it at that time of night).

Agree with another poster on here that the coverage was seriously cr@p; a lot of the time you couldn't hear what the commentator was saying because the mic was picking up on surrounding noise, which got more irritating as the evening went on.

However the military Musical Ride was excellent and ticked every box!

Not sure about the French "natural horsemanship" guy (wish I could remember his name - Jean-Claude??). There was something about what I saw which disturbed me, but I'm not sure I could say what exactly, if that makes sense (probably doesn't)............. hmmmm

The military musical ride was amazing!!!

 

[Tala08]

Went on Thursday night but decided after the Trump / Boris bit that that was enough for me (leaving got me home 45mins earlier than I would've done if I'd stayed as well which was a bonus). I assumed I'd become more bah humbug as I've got older because I remember enjoying them as a kid but haven't watched them for a while now.

Enjoyed the rest of the evening though. Watched yesterdays coverage on the red button as well and the background noise was really annoying! Not sure the camera work did the Household Cavalry justice, they were much better live.

 

[taraj]

Its such a shame it isn't as it used to be, I remember going as a kid 20 plus years ago and everyone joining in the finale, the highlight being father Christmas throwing sweets into the crowd and some of he competitors would throw their rosettes.

Its been getting worse over the last few years but this time was very disappointing.

My 7 year old niece was looking forward to seeing father Christmas and he didn't even come up our end!

 

[milliepops]

Not sure the camera work did the Household Cavalry justice, they were much better live.

I thought the same, on tv you couldn't see the shapes they were riding or how they all interlinked.

 

[Pinkvboots]

I haven't been in years but remember father Christmas and the singing and loved it, I did watch the show jumping yesterday on BBC2 really enjoyed it and the winner threw all his rosettes into the crowd.

 

[sywell]

The TV coverage was aweful one dressage test and flahes of other tests. No mention of the British Bred Horses in horses Duke of Briitian and top Hawtiins Delicato.

 

[stormox]

I worked for a company that hired carriages out in the early 70s and we produced the very first 'finale' about 1972. We had at least 2 pairs, a horse drawn fire engine, a butchers cart and a hansom cab and we did a Dickensian street scene and Joe Moore was Father Xmas with his pony FEI team.

 

[ester]

Maybe Daniel Naprous could bring a few more

https://thedevilshorsemen.com/carriages/

 

[Five&Two]

How disappointing, as everyone says, the finale was one of the high points. M knoaybe the children can't get the time off now to practice, and to be at the show like they could years ago (private schools have longer holidays!)

I know 7 members of the ECPC and none of them go to private school so bit ??? By that remark

 

[cundlegreen]

So, last year was pretty bad, I thought maybe as bad as it could get.

Nope, it could get much worse apparently, the finales of old were cheesy random attempts to fit a story to it. With lots of singy dancey people, a good dash of horses and shetlands dressed up in the ring and a very jolly atmosphere.

This year we get a bunch of political trump and boris jokes which probably went way over the heads of the children and it seemed pretty inappropriate to add politics into what should be a fun christmas horse show.
That was followed by a few dancers in white in a circle in the middle, a couple of randoms hanging from the ceiling and some strange lit cones descending into the arena. Santa arrives, and that's it.
It was sponsored by the Hilton, I don't remember them being sponsored before and presumably the Hilton are short on cash?

I was speaking to somebody who was involved for years when Sue Townsend and her connies did the santa and sleigh. She couldn't get over how poor it was last night. And what was with the female hanging from the ceiling?? What's that got to do with a horse show and christmas? Glad I didn't spend money to go and see it.

 

[turkana]

I was there yesterday afternoon & really enjoyed it (apart from the finale)
I thought the 12.2 jumping was fanstic - it was won by a very hot pony ridden by a super rider, so lovely to see how much it meant to her, & watching her gallup down the centre line with her fist in the air to cheering was quite moving!
The little dog agility was fun, the French guy is good but not really my sort of thing, the Calvary I can watch over & over again, they are fantastic, I don't like the Shetland Pony Grand National at all & find it pointless & boring but I seem to be in the minority with that!
I enjoyed see the natives & liked the winner a lot (we watched the Welsh Cobs in the morning & picked him out as our favorite) but My God some of them were fat!
I enjoy a speed class, so I was happy - the winner rode a blinder of a round.
I agree about the finale - what a dissappointment, I'm old enough to remember how it used to be with when the arean was filled with ponies, children & the Stage Coach, why doesn't Father Christmas throw sweets into the audience anymore?

 

[ester]

I was speaking to somebody who was involved for years when Sue Townsend and her connies did the santa and sleigh. She couldn't get over how poor it was last night. And what was with the female hanging from the ceiling?? What's that got to do with a horse show and christmas? Glad I didn't spend money to go and see it.

We did have a female hanging from the middle of the ceiling as the pre-show entertainment a few years ago, it was just as odd then .

Our speed class wasn't great on Thursday afternoon as it was clearly just a prep for most - quite a few were getting time faults!

Also I think Boyd needs a mention (I'm sure it was boyd!) he threw one of his rosettes into the crowd that was caught by someone who very much looked like granny with a collection of children to share the rosette - he went back round and leaned over and gave her another one .

 

[Polos]

I thought this too, I was actually quite disappointed with the finale this year. It definitely felt like it had been done on the cheap.

I feel like they get worse every year if I’m honest! When I first started going it was great fun with all the horses etc

 

[shortstuff99]

The TV coverage was aweful one dressage test and flahes of other tests. No mention of the British Bred Horses in horses Duke of Briitian and top Hawtiins Delicato.

All of the dressage from the first day is on FEI TV on YouTube and all of the freestyle is on iplayer if you want to watch it.

 

[fusspot]

I had an email almost as soon as we left Sunday evening and said how poor the finale was.
I have been near every year for 30 years and this year was by far the worst.A lot of the kids that used to take part were the showjumpers kids who I can see have grown up.
Jean Francois Pignon was like watching paint dry and went on far too long.
Shopping is now very high end and apart from about 6 stands the rest are aimed at higher level competition horses and riders.Not everybody wants to spend over £150 on a coat more suited to going out than in torrential rain and mud.I know how expensive it is for companies to have stands there and pay staff all week but there is very little for the everyday horse and rider.