Pot Hunters ????

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StaceyTanglewood

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Ok P_G thread also got me thinking and though there are many riders who shouldnt move to affilaited level there are also a lot of riders who dont - they stick to open level jumping or i guess Medium (not sure on the dressage side)

I went to a local unaffilaited competition with a girl from my yard she had worked up from Novice to intermediate to open level - and was then going to affilaite (exactly what i did) well when i went to the show there was still the same people competing at open level that were there 10 years ago when i used to compete unaffiliated and of course they would win !!

those poor people who genuinly tried every 2 weeks and worked at home to produce there horses always came at the bottom of the placings as these people would always win ??

So question is do you think that some riders should move up to affiliated once they have won so much at affilaited ??
 
Affiliating is very expensive - not only to join, but entry fees are generally higher too, and the only one where you have any chance of winning any kind of decent money is BSJA.

So purely on that basis - no, a lot of people probably just cannot afford to affiliate, and why should they be stopped from competing because of that? I think the answer is more restricted classes - like 'never to have been placed' etc.
 
I watched a decent Affil horse win in a 60cm class the other week, felt so sorry for the kids who try endlessly to get clear rounds...... I know that the show sec was aware of the horse + rider history which makes it all the worse!
 
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Affiliating is very expensive - not only to join, but entry fees are generally higher too, and the only one where you have any chance of winning any kind of decent money is BSJA.

So purely on that basis - no, a lot of people probably just cannot afford to affiliate, and why should they be stopped from competing because of that? I think the answer is more restricted classes - like 'never to have been placed' etc.

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I dont think its that expensive and if your winning at unaffiliated open level you have the intro classes and the BN then you could win some money back instead of at unaffiliated not winning anything !!

yes restricted classes annoy me to - i was stared at the other day taking my youngster in an unaffilaited class - in the warm up got some funny comments then when he went in rearing vertical i think they realised why i was there !!!
 
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I watched a decent Affil horse win in a 60cm class the other week, felt so sorry for the kids who try endlessly to get clear rounds...... I know that the show sec was aware of the horse + rider history which makes it all the worse!

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really thats awful !!
 
i agree SC you shouldn't be made to affiliate but have open classes, but you'll always have folk going off to so called 'Pot Hunting' BUT i bet you get it at every level as well
 
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i agree SC you shouldn't be made to affiliate but have open classes, but you'll always have folk going off to so called 'Pot Hunting' BUT i bet you get it at every level as well

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I think what im trying to say is why would some poeple be happy winning the same competitions week in week out and beating the same people round the same courses - do people not want to progress and do more ??? I guess not
 
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I think what I'm trying to say is why would some poeple be happy winning the same competitions week in week out and beating the same people round the same courses - do people not want to progress and do more ??? I guess not

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I have not got the faintest idea! But everyone's different, if they are happy, then so be it I guess. Live and let live and all that. I just can't get myself worked up about this!
 
I do BE at PN, but still compete SJ unaffiliated. We don't always even get placed, and rarely win, that's usually down to the kids on speedy ponies!!!

However, even if I did always win, I need to take the horse somewhere to SJ. I can't afford to affiliate BSJA as well as BE, and even if I could, the nearest regular BSJA is 45 miles away - no thanks!!!!

Our unaff classes go up to 3ft6, so good practice!
 
some people just want to win and know they can at unaffiliated but the larger, squarer more technical courses of BSJA put them off.

Sometimes there are valid reasons for an affiliated horse competing unaffiliated. I look at Dan he has had 2 years off due to injuries and now starting to take him out and about again. Although the only BD we did was two elementaries on tickets we were out winnign regulary at Nov and elem unaffil. Now for his first outing we went in at prelim and yes he won the class. Now I could have been classed as a pothunter as no one there knew his history (well not before I had asked every person who came near whether he was sound or not
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The same goes for BSJA I used to jump him over 1m25/1m30s and had just jumped out of fox money when we last jumped (though now back in due to rule change!). I have retired him from BSJA without question but depending on how his soundness continues I may let him do the odd 70-90cm class on a surface. Now I know a lot of people in the area know he has been off but not why and could see the pothunter label being splashed about.

I have dropped Fleur back to unaffilated as well mainly as I can't afford BSJA at the moment but also to build up her confidence. She was previously jumping newcomers!

I do hate true pothunters though without question but an open is an open at the end of the day so whoever wants to should be allowed to enter its the restricted and novice class pothunters which really nark me!
 
I agree - I know of a few people competing in walk trot test, minimus and Prelims who are more then qualified to be doing at least two levels above but dont as they want the red rossies! And they win week in week out and dont give real walk trot, minimus and prelim people a chance! Surely not encouraging for those ppl. And they do it so they can get points and win that all important bit of silver at the end of the year!! That they have won week in week out. Which is fine if they want to do that but at least put some more things on like not to have won more then twice and have an open section or something - It makes me mad!!!
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I think there are loads of reasons why people drop back and they are fine but why keep going week after week and as y0ou say can move to the next level - let the poeple who really try hard to improve win for once !!
 
If it's an Open class any one can enter so they can do what they bloody well like! If you're affiliated then there's rules as to what unaff you can do so that has to be stuck to as well.

Really people enter the classes your eligable for do your best and stop whining that other people beat you. Thats life for all of us.

And yes I'm a bit arsey today
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Why go to the same venue time and again, oh let me think because it's convenient and you like it and it has a friendlyatmosphere? Some people compete for the fun of it.

Ok I'll get me coat and go and find a chill pill.
 
I agree about the open SJing - anybody can compete in these.

The thing that annoys me is people that go and compete at a level much lower then their capabilities (and I know of a few ppl like this) and win and win and win (not against me I dont compete in these classes) and do it year after year because they want red ribbons & the end of year trophie!! And then walk around giving people advice acting like they are John Whitaker slagging off people who compete affiliated and dont win - duh! it is a much higher standard! Rant over!
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I agree about the open SJing - anybody can compete in these.

The thing that annoys me is people that go and compete at a level much lower then their capabilities (and I know of a few ppl like this) and win and win and win (not against me I dont compete in these classes) and do it year after year because they want red ribbons & the end of year trophie!! And then walk around giving people advice acting like they are John Whitaker slagging off people who compete affiliated and dont win - duh! it is a much higher standard! Rant over!
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This is what i meant you explained it so much better than me !!!!

I only gave the example of the open as thats what i found - there was a 10 year different here !!

I say do well in a class move on and let the other people have a go and get some ribbons !!
 
this is what i was explaining to my other half last week.
yes my horse is quick against the clock in 1.15 and 1.20 but he still is a grade c.
it pisses me off when you get good grade As jumping 1.15 for the diesel money home. and he just doesnt have the experience yet to compete against that.

Just proves though that pot hunting happens affiliated too!

it makes me angry!! sorry!!
 
Ack this is what I'm worried about.

Earlier this year I've very ashamed to say I rushed my talented welshie through the heights because she's a deman against the clock, and even without the turns came home with a 1st most weekends. I was scared people thought I was a pot hunter so kept going higher and higher (and she kept on winning), and in the end, this combined with some other issues, has resulted in both of us losing our confidence.

Now she's having a break from jumping to freshen up, before we start again. Then when we start to compete again, we will literially be back at square 1, 1 foot 9. I will, however, only enter opens (or otherwise HC), but yeah, I daresay she will win - a lot. And then I'll look like a pothunter.

I'm not saying no one is a pot hunter, but be aware sometimes things like that happen. I mean my welshie will, one day, hopefully, be a little BSJA superstar, but I messed her up because I was scared of being a pothunter, so now we really will look like pothunters. People who don't know us will, I daresay, think I'm a pothunter, if she wins her classes one week, then the next week I come back and do the same heights which she may win again. Would that make me a pot hunter?

(sorry if I sound uptight, bitchy or ott or anything lol don't mean it to come out that way.)
 
no worries ahrena!
i think if people have genuine reasons then fine. i recently took my new horse to an un affiliated show ( the one with his head over the door in sig) to see what he did on grass.
he was not even affiliated at the time but people who know of me thought it was my good horse ( 2nd and 3rd pic in sig ) as they look so similar and the bitching commenced!!
i had his vetting report still in the lorry so i showed it to main bitch and asked her to read what the date of purchase which was just under a fortnight before!! lol, she shut up pretty quickly!!
my rant above was because the top 3 in that class didnt even bother collecting their prizes from the ring, which shows how little it meant to them!!
 
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my rant above was because the top 3 in that class didnt even bother collecting their prizes from the ring, which shows how little it meant to them!!

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I've been guilty of that - because I always assume I haven't been placed! In fact once DieselDog collected my rossette for me and flagged me down as I was driving out the carpark to give it to me...I thought she was showing me how well she'd done! (Which was batter than me for the record!).

Yet again I feel compelled to say - don't judge until you know the full facts! I would kill to manage to do a prize-giving, they are so few and far between for me!
 
without naming these well known people, they new they were placed, and they do it every time!
still, suppose it saves money for the venue not having to buy as many rosettes!!

oh, and i didnt mean to offend anyone. i too enjoy being placed and dont do it that often at the moment.
i think i have 4 fault itus!
 
I'm not in the least bit offended, I just think everyone is having a very judgmental day on here today, and personally I think that unless you know the full facts that is a very unfair thing to do...it's easy to say 'oh but it does not apply to you because...' or 'oh they always do it', but unless you personally know them and know they are not bothering, then it is perhaps ungenuine to judge them for it? Not trying to attack you on this, just putting another point of view across.
 
I have genuine reasons for taking a previously affiliated pony round 50cm classes..to build his confidence as he won't do registered again, I suspect I look like a pot hunter to some as an adult (after the end of this year) in childrens pony classes, stuff it. I will compete in what I and the pony are happy at. Why sneer at those who, who knows, is the horse not capable of moving up? The rider isn't confident to move up? At the end of the day, whoever wins has had to do something to win, and we shouldn't be encouraging those who win to step aside to let weaker combinations have the rosettes because its only fair they get a chance? Fine, have restricted and open but unless you know personal situations very well, and I mean very well, leave well enough alone.
 
TBH at RC level then if they are abiding by the rules, then there's not really much wrong. It might be that they are in their comfort zone and don't aspire to achieve any higher standard.
In affiliated there are the open and restricted sections or the likes of members cup classes, so I dont see a problem there either.

On the other hand, it doesnt leave a good taste with me, but on one occasion when I was judging at a local competition (the jumping was style and performance) a lady came into the beginners on a horse that her sister jumped in opens. Now both these ladies are more than proficient riders and so I did tell her that I would mark her in the beginners but would think it an idea if she did the novice instead.
She duly took on board my comments and came second in the novice.
I firmly believe though if I hadnt said anything they would of continued in the beginners!
 
No if the class is open let them do what they want, so what if they 'win' lots of red rosettes it's only a piece of ribbon. It only has value in what it means to you and the achievement. I do find people who perhaps never push themselves just a little sad but if they are happy so what.
 
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