PRE INTRO..... you can't be serious?!

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eventing_chick

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Seriously is this the way that affiliated competitions are going? It's already clear to me that the standard has gone down with the intoduction of intro , not only of riding but horsecare too.
I can see more and more incapeable combinations 'having a bash' at a higher and higher level because they'got round' a lower level .
some of the riding i've witnessed genuinely scares me.I'm not saying everyone that chooses to do that level is incapeable far from it.
Pony club and riding clubs will soon disapear they hold a vital role in education and afordable training.
 
Sorry, but I think it's acceptable. The standard of local competitions here is vastly below that of affiliated, the fences are not neccesarily at the right heights/difficulties, and there's not chance of getting decent ground if somethings up with the weather. People want to pay for good going, known coursebuilders and a half decent service rather than sometimes you get the 'your luicky tog et an event' attitude.
Of course, the PC/RC is invaluable, but some people don't want to join one of these, they want to just get out and compete.
And I do find it a bit off to suggest that those who don't ride as well as those say at intermediate level can't take care of their horses.
PC training with us is nothing compared to eventing training. It's pot luck if you get a decent instructor a lot of the time!
 
Personally I think it is about BE making money. So many people event unaffiliated because of the cost restrictions of affiliating.

However I also think its great for everyone to start somewhere and to experience the fun of eventing. There should perhaps be some restrictions on upgrading and this should be based on rider ability not horse ability.

Im just not sure about the place of a lower level affiliated eventing class!
 
I think it is a good idea!.We cannot all be mary king's.Everybody has to start somewhere!.Sorry but i find your comments a tad stuck up!!.
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Yes, for juniors over here(and ponys) you have to be assessed and request approval before you move up. It seems to work reasonably well.
 
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Personally I think it is about BE making money. So many people event unaffiliated because of the cost restrictions of affiliating.


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I agree completely, it seems like a call to the masses. Having said that, I can see a place for it in a way. Good for a baby to get them use to the atmosphere.

Also useful for those people that can afford to go round a BE pre-intro, instead of paying £10 to go around the local PC ODE - well good luck to them!
 
I ride at Intro and thoroughly enjoy it with no great ambition to do pre novice.My other horse has had foot problems and can only compete occasionally on good ground. Therefore i would be very happy to buy him a ticket to do pre intro because it would mean i would have more chance of running him due to the ground being well prepared! Although there are lots of good unaff, events round us, they dont prepare the ground like they do for the affil.
 
I have to agree with eventing chick

I start my horses at intro and work their way up. I think its the best height etc to start with because it provides inexperienced horses with a good education.

Not to keen on the idea though of a smaller 'pre-intro' sounds a bit silly to me. There should be nothing wrong with people entering their horses at the intro height.
 
I am toying with the idea of doing a BE event on a ticket with my mare at the end of the season for a laugh. I will be honest though, I won't bother with anything lower than PN, if she isn't up to that then we won't do it. Thats just me being me, nothing to do with anything! I think pre-Intro is a ridiculous idea, but again, thats just me!
 
I think intro is a good stepping stone into affiliated competition, there is plenty 75/80cm unaff stuff about for peeps with young horses and those who do RC stuff only.

FIona
 
Wel personally i think its a great idea, well for me to do on goggles but i dont think it will suit everyone!

My reason to take gogs to one of these rather that an unaff ODE would be because the ODEs round hear are rubbish or i have been round them for years on ponys or the ones that are good - Sapey - hardly have and unaff ODEs so think im going to give the 1st Pre intro a go!! ahhh am i mad to take him!! Lol

xx
 
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...the ODEs round hear are rubbish or i have been round them for years on ponys or the ones that are good - Sapey - hardly have and unaff ODEs ...
xx

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Good point, see we have a good few ODEs around here
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I think it is a good idea!.We cannot all be mary king's.Everybody has to start somewhere!.Sorry but i find your comments a tad stuck up!!.
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But this is my point about RC/PC THIS IS THE PLACE TO START!!!!!. I aspired to compete at affiliated level simply in admiration of the horsemanship achived at that level, riding club is where i started and would hate to see the demise of them as a money making exercise for BE.
 
YEp, have fought this corner before, but in our area there are very few which arent Intro+ at unaff, so there is nothing to get horses "started". Thats the slot the Pre Intro would fill ASLONG as they were done purely as "training" shows, so i believe a limited no. a year should be allowed and as suggested for the "prototype" there is a rider rep there to give advised within the comp environment. Surely this would then IMPROVE riding?!
 
I agree that this is the level that RC PC should be catering for.

I also agree BE will prob do very well financially by introducing the level and i'm sure there will b riders who join and do it just for the "prestige" of saying they compete BE.

Personally, i think it is too overpriced to compete at anything below PN
 
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I think intro is a good stepping stone into affiliated competition, there is plenty 75/80cm unaff stuff about for peeps with young horses and those who do RC stuff only.

FIona

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When i started it was at PN and thats before they put it down 3"! I produced my own horses and all of them cheep and chearfull but we did alright....no doubt due to our RC/PC background.
 
Although I agree Intro is not big in fact we have often jumped fences included in the Novice/ Intermediate fences in BE classes in local Hunter Trials, it will guarantee the courses will be safe and well built.
I'm afraid I have seen far too many people fail to get round Pre-Novice after belittling Intro to say there is no place for Pre Intro, if it fills a niche I have no problem with it.
I would also say courses vary tremendously in different places, round here for instance Winkleigh is a very easy course, whereas Hatherleigh isn't..Yet both are classed as Intro/Pre Novice.
Before we take our horses to a BE event they will have jumped round higher than the specified height of the entered class at an Un-affilliated hunter Trial or ODE.
Or we will have hired a Xc course and educated them thoroughly.
As it costs so much to enter and drive there it makes sense that they are well prepared.
As for dumbing down I disagre, what it should do is educate people, as things like bad collecting ring riding won't be allowed. Take a look at that vid of Chocolate at an unaffilliated HT, horses literally galloping past, banging into him etc and one woman used the practice fence as the middle of her schooling circles!
If it makes for better riding ultimately I'm for it..
 
I think its a terrible idea too. We've discussed this before on here and it was very mixed. I think current BE members are against it, non-members are for it!

My idea is that events are already being balloted therefore why on earth add an entirely new class to add to the numbers even more? I believe intro is small enough anyway. At affiliated, you expect it to begin at a certain 'level'. I spent years with the aim of some day aiming to be "good enough" to join BE.

"Of course, the PC/RC is invaluable, but some people don't want to join one of these, they want to just get out and compete." -> But you CAN just get out and compete when in a riding club?! Im in a RC as well as BSJA and BE. I have 2 horses, one who does BE and BSJA, the other does the RC stuff because he isnt ready to do BE yet. And I would certainly not want someone to lower the level at BE just so I could take a non-ready horse round! I will expect my horse to be happily jumping round unaffiliated intermediates (1m) before even thinking of taking him round an intro (which I think is 90cm?).

There are loads of RC and PC events (if you're a member of either or a BHS member then you can attend each others events). They will lose out which I think it dreadful.

It's nothing to do with being stuck up. It would be like someone wanting an "intro" level at BD (like a walk & trot test or something)! You begin at RC / PC level, and you can stay in that all the way up to 3'6. So why should BE lower their standards? I think of BE as the NEXT step after you're bored of 3'6 and want more of a challenge.
 
When I started there was nothing lower than 3'7 Novice!! Everybody used to do unaff up to 3'6 and then affiliate if they wanted to do more. However we seemed to have a greater number of really good RC courses and well run comps than now.

You do wonder where it will end but I remember all this furuore over the introduction of pre-novice then intro. We'll have poles on the floor next!! (It's easy for me to criticise as these days I stick firmly to dressage!!)

By the way do you know that BD are introducing affiliated walk and trot tests next year? Now surely that is taking it a bit too far!!
 
Yes, I agree there may be an issue with timing, there may not be room for another level.
It's not the height for me, it's the going, the standards and the way it is much more professionally dealt with.
Our local RC, a girl who was ELIMINATED won the sj. Because she was the top persons daughter. I kid you not. Now, they weren't a very good/big RC but you just don't get the standard or ground.
E.G -local event last sat, put somehting like 300tonnes of sand down. A RC/PC event would not do that/have the authority to do it on the landowners. It would leave the ground rock hard.
Perhaps those who wish to do the lower level should be assessed first? Or as HH says, have an onsite trainer.
I don't think being affiliated is about the prestige, and think there is a certain bit of 'lesser' people shouldn't be out competing.
I'm not BE, but EI, I can't see it coming in over here as I don't think there would be the demand tbh nor could the courses put it in as a lot of them don't have intro level yet.
 
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By the way do you know that BD are introducing affiliated walk and trot tests next year? Now surely that is taking it a bit too far!!

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Seriously??! What's the point when there's so many RC and unaffiliated w&t tests?! Surely if you're not happy to canter a test you're not ready to go affilated??
 
QR - I think it depends what area you live in. I have done BE in the past at PN level and agree that for me, below a intro height I wouldn't bother paying the money, but in our area the very few PC/RC events are very poor and unpredictable standard and very badly run. If people want to pay the money for a smaller, well run event then I don't see why they shouldn't be able to. I know most babies I have ridden find nice, well built XC fences and well designed SJ courses encouraging and in our area you just don't get that unaffiliated very often.

I think to say more people might do it just so they can say they do BE eventing is a bit off. although we had to do PN before it doesn't mean it was a better standard!! Before Intro days the SJing standard was quite poor IMO. It seemed as though a lot of people had a good bold XC horse got the dressage together and then just got round the show jumping any old how.

Just my opinion but if pre - intro/intro is not acceptable then PC/RC should be encouaged to produce better events (at least in Yorkshire anyway!
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I quite agree I think it's awful!

At least with a pre-intro event people will still have to jump even if it's not very high but affiliated dressage with only walk and trot is ridiculous. Next we'll have walk only tests!!
 
I think there are less and less Unaff ODE's run these days, well round our way anyway.

Us over 21's used to be able to compete in the Open class of Pony Club ODE's, but now they're open to Pony Club members. I used to go to the Eridge, Mid Surrey and Romney Marsh PC events every year, but now can't.

Clubs, whether it be Riding or Pony find it harder and harder to gather together enough people to help run an event, as people are too busy to help. I know our [Riding] Club thought long and hard about whether to put one on this year as just about a quarter of the total membership is needed to help set it up and run it, and when that's the case, where are the entries coming from?

I think this new BE class will fill a niche, and I'm not against it apart from it affecting the number of other classes available at a BE event, where most in the South East seem to be balloting already.
 
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By the way do you know that BD are introducing affiliated walk and trot tests next year? Now surely that is taking it a bit too far!!

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Seriously??! What's the point when there's so many RC and unaffiliated w&t tests?! Surely if you're not happy to canter a test you're not ready to go affilated??

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A step too far!!! sorry if you can't canter in a 20 x 40 you shouldn't be out in a public place!!
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Sorry, that's very stuck up.
It's up to everyone what they want to do. Not up to you to say when they can go out in public!
Some may not want the stress of cantering etc. etc.
 
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