Riding Club Qualifiers

[LEC]

I have noticed the number of people going forward for RC qualifiers has dived this year.

My guess would be costs of champs and prioritising other things with money going elsewhere?

Take RC area HT - I have looked at several areas and in the past there used to be 4-8 teams in each section and this year our area had a 90 team made up of the area, no club put in a team…

I am probably a good example as just prioritised other things this year instead of champs. I wanted BE regional finals quals instead so didn’t do qualifier and champs is on same day as our closest RF for BE. I don’t ever do any other qualifiers as champs are too far away. Driving 5 hours for one sjing round isn’t happening. If you qualify with BS for champs then you always get warm up classes as well so more reason to travel.

 

[ester]

Champs were never a feasible thing for me. When I was running teams I don’t think I ever entered any as a qualifiers. The odd individual that wanted to go if could but not a whole team.

 

[shortstuff99]

My area has still been okay really, horse trials numbers have been about the same as the past few years, our dressage and SJ numbers are still around 150-200 entries. But we do have a very competitive area and champs are all close geographically.

 

[LEC]

My area has still been okay really, horse trials numbers have been about the same as the past few years, our dressage and SJ numbers are still around 150-200 entries. But we do have a very competitive area and champs are all close geographically.

Maybe that’s the difference. We have scarily low entries and just cannot make qualifiers pay. Our nearest champs are Swacliffe at 2 hours.

 

[Britestar]

Our area ran a qualifier last weekend. Pretty much everything except HT.

Out of 120 odd tests on Saturday, and similar number of jumping rounds on Sunday, there were 6 qualifiers!

For us it is distance and cost as we are in Scotland.

 

[millitiger]

All of the champs (except eventing) seen to be Lincolnshire which is a hell of a drive from west of Hereford!

Having won 2 X national titles for dressage, that doesn't hold much for me now with this horse, as anything less than a win at nationals would feel like failure!!

I don't want to drive a 9 hour round trip for SJ.

I might get back into RC comps with the young ones when they're under saddle.

We are finding the RC training is very undersubscribed at the moment- I think a lot of members are feeling like belts are tightening and a lot have been battling weather to get motivated to get up and running this year

 

[shortstuff99]

Maybe that’s the difference. We have scarily low entries and just cannot make qualifiers pay. Our nearest champs are Swacliffe at 2 hours.

We also normally get quite a few wildcards too which helps. But even with good entries we barely make any money and competitors don't want to pay any more for entries as it is riding club so not sure for how much longer they will be viable.

 

[LEC]

We are having real problems making things viable even when we run it as open. Add in prelim entry costs and it’s extortionate.

I think RC is going to have a bit of a crisis with its champs soon. We only need crap weather for a qualifier and we are struggling with moving dates and the costs of it. Last year Pontispool charged us an additional £1500 just to move dates as couldn’t run on planned date due to being waterlogged. We have as an area decided not to run horse trials qualifiers ourselves due to health and safety/volunteers needed and have passed it directly to an event centre so they take the money to hold it.

The SW mitigates it with a SW champs for the summer stuff held at Hartpury but it’s a tightened schedule with prelim/Novice dressage and 80/90 sjing. No prelim entry needs to be paid to BRC which is helpful. It’s very popular.

Our training has been hard work at times to run at times and the club is finding it harder and harder to fund raise in the normal ways by running shows etc as so much choice.

 

[MagicMelon]

In my area, most Riding Clubs hate running the qualifiers. To be honest, up here in NE Scotland its extremely far to the champs as obviously they're always in the south of England. When I was younger I did make the journey to the SJ & dressage champs at lincoln, and to Warwickshire for the HT champs. It is a long way from up here and really ridiculous we're expected to travel so far every year. Why they cant hold champs at least in the middle of the UK which would make it fairer to us in Scotland. Up here, we now have our own Scottish version of the champs so I think people go that these days.

 

[LEC]

In my area, most Riding Clubs hate running the qualifiers. To be honest, up here in NE Scotland its extremely far to the champs as obviously they're always in the south of England. When I was younger I did make the journey to the SJ & dressage champs at lincoln, and to Warwickshire for the HT champs. It is a long way from up here and really ridiculous we're expected to travel so far every year. Why they cant hold champs at least in the middle of the UK which would make it fairer to us in Scotland. Up here, we now have our own Scottish version of the champs so I think people go that these days.

I actually think they should do what USA does and maybe hold champs at one place for 2 years north and then two years more south.

 

[myheartinahoofbeat]

Running a qualifier must be a nightmare. As a competitor, who is happy to go to these things on my own, the barrier for me is providing a volunteer to help run the event for the day. I know this sounds selfish as I appreciate everything the volunteers do to make these events possible. I do not enter RC because I don’t think it’s fair to expect a friend to come along and steward etc, every time I want to enter a competition. Would it be better if competitors had to volunteer at a qualifier every year or something more akin to BE and volunteers.

 

[Grassy]

I took my tradestand to a RC eventing qualifier, there were so few entries they had to make other sections of non RC. We used to go to a lovely one which started as 2 days, one was the qualifier & one the RC own event, it was rammed. After that was one day & entries began to dwindle but we went along as a lovely event & the organiser was lovely, last year was an early finish & this year it didn’t run at alll, she stated rising cost’s & difficulty getting helpers . Such a shame

 

[DressageCob]

I gave up being in a riding club because you had to do one helping day for every competition you did. I don't have that much spare time and don't have anyone who could help in my place. I appreciate volunteers are needed to run riding club events, so I don't think the policy is wrong, I just don't have the time.

From what I have seen locally, the Area horse trials were very well attended but the classes were split between unaffiliated, riding club and pony club to make the day viable.

 

[Birker2020]

I used to do a little bit of Area 5 and Area 30 stuff years ago, I rode for the local riding club on a number of occasions taking part in the Rural Riders Team of Six dressage and a took part in a couple of SJ competitions and a few ODE's although I never went to the championships. In the period around 2004-2010 there were plenty of Area competitions and they were really well attended but I expect now the price like everything else has gone up and they are not getting as many entries as they used to.

And you were expected to help out volunteering and the club I used to use didn't really look after their members or volunteers that well so I gave it up.

The club I used hosted the Blue Chip Qualifiers and Finals and that and Trailblazers and Cricklands qualifiers gradually took over because they were cheaper and seemed more fun to qualify for.

 

[beatrice]

I'm in a riding club of circa 200 members and apparently we have 2 qualifier entries for the up coming dressage area - We used to have multiple teams entered.

We are also struggling for entries in general. We have a summer evening dressage series which would always be over subscribed where as we are now struggling to have enough entries to make it worth the judges time.

 

[LEC]

I gave up being in a riding club because you had to do one helping day for every competition you did. I don't have that much spare time and don't have anyone who could help in my place. I appreciate volunteers are needed to run riding club events, so I don't think the policy is wrong, I just don't have the time.

From what I have seen locally, the Area horse trials were very well attended but the classes were split between unaffiliated, riding club and pony club to make the day viable.

Our RC is one helping day a year if you attend anything subsidised - lessons or champs. Works well.

 

[lizziebell]

The worst aspect of running a qualifier is dealing with BRC! We’ve seen a small drop in our qualifier entries year on year, but we’ve seen a huge decline in people attending our club rallies/ competitions/ events since covid. We try and subsidise where we can, but in order to do that we do need to raise funds and at the moment we are barely able to do this. I think there is a combination effect of people’s financial situations and the choice that’s now available. Years ago if you weren’t doing affiliated events, then RC was the next best thing, but now there are more small venues offering unaffiliated events (and unaff champs), that people have so much choice to pick and choose. Interestingly, BRC put out a questionnaire last week asking feedback/ suggestions about member benefits.

 

[DeliaRides]

Yes agree there is a lot more going on now, venues running their own leagues and championships, RCs individually are struggling to keep competitors running, and for qualifiers again people are looking at all the options available and making different decisions. I'm a big supporter of RCs and am heavily involved in the one my daughter rides at, but I do worry for the future of the movement, with people not having time to volunteer as much, and so much choice of other competition locally for unaffiliated riders. In terms of RC qualifiers, we've been to a few and done well and qualified, but actually getting to the championship wasn't feasible from a cost perspective, especially compared to other champs and stay aways that we have attended.

 

[Patterdale]

I rode at a RC eventing qualifier this weekend, but in the open section. The main reason I didn’t enter as a RC individual was because I’d missed the (ridiculous and needlessly complex) prelim entries.

I also find BRC prohibitively petty and bureaucratic. I won a dressage qualifier several years ago which I’d travelled several hours for. After a forensic examination of the passport it was found that a flu jab had been given one day late SEVEN YEARS previously. So I was disqualified.

I spent a while as a competitions rep a few years ago and was amazed at how long winded and complicated everything was when dealing with BRC. I gave up in the end, its really off putting tbh.

The having to provide a volunteer bit is also prohibitive to lots of people. I compete alone and I don’t have any help. There’s literally no one I could reasonably ask to volunteer at a pony show all day just so I can run.

 

[DeliaRides]

You make a good point about the bureaucracy @Patterdale , our Teams Manager seems to have the most PITA job of the whole commitee and we only have 2-3 people going to qualifiers, and it seems area often ask if we can send several of our committee to help on the day too! I know they need volunteers in order to run, and to be honest I really don't mind doing it for fun/interesting things like ODE etc. but managing parking at a dressage qualifier at a bleak EC 1.5 hours away is not appealing, and the point at which I say 'I'm doing enough already thanks'. Because I am busy at least 2 weekends a month with my own club so time I give to area stuff has to be limited. I'm not sure where area are going wrong, but there seems to be this odd situation of qualifiers being quite expensive, but often at poor venues, and still needing a lot of volunteers (and not necessarily treating them all that well). I fence judge at a local EC because I enjoy it and that's voluntary as well, but they really do look after us very well all day so you come away feeling like you've had rather a good deal/day out, as opposed to 'well at least that's that over for another couple of months'.

 

[ester]

I’ve just recalled the bureaucracy of needing to run the winter show jumping outdoors (at pontispool) the first year because it had always been indoors - I think it was one that had to be postponed due to the weather and there was no indoor availability left that year.

Was hoping entries might have streamlined a bit from getting a photocopy of everyone’s passports to send with the entries (to prevent the elimination after the event scenario)

 

[U.N.Owen]

I rode at a RC eventing qualifier this weekend, but in the open section. The main reason I didn’t enter as a RC individual was because I’d missed the (ridiculous and needlessly complex) prelim entries.

I also find BRC prohibitively petty and bureaucratic. I won a dressage qualifier several years ago which I’d travelled several hours for. After a forensic examination of the passport it was found that a flu jab had been given one day late SEVEN YEARS previously. So I was disqualified.

I spent a while as a competitions rep a few years ago and was amazed at how long winded and complicated everything was when dealing with BRC. I gave up in the end, its really off putting tbh.

The having to provide a volunteer bit is also prohibitive to lots of people. I compete alone and I don’t have any help. There’s literally no one I could reasonably ask to volunteer at a pony show all day just so I can run.

There is a rule now that any errors that are over 5 years ago are now not counted.

 

[MagicMelon]

I actually think they should do what USA does and maybe hold champs at one place for 2 years north and then two years more south.

Absolutely! Its the same with BS champs (and probably ever other "national" champs which are always held in England). I qualified for some arena eventing champs the other day, they're at Aintree. No way Im going all that way. Its such a shame really as bit pointless running the qualifiers as so many just dont bother. Or even if they could simply run champs right in the centre of the UK (not centre of England, but UK) which would surely make it a bit fairer.

 

[The Xmas Furry]

There is a rule now that any errors that are over 5 years ago are now not counted.

Perhaps you can direct me to that rule?
That's definitely not the case for any affiliated showing, BE, BS etc.

 

[U.N.Owen]

Perhaps you can direct me to that rule?
That's definitely not the case for any affiliated showing, BE, BS etc.

 

[The Xmas Furry]

View attachment 142998

Thank you.
Not exactly right in your post #22 then.
Please, if posting important info, do ensure its got the link or it is correct, thanks.
I was already aware of that information in post #25 as I do vacc checks.

 

[U.N.Owen]

Thank you.
Not exactly right in your post #22 then.
Please, if posting important info, do ensure its got the link or it is correct, thanks.
I was already aware of that information in post #25 as I do vacc checks.

The question was in regards to a booster being 1 day out 7 years ago and so was eliminated. I had said errors from over 5 years ago now do not count (which is true) and showed the rule that supports it. Not sure what is posted incorrectly there.

 

[Chuffy99]

Because it’s only the 1st booster not subsequent ones?

 

[U.N.Owen]

Because it’s only the 1st booster not subsequent ones?

It doesn't have to be a first booster it counts for any booster given more than five years ago, as long as subsequent ones are correct.

 

[The Xmas Furry]

The question was in regards to a booster being 1 day out 7 years ago and so was eliminated. I had said errors from over 5 years ago now do not count (which is true) and showed the rule that supports it. Not sure what is posted incorrectly there.

The words 'Provided that the 1st 2 primary injections are correct' are applicable, so not "all errors over 5 years ago" as you posted.
Rules are still applied, nobody can blithely compete unless the vaccinations given meet the regulations.