Sands Farm EC?

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Squiggles on Paper

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Might be going to Sands Farm soon for BS. I had a little look around the forums and found that apparently the surface is a bit deep and the warm up stoney? I was wondering what it is like now as the post I found where back in 2008 so they may have changed it since then. The surface sounds OK, but not great, but better than Blewbury ;)
 
I dont like it after a heavy rain as the warm up is a bit, er, undulating. Other than that its fine, the driveway is a joke and the arena surface makes everything pink but I like it for BS. John Ray tends to build good courses, the arena steward is great at rolling people in. Only thing is people congregate in the covered area which is a ballache but yea. Worth it.
 
If you are heading for the blue chip Q there, expect a very long day: the Billy Stud will almost certainly bring 15-25 horses to qualify, will commandeer the warm up and shove you all down the numbers board. The steward will let them.

We went last January for their qualifier, and I actually liked the place, but the Q was after 90open which started at 10, and we didnt jump in the qualifier until 4pm, having originally been 20 something down on the list....
 
It might not have wax surfaces but I actually like it, the warm up is indoor (3 open sides) and big - it wasn't too much chaos even when I was warming up last year for the Blue Chip Qual. If you are going for that just jump that class or you'll be there alllll day. I'm not going this year as I'm not desperate to qual for Blue Chip now, and the Billy Stud really do take 15+ horses and there's other recognisable people there too with lots of horses so unless you know you can be competitive might not be a lot of point. It was good experience for my youngster though as they have to deal with having a crowd watching. If you're not going for Blue Chip Q, it's a nice place!
 
Thanks guys but I'm still not 100% sure. It would cost me £150 for horse transport and if there are going to be all the professionals it isn't really worth it. We aren't bad it's just I don't know if it's worth all that money just to be beaten and spend a long time there :/ What are the courses like? What would you do if you where me?
 
Squiggles on Paper said:
Thanks guys but I'm still not 100% sure. It would cost me £150 for horse transport and if there are going to be all the professionals it isn't really worth it. We aren't bad it's just I don't know if it's worth all that money just to be beaten and spend a long time there :/ What are the courses like? What would you do if you where me?
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Personally I wouldn't pay £150 to get there. I'm not saying it's a bad venue, but everything everyone has said above is true. The surface is okay but not amazing. The warm up is big and covered, the car park horrible. It's the closest venue to the Billy Stud though so they will take loads and will dominate the qualifier.

I'm sure there must equal or better venues closer to you if you're not fussed about the qualifier :-)
 
Rambo said:
Personally I wouldn't pay £150 to get there. I'm not saying it's a bad venue, but everything everyone has said above is true. The surface is okay but not amazing. The warm up is big and covered, the car park horrible. It's the closest venue to the Billy Stud though so they will take loads and will dominate the qualifier.

I'm sure there must equal or better venues closer to you if you're not fussed about the qualifier :-)
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I am going for the qualifier though ;) The only other place within a reasonable distance is Longwood and apparently the surface there is awful, also, it is on an inconvenient date, I could still go but would prefer not to. Do you think it's worth the risk? It will still cost me around £120 to go to Longwood so not a huge difference. My horse is going really well at the moment winning his last British Novice and went amazingly yesterday when I schooled him round a course up to 122cm so I think it's a good time to go, but don't want to go somewhere which will wreck his confidence (like Blewbury, took time to get him back up again going well) or is a waste of time. :o annoying it's so close to the Billy Stud :(
 
If you're going for the qualifier and you can be competitive then it might be worth it. The venue is fine and it's pretty much the last qualifier in the south for the Novice. Last year the first round was mostly 1m, maybe 95cm and quite technical as there were over 100 entries so not like a normal british novice.
 
sj_xc_hannah_ said:
If you're going for the qualifier and you can be competitive then it might be worth it. The venue is fine and it's pretty much the last qualifier in the south for the Novice. Last year the first round was mostly 1m, maybe 95cm and quite technical as there were over 100 entries so not like a normal british novice.
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how much did it go up to in the JO?
 
I've decided to go due to the fact that really its the only qualifier near me (would rather not go to longwood) and my boy can be very quick! worse comes to worse just go for experience. wish me luck! anyone else going? :cool:
 
I think you are dead right to go. Yes it might be a long day but take advantage of that...if there are alot of pro horses there watch them warm up and take the opportunity to learn from them. You never know what you might pick up and as you say your horse is going very well at the moment so set off with the mentality you want a good day out with good experience....anything after that is a bonus! And get some pics....can't do a proper competition report without piccies!!
 
amage said:
I think you are dead right to go. Yes it might be a long day but take advantage of that...if there are alot of pro horses there watch them warm up and take the opportunity to learn from them. You never know what you might pick up and as you say your horse is going very well at the moment so set off with the mentality you want a good day out with good experience....anything after that is a bonus! And get some pics....can't do a proper competition report without piccies!!
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We are nothing in the league of those pro ones but it will be a good learning experience definitely. Not looking forward to getting up at 5:30am on a Sunday morning though! I will try but the person I go with doesn't know how to switch on a camera so it might be hard but I'll try! :rolleyes:
 
Have never been back there since 2007 when my daughter broke her arm, the going was so deep in the warm up he somersaulted on landing after a fence. That was just after a horse ran out the gate, bolted down the field and went head over heels over a five bar gate with rider still on board. That's a day to remember! Anyway they have a show this weekend so thinking of maybe going only coz there's nothing else on anywhere. :-/ undecided
 
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