Scottish BE Events??

Joking aside...I hope as many riders as possible can make it to the meeting...whilst a lot of people's opinions clearly differ, we all obviously share a passion for our sport (riders, organisers, committee members, volunteers, owners, builders etc etc) and without that passion our sport will quite simply cease to exist.

I look forward to hearing what is said - hopefully whatever the outcome we will all feel better informed :)
 
Nominations are in.
http://www.britisheventing.com/news...onTitle=Latest+Eventing+News+Headlines&range=

I will be voting for Christina Rennie for the following reasons.

1) She is a genuine one horse amateur rider that has competed from intro to CCI**. She works full time in a non horsey job and I think truly reflects the 'average' Scottish rider. She does not have horsey parents, a sponsor, her own yard etc. Just a sensible person who is not afraid to speak her mind.

2) Nothing against Lisa at all, lovely lady but .... as a part of 'Team Oakden' she is not truly 'independent' . It's hard to speak out about an organiser when they compete your horse- just my view

3) Douglas Edward , nothing against him at all but he is the incumbent rep and I feel we need a change

Anyone else got any views?
 
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So - are you putting a committee together to run Brechin then??????

Quite honestly no! Nailing my colours to the mast I am already on the committee for CSHT and am so upset by the comments on here I'm not sure i want to be involved anymore and I'm certainly not the only one. I'm not going to bust a gut to help with another event when this is the thanks we get for it. :mad:
 
In response to your post Smurf I feel it is irrelevant to comment on my horse etc. I too am a amateur rider who comes from the same background as other candidates. I put myself forward for the better of scottish eventing and who my horse is ridden doesn't effect my views on our sport and how we can progess. I think its important that as riders/owners/volunteers valueable contributions.
 
Missypp I am sure if you are elected you will do a brilliant job as rider rep. I have only met you a few times but you strike me as someone who will speak out. That is a huge requirement for rider rep.

Missypp said:
In response to your post Smurf I feel it is irrelevant to comment on my horse etc.
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I think people's horses/personal circumstances are relevant. If you are based with a large event team, and say you want to take your horse to the middle of England to compete, then you have not only a chauffeur driven lorry that you can make use of with full ground crew but you would only have to pay 1/6 or 1/5 of the transport costs. This is very different to someone who is based on their own. Who pays 100% of fuel and has to drive themselves and compete without a groom/support

So for someone based in a large yard, the number of opportunities to compete are greatly increased due to shared cost. So you can travel further. And therefore you feel the effects of losing a local event less than someone who is based on their own.
 
Thanks for your comments smurf and you are correct I have evented in england but I'm passionate about eventing hence I grab every opportunity.

However, for many years I evented from the highlands in fact Inverness when our only local event was burgie. I'm not from a affluent family and we classed weekends away to central scotland as our holidays. From inverness I evented all over scotland and northern england.

So I feel I have a good background in supporting the amateur one horse rider and how costly eventing is. Perhaps the eventing buddy system is the way forward?
 
Hi Missypp,

I'm afraid the quote from Facebook is not out of context or unfair. It is the sole response from the organiser to a list of competitors asking if Dalkeith Park was to be on in 2013. I understand he may well be frustrated that his efforts on putting on a new event in 2014 is met with people saying why not 2013? But it is 100% accurate. Organising events can be hugely stressful and often thankless, but this is not how to go about promoting your new event to competitors. JO is an excellent organiser and I don't want to criticise his efforts. This quote was only a small part of my posting.

The meeting this week is the time for us to discuss things, but its timing and location won't allow many of us to be there.

My point is, that there is plenty of behind the scenes politics going on that is unknown to most of the sport. If this remains unresolved Scottish Eventing will continue on this slippery slope. Some of the people within BE are responsible and compromise our sport with certain frictions and lack of impartiality that they themselves have. That cannot be allowed to continue.
 
smurf said:
Nominations are in.
http://www.britisheventing.com/news...onTitle=Latest+Eventing+News+Headlines&range=

I will be voting for Christina Rennie for the following reasons.

1) She is a genuine one horse amateur rider that has competed from intro to CCI**. She works full time in a non horsey job and I think truly reflects the 'average' Scottish rider. She does not have horsey parents, a sponsor, her own yard etc. Just a sensible person who is not afraid to speak her mind.

2) Nothing against Lisa at all, lovely lady but .... as a part of 'Team Oakden' she is not truly 'independent' . It's hard to speak out about an organiser when they compete your horse- just my view

3) Douglas Edward , nothing against him at all but he is the incumbent rep and I feel we need a change

Anyone else got any views?
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Good points well made smurf, the fact that there is an incumbent rider rep which I was totally unaware of speaks volumes!! I think the key to being a valuable and effective rider rep is:

- being both visible and approachable
- having the teeth and background to challenge confidently at the committee meetings and bring solutions and ideas to promote the sport for riders
- being independent, i.e. not affiliated (politically/socially/or by blood!!) to existing key players/committees within Scottish Eventing.
- being open to the drivers, frustrations and limitations of riders at all levels; its important to be sympathetic to event organisers, coaches, etc.. but they have their own representatives on the committee - the person elected must represent riders and not be influenced by matters that could be detrimental to competing in Scotland.
- being transparent and open - the reason so many of us use HHO and other forums is that we are often seeking information that we would expect to obtain from an official channel but only those "in the know" or connected to some inner BE community seem to have the real story.

It's a tall order, but something needs to change quite radically and this election is an important step in riders voices being heard and for positive changes in Scottish eventing. No one doubts that current committees are working hard, however the key is perception and currently the rider community in Scotland perceives that the BE calendar is falling short in certain areas.

I for one am looking forward to the AGM on Wednesday :D
 
smurf said:
Good point, I assume at the meeting but normally with company agm's you can proxy vote by post. Call BE up and ask if you can vote by email if you can't get to meeting?
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Will do that.

Marmadukethethird said:
So - are you putting a committee together to run Brechin then??????

Quite honestly no! Nailing my colours to the mast I am already on the committee for CSHT and am so upset by the comments on here I'm not sure i want to be involved anymore and I'm certainly not the only one. I'm not going to bust a gut to help with another event when this is the thanks we get for it. :mad:
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As a forum member its impossible to know if you already are on a committee or not so worth asking!

I must have missed the thread - I don't think I have read anywhere on here where any organiser for an event has been made to feel rubbish/useless. Have I missed something??

Everyone I know feels that organisers bust a gut to run these events. And I for one also help as a volunteer. What annoys me is members who seem to think they help as they have jump judged once in 5 years, or done no volunteering at all.

I know that JO replied to a thread with people asking if it would be in 2013 at Dalkeith, but it his reply hasn't put me off wanting to go. As I'm sure it has been written on HHO, CSHT have done a fab job in running events, and securing a new event I will be entering and volunteering to help at it.
 
Thank you zorro and morgen girl. Very valid points I really hope the meeting is productive in all respects and that we as riders voice our concerns to British eventing and we can all help r sport we all love to continue.
 
Hear, hear, Missypp and Article Fox,

We need to be in this together. I only typed my post last night hoping to re light the fire in this subject that seemed to have died. I want us all to have an insight to what is going on behind the scenes.

Does anyone actually know what will be discussed at the AGM?

If we knew the subject content then we and others who may not write on this forum but might be stirred to email our rep/LS/FHS to promote our concerns and get them discussed.
 
I emailed to ask if I can vote in advance.

Alas no!

Apparently the constitution does not allow for voting in advance. They did say that the time of the meeting has been changed to 7pm.

I still can't go but perhaps this new time will help others?
 
BE Spokesperson said:
Dear all,

You may find this news item on the BE website interesting in terms of fixtures planned for 2013 compared with 2012: http://bit.ly/YUCkti

Good luck to all of you eventing this season and please keep an eye on the website for additional fixtures.
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Planned grassroots events for 2013 - 27.

Great - but in reality only 12 of these are in Scotland - and that includes Burgie running three times!

I don't find it "interesting" BE... I just find it depressing! :(
Can't imagine how those with intermediate and advanced horses must feel.

Thank god for the events we have left and the committees and organisers still desperate to keep the sport alive north of the Border this year and into the future.
 
I have read with interest many excellent points raised in this blog.

Unfortunately I am unable to go to the AGM tomorrow for noon. I noticed an earlier post asking what was being discussed at the AGM, but so far it looks like nobody seems to know. So I phoned BE today and asked. It was met with a fudge and then a silence when I pressed for clarity. BE head office don't seem to know either!

I asked if I could vote by proxy- "NO".

So let's be clear: BE organise our most important meeting on a normal working day at noon, miles away from all population centres, and another at 7pm for different riders, where and when most of us can't fit in with our work/horse/family schedules and then do not allow our members to proxy vote when only a limited few can get there! If you or your family members have an interest at both levels of the sport do BE expect us to go shopping in Blackford for the 6 hours inbetween?

BE has organised the AGM and 2 rider meetings, why? Why not one meeting? Some grassroot riders will soon become intermediate and above riders. Why is it assumed that they can add nothing to the discussion for intermediate/advanced riders? I'd suggest that we all should hear what is to be said in one meeting. Two meetings leads to Chinese whispers about each meeting, rumour and confusion.

Obviously there seems to be a ground swell of support in BE members that the sport in Scotland is being mismanaged. This has to be rectified and quickly, or we risk pulling the sport further apart. This has to lie squarely with BE. Many of us were aware that certain events wouldn't run or date changes were happening weeks before any statement from BE. To any member, sponsor, trade stand or event supporter uncertainty spells disaster. Trade stands don't book, sponsors find somewhere more reliable to spend their money and supporters leave the sport.

Perhaps we need change, perhaps a few backsides need kicked. I for one don't expect individuals and teams of people that have failed to suddenly turn things around. Fresh ideas are needed and that usually means fresh blood.
 
BE Spokesperson said:
Dear all,

You may find this news item on the BE website interesting in terms of fixtures planned for 2013 compared with 2012: http://bit.ly/YUCkti

Good luck to all of you eventing this season and please keep an eye on the website for additional fixtures.
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I hope BE Spokesperson is a bluff. Surely BE don't actually think that we are taken in by this.

Planned Intermediate runs 2012=11, 2013=11. Sounds reasonable?

We hopefully start at Auchinleck, Burgham, Richmond and Floors Castle. 4 weeks running. More great planning as I'm sure nobody trying to have a horse fit for the season will be running at this level more than 2 or 3 times max in the month. Thats more than 1/3 of all the intermediate runs in the Northern region in 4 weeks.Then lets have a six week no event break until Aske at the end of June! Has BE actually thought this through or is it as illogical as it looks to me?

I note in the BE Spokesperson link that of the planned Intermediate runs, "5 are in Scotland, where last year there were 7."

2012: Auchinleck, Central Scotland 1, Floors, Balcarres, Burgie, Eglinton, Hopetoun, Central Scotland 2, Blair Castle. That makes 9 planned runs, CHST 2 wasn't cancelled until well into the season, then it made 8.

2013: Auchinleck, Floors, Eglinton, Hopetoun, Blair Castle. Makes 5.

So we've lost 4 out of 9 planned runs, or 3 out of 8 leaving CSHT aside. That's nearly half of all the intermediate runs in Scotland gone from 2012 to 2013.

As to grassroot events we now have a north/south divide in Scotland. In the south I think the changes make little difference. Simply we go to northern England. In the north, we go to Burgie, Scotsburn, Burgie, Aswanley and perhaps more Burgie. No new venues, only losses. So get in your lorries, spend lots of diesel £ and come hours down the road to support your local events in England. Once upon a time that used to be the other way around and there were hundreds flocking to Burgie. But then came Houghton Hall and the increase in fuel. They stopped coming, but unlike in the south, if you're in the northern half of Scotland BE don't give you any option.

If the BE Spokesperson thinks the BE Scottish/Northern region update on the 12th February is anything more than a fudge I suggest they think again.
 
Zorro123 said:
I hope BE Spokesperson is a bluff. Surely BE don't actually think that we are taken in by this.

Planned Intermediate runs 2012=11, 2013=11. Sounds reasonable?

We hopefully start at Auchinleck, Burgham, Richmond and Floors Castle. 4 weeks running. More great planning as I'm sure nobody trying to have a horse fit for the season will be running at this level more than 2 or 3 times max in the month. Thats more than 1/3 of all the intermediate runs in the Northern region in 4 weeks.Then lets have a six week no event break until Aske at the end of June! Has BE actually thought this through or is it as illogical as it looks to me?

I note in the BE Spokesperson link that of the planned Intermediate runs, "5 are in Scotland, where last year there were 7."

2012: Auchinleck, Central Scotland 1, Floors, Balcarres, Burgie, Eglinton, Hopetoun, Central Scotland 2, Blair Castle. That makes 9 planned runs, CHST 2 wasn't cancelled until well into the season, then it made 8.

2013: Auchinleck, Floors, Eglinton, Hopetoun, Blair Castle. Makes 5.

So we've lost 4 out of 9 planned runs, or 3 out of 8 leaving CSHT aside. That's nearly half of all the intermediate runs in Scotland gone from 2012 to 2013.

As to grassroot events we now have a north/south divide in Scotland. In the south I think the changes make little difference. Simply we go to northern England. In the north, we go to Burgie, Scotsburn, Burgie, Aswanley and perhaps more Burgie. No new venues, only losses. So get in your lorries, spend lots of diesel £ and come hours down the road to support your local events in England. Once upon a time that used to be the other way around and there were hundreds flocking to Burgie. But then came Houghton Hall and the increase in fuel. They stopped coming, but unlike in the south, if you're in the northern half of Scotland BE don't give you any option.

If the BE Spokesperson thinks the BE Scottish/Northern region update on the 12th February is anything more than a fudge I suggest they think again.
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Totally agree :mad:
 
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