Scottish BE Events??

Is Burgie moving back to the 'Balcarres' date in June does anyone know?
Seems logical as it was their date previously...and as it stands the current Burgie July date clashes with Eden Valley
 
At the moment Burgie will be having four events throughout the year. April 20th, July 6th, Area 1 pc interbranch 24-26th July and September 21st. If it doesn't start to dry out soon, will the ground even cope?
 
It was nice to hear from a "BE spokesperson".

The "full and well balanced calendar", "balanced spread of fixtures" bit intrigued me.

I checked this seasons fixture list. At the moment every eventing grade will suffer, but intermediate horses are nearly wiped from the calendar. Comparing 2012 with 2013, grade 2 horses had 9 possible runs, (Auchinleck, Central Scotland, Floors, Balcarres, Eglinton, Burgie International, Hopetoun, Central Scotland 2, Blair Castle) in 2012, and 5 in 2013 (Auchinleck, Floors, Eglinton, Hopetoun, Blair). There is the additional loss of just over the border Hexham with classes for everyone, replaced by intermediate-less Belsay. If Auchinleck cancels, as it has unfortunately had to do in, I believe, 5 of the last 8 seasons, Scotland will have one intermediate/OI class before Eglinton in mid July!

After the reduced entry seen at Blair last season, largely blamed on the lack of qualification events due to the weather, Blairs Scottish based entries will almost certainly continue to suffer with its lack of qualification events.

BE's statement regarding organisers is a smokescreen. i don't think I've read a single criticism of an organiser on this thread. We are greatly aware that we are fortunate to have many excellent organisers and their backroom teams. JO and the CSHT team have run excellent events and deserve our full support, time and understanding in trying to find a new venue. If it is true that BE has not had any contact with Brechin then this is a perfect example of what we're all complaining about.

I trust we can expect BE to provide similar availability as the rest of the UK for our £.

Can't wait for next week and the "full and balanced calandar for 2013" BE.
 
Can I make a suggestion, which probably as I am just south of the border won't effect me anyway.
For Scottish eventers could they reduce the membership fee slightly, say 20% off (or whatever) for a few years to encourage more people to join B.E, and also to reflect the fact that Scottish members have less events to go to, and have further to travel to get to them. Make a minimal difference, but also alongside this....
Make the affiliation to B.E cheaper in Scotland for events. Even very cheap for the first year and gradually increasing to the normal affiliation fee. This means that organisers are taking less of financial risk getting started up, and gives currents events, which are struggling a bit of a breather.
This alongside more members might help the situation.
However I know this will be met with outrage, especially from English members (even though I am one) and B.E have actually to invest and spend some money in Scotland.
Just a thought.
 
Word on the street is that Burgie July will just have up to novice classes but are trying to move to a June date. I would suggest that as there is not a single Scottish event listed for June this shouldn't be a problem. Perhaps our regional coordinator would press for Burgie to have its International status back as they have been good enough to run 3 events this year as the rest of the calendar dies on its feet.
 
I agree with a lot of what has been said already, I have cancelled my membership until there is more clarification on scottish calendar. Currently it is a bit patchy date wise and it is going to be difficult to keep horses ticking over fitness wise and it also means stumping out a lot of entries at once when there is a cluster of events. I cant help but wonder what happens to all the jumps etc at Scone/Balcarres it seems like such a waste??
 
I agree ABE re waste. It seems a great pity that organisers cannot? get say at least a 5 year agreement with landowners to allow events to be held on their ground. While portable fences could and should be able to be reused elsewhere in the case of CSHT a huge amount of money must have been spend on the excellent new water complex, the old 1 having ridden quite badly for many years, that's a total loss.
Perhaps as Burgie is trying it's best to salvage even a semblance of a BE fixture list for 2013, they might be offered the available fences, unfortunately, geographically, they are not very close to either Balcarres or CSHT which might mean transportation cost would be prohibitive.
 
Let's not write off CSHT yet guys...they still own the majority of the fences from Scone, although they will have had to dismantle some of the permanent jumps and they certainly ploughed plenty of money into the water complex.
The portable fences at Balcarres, to the most part, were those belonging to CSHT.

I think Silu if you could find a landowner happy to sign a five year agreement CSHT would be there like a shot.

It wouldn't be practical (or infact desirable surely) for organisers to cart fences around and for competitors to jump the same old 'up to height' ;) tattie boxes in varying locations throughout Scotland - as bonnie as some of those locations might be.

Instead, I think previous commentors who mention affiliation fees etc must be on a more constructive track. Anything to support the surviving competitions and aid new competitions to surface.

I'm sure Burgie said in the past it would do anything it could to attract riders to support them - but they also said running CCI classes just did not stack up financially with the cost of affiliation in relation to the entries they received, surely one year won't have changed that position much?
They had an OI and CIC in 2012, so think it will stay the same for 2013, unless low entries put them off.

I hope BE can help to get lost, but clearly popular events, such as Brechin and Strathallan reinstated.

[As a total side thought......I also wonder if, constructively, the number of blank weekends might be able to be allocated to existing events as a 'bad weather back up' rather than utilising abandonment.
If Event XXX (and all the riders entered) knew the primary date is A but its back up date is B, then everyone can plan more accordingly.]
 
bogpony said:
[As a total side thought......I also wonder if, constructively, the number of blank weekends might be able to be allocated to existing events as a 'bad weather back up' rather than utilising abandonment.
If Event XXX (and all the riders entered) knew the primary date is A but its back up date is B, then everyone can plan more accordingly.]
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Good idea Bogpony, have you thought about a change of career ?

....All those in favour of Bogpony being the new BE Scotland rep say "I" :eek:
 
Well here we all are still awaiting the BE announcement due at the start of the week, now in the middle of the week. I've heard that there's an announcement coming today, nothing so far unless the removal of the second CSHT (the Scottish Championships) tbc date on the fixture list is what we're all on tenterhooks about.
 
There's been a reshuffle on the BE fixtures list, i.e. Burgie(2) now in June rather than July, Kirkley Hall in June now also rather than August, Burgham(2) now August rather than July, there's a "Venue TBC" on 29 June now (suppose it could be anywhere in UK tho) which would have been Oatridge.

Things slightly better spread date wise, would be good to have CSHT venue confirmation sooner than later though to give us Central Scotland eventers some reassurance that we will have an event to support locally that we don't need to stable overnight at :D *bounces impatiently*
 
bogpony said:
Can anyone remember exactly what it is that BE does for Scotland to make it worth forking out membership money each year? :(
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Thats a real shame about Brechin, it was one of my favourites. I've stopped doing BE, as much as I loved - its just too expensive and events are just way too far to travel to. Its annoying so many events are focused on central Scotland - I assume this is so North and South competitors can go there but that's wrong, those in the South of Scotland get to go to Northern England too, us Northerners miss out big time! The only ones North of Dundee are Burgie, Aswanley and Kirriemuir. Coillemore stopped, Brechins now gone and I dont know if Scotsburn runs anymore.

In my opinion, BE need to do something to encourage more XC courses up here, I know one local RC/PC course wanted to turn it into a BE course but the requirements were just too strict - things like the length of the tracks etc. should be adaptable so more courses could run BE. And as for winter BE stuff (arena eventing stuff I know they do down south), well we get none of that! We need a reason to pay the ridiculous membership fees up here when we get less out of it that those elsewhere in the country!
 
I don't see why BE can't run arena events in the winter at venues in scotland. We have plenty of good venues around.

And i agree, BE should revise their rules for scottish events if the reason a venue can't run a BE event is due to the course length - that seems silly. especially as ours are probably hillier and require the same fitness as a long one in the south!

They also need to review the affiliation fees, and support that they offer organisers. I think the reason we have lost so many venues is due to viability and money lost when they cancel.

It will probably not improve though. perhaps we need a billionaire to build a few all-weather cross country courses at some venues. then they would never cancel! :D
 
ArcticFox said:
I don't see why BE can't run arena events in the winter at venues in scotland. We have plenty of good venues around.
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Looking at the recent videos of JAS on YouTube I am feeling jealous! There is no reason why SNEC, Ingliston, Cabin, Kingsbarn etc. can't hold one if BE got their buts in gear and got in contact with them.

And this has made me really depressed...
BEEvents_zps4016f449-1_zpsf4c2837d.jpg
 
'Tis not just BE events that are suffering up here with St Fort driving not being run again after so much damage to the estate.

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/competitionnews/389/315614.html


Still waiting to hear from BE spokeperson/news on BE website regarding their changes for the 2013 season. Maybe the snow has stopped them from posting their news? I would say we are now past the week commencing 14th Jan 2013. Please can we have some good news soon?
 
So a month has passed and this post seems to have died. Are we all now satisfied that BE have fixed things north of the border?

The Scottish meeting will be held this Wednesday 27/03/12. For most of us the early evening start will be difficult to make, for intermediate/advanced working riders the noon kick off means a day off. Are these timings designed to limit our numbers or just plain stupid? These meetings are usually poorly attended, but this year we need to be heard. The meeting should be on a weekend, that would at least give some of us a chance to be there.

Scotland has lost numerous events over the last few years. There is not a single new venue announced in Scotland for 2013. Hopetoun runs an extra event, but due to the understandable removal of the grassroot classes from the International date, most of us we will only be at one of the dates, one month apart. Some of our event loses are circumstantial, some not.

Oatridge, at our National Equestrian Centre, can no longer hold an event. Equestrianism has 3 main disciplines, and SNEC with a large public financal input can no longer serve one of those disciplines.

Brechin, we have a venue, no organiser. As CSHT has gone, that team were suggested as organisers. Rumours say that they felt it too far away and were concentrating on the "local" Dalkeith Park for 2014. Reality is there are politics preventing this.

Balcarres, great effort by JO and his team, but the loss of the event is down to the colossal 6 figure loss that there was. Who pays for that? The owners of Balcarres I believe.

Strathallan still has equestrian competitions taking place. Why no eventing? I believe more politics on the go.

Most of us will never get to hear of the arguments that go on behind the scenes. But some of us are aware of the conflict that is taking place in the background. We do have some excellent organisers and their teams behind them and I am loath to criticise anyone who puts in to our sport. However when I read on Facebook the response to desperate competitors asking if something could be done to start Dalkeith Park in 2013, the organiser replied with these lovely words.

"Anyone else who want to make noises about this year, I suggest you get off your backsides and organise some events yourselves. You can do the work, lose the money, and enjoy our helpful and constructive feedback afterwards." (JO on 20/01/13, 21.45hrs)

He ran some of our best events, but this is a rant. Understandable perhaps, but not how you deal with people, and not how you promote your new event to its future customers.

People have there own agendas, our paid representatives should be representing us. On 12/02/13 a BE statement attempts to tell us that Scottish eventing is similar to last year. If you live in the southern part perhaps it is, if you live north of the central belt it most certainly is not. Perth to the north of England is a mere 5 hours lorry drive.

Ask the members in Southern England how far they are prepared to travel to an normal event. BE you have Scottish Eventing down.
 
BE have asked for rider representatives to come forward to sit on the working committee they have set up. Do you know how many riders have come forward? One as of Thursday this week. People are very happy to sit on these forums and criticise but none of you will put your money where your mouth is and try and do something positive for our sport. If no riders are willing to committ themselves and help how can you expect anything to change?
 
That is all very well saying they have asked riders to come forward to be on a working committee to put their unbiased view across & be a voice for other riders.However, a lowly amateur as I am I have never heard about rider representatives on a working committee to come forward.Was this advertised or is it a closed shop of if your face fits you're in???
Just my personal thoughts of course.
 
I have seen it on twitter, Facebook, had an email from BE and it's been press released so it has been out there. This is only my second year as a member although I have been involved as a volunteer for years. I just get really frustrated when people bitch and moan but don't actually want to help! I do understand why people are concerned about what is happening to the sport in Scotland though but let's try and be constructive. Another example is Brechin, everyone is having a go at CSHT committee for not running it but I don't see any riders getting an organising committee together and giving it a go themselves. We all work hard, have other commitments, want to ride and for my part have children too but EVERYONE has to physically do something about it if things are going to improve.
 
I really feel the quote from an organiser was taken from facebook and is been used out of context and unfair.

As marmaduke has said there is a meeting next week, as a amatuer rider/owner/volunteer the meeting next week is our time to discuss things.

I hope that the newly formed BE committee will get the support of its members.
 
Zorro123 said:
"Anyone else who want to make noises about this year, I suggest you get off your backsides and organise some events yourselves. You can do the work, lose the money, and enjoy our helpful and constructive feedback afterwards." (JO on 20/01/13, 21.45hrs)
.
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I think you have put this out of context. It sounds like you are having the rant to be honest.

Marmadukethethird said:
I have seen it on twitter, Facebook, had an email from BE and it's been press released so it has been out there. This is only my second year as a member although I have been involved as a volunteer for years. I just get really frustrated when people bitch and moan but don't actually want to help! I do understand why people are concerned about what is happening to the sport in Scotland though but let's try and be constructive. Another example is Brechin, everyone is having a go at CSHT committee for not running it but I don't see any riders getting an organising committee together and giving it a go themselves. We all work hard, have other commitments, want to ride and for my part have children too but EVERYONE has to physically do something about it if things are going to improve.
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I haven't seen it either!

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





I was going to go on Wed but am unable now due to work. Having looked at the BE calendar for the year ahead I have lots to choose from for BE100/Novice, but for anyone over this (and those at BE80) there is limited choice. I appreciate I live near Edinburgh so can travel south to the Carlisle/Penrith/Northumberland venues. I will be heading to Burgie also.

If any other events appear in the 2014 calendar I'll do my upmost to support them. I think its great that we have dalkeith for 2014. It will give the organisers time to prepare the venue rather than rushing out to set something up for 2013 only for a disaster to strike and it be pulled from the future calendar.

I think getting Dalkeith is fabulous, and if we can't get strathallan or Oatridge or Brechin back, so be it. I'll look to the future and will be making sure that I support Dalkeith next year as a competitor and a volunteer
 
Marmadukethethird said:
BE have asked for rider representatives to come forward to sit on the working committee they have set up. Do you know how many riders have come forward? One as of Thursday this week. People are very happy to sit on these forums and criticise but none of you will put your money where your mouth is and try and do something positive for our sport. If no riders are willing to committ themselves and help how can you expect anything to change?
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I think unfortunately the way that BE asked members to come onto the panel was slightly off putting to the general grassroots rider.
I'd be happy to be on the panel, but I don't entirely feel comfortable with being elected and i'm sure others must feel the same.
I hope they are looking for several riders as well, from all over scotland, but it doesn't really make that clear.

Info here flyingcoo -
http://www.britisheventing.com/news...=Latest+Eventing+News+Headlines&page=2&range=
 
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bogpony said:
I think unfortunately the way that BE asked members to come onto the panel was slightly off putting to the general grassroots rider.
I'd love to be on the panel, but I don't entirely feel comfortable with the need for being 'elected'...?
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Consider yourself elected BP :p:D
Thanks for the link missed that somehow but I am now up to speed.
 
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