So how was the Expo?

delphipuppy,

yes dear, we understand that it's cold, but what of the Expo?

MFH_09, I'm with you, some people are so thoughtless!!

I spoke with a stallion owner, by 'phone, and apparently, though there weren't the predicted thousands, there were certainly, several hundred.

I'm going tomorrow. There will probably be a thousand hits by then, and I may have to PM you with my thoughts.

Alec.
 
A friend of mine went i couldn't make it her mare is in foal to Chilli Morning and ours to Graf was impressed by both said Graf jumped well and behaved !
Not as busy as expected it was not advertised well enough was the general opinion. Also very cold !
 
Also she has just rang me and said the organisation was poor and commentary was not loud enough . More signage was needed as she couldn't always find the Stallions Box to have a close look at them. Let us know what you think Alec.
 
I am going tomorrow. Just wandering if they allow dogs as have not got anyone to look after him. He is well behaved. Really looking forward to it.

Also, where most of them presented ridden (obv apart from the young stallions)? Worth the trip?

Thanks any info gratefully recieved as never been to Keysoe.
 
This from a showjumping mare owners point of view.
I liked being able to see so many showjumping stallions as that is unusual to see them out of competition in one place in this country outside of a grading.
The stallion owners I spoke to seemed pleased enough with the numbers and pointed out that they only needed to get a small number of new customers to make it worthwhile for them.
There were a number of teething problems, I agree that the commentary was quiet but as a first run I think it was a very commendable effort and I hope it continues.
 
I enjoyed it. OH got some fab photos, in hand and jumping
smile.gif


it was well attended, very cold, long wait for food and drinks, couldn't really hear speaker that well all the time... but good to see some outstanding horses and went pretty smoothly!

Adonnis and Wolkenderry - their pictures do not do them justice. even more superb in the flesh among a few!
 
I went along to help a friend with his stallion as we were very disappointed. We found it to be disorganised, there were only about 50 stallions in total and probably less than 50 spectators for the young stallions in the morning and maybe twice that for the performers in the afternoon. The poor horse who jumped first in the morning had a nightmare and really had to pull something special out of the hat - the related distances were totally wrong, the poles weren't up straight, the sound varied between echo, screech, and was generally inaudible. Very disappointed and won't even be wasting the diesel to go back tomorrow & I gather quite a few other owners feel the same.
 
We enjoyed it, it was very cold and the PA system was not the best. But it was a good value day out and good to see the stallions in the flesh as there is so much more you can pick up rather than just seeing a photo or video.

Found it very useful to be able to speak to some of the studs.

All in all it was a good first effort at such an event.
 
Oh what a shame that your first post on here has to be so negative. Mind it is annoying not to get value for money, especially with times the way they are. So are you saying it wont be as good tomorrow if some owners are pulling out?

Very disappointed and won't even be wasting the diesel to go back tomorrow & I gather quite a few other owners feel the same. - Which stallion were you helping out with?
 
I've just got home and had a fab day. Sadly missed Wolkenderry due to traffic but everyone said he wowed. My favorites of the day were Treliver Decanter who was simply gorgeous (if I was a mare I def would) Graf who I wasn't expecting to like and hadn't even researched but impressed me with his attitude and rhythmic paces. Upton's Deli Circus who didn't look like much but was one of the most genuine jumpers all day and looked like he'd jump the moon if you asked (even at 20yo). Veni Vidi Vici, not the flashiest but very proffesional. To be honest though, almost every stallion was superb and well behaved (but I missed the trot up which apparently was more 'interesting'). A few small blips, mostly rider/handler caused (we're all human). It was lovely to meet a few forum regulars, everyone was really friendly and Jamie's talk was funny and informative. Minor critisisms - sound wasn't brilliant, lack of signage in car park and could have flowed a little better in the main arena. I have no doubt these things will be fixed for next year. Attendance was better than I expected but room for improvement. Overall a brilliant day well worth £9 for a 2 day ticket including the handy breeding guide. Oh, and if you ever have any excuse to talk to the people from Lambridden Stud in Ayrshire, do so. They are the lovliest people ever! Gosh, can't believe how many lovely stallions we have, well done to all the owners/riders.
 
It was good to see so many stallions in one place at one time but there were many places where it could have been improved. The sound system was a joke not helped by the commentator constantly turning their head away from the microphone. The amount of commentary on each stallion varied enormously. If I'd been the owner of one of the stallions who were almost ignored I'd have been mighty fed up.

The quality of presentation of the stallions varied hugely too. Some of the jumping stallions were missed at fences so badly it was cringeworthy. Oddly the coloureds suffered from bad jump riding more than the others. Some of the dressage stallions were not shown at their best either. A couple simply showed walk, trot and canter when they should really have been able to show medium/advanced medium work at their age. One or two were asked for more lengthening than they could cope with and so went wide behind, a big negative and likely to put mare owners off. Many of the dressage stallions were stiff and lacking bend in their lateral work. Whether that was them or their riders was not always clear. And also a large number of them were late behind in their changes. Forgiveable in a youngster but not in an older horse.

The stallions that caught my eye were

Uptons Deli Circus. 20 years old. Sound, enthusiastic and simply adorable. :-)

Chilli Morning. Very nice stallion.

Argento. Scopy, scopy, scopy.

Grupo Prom Castello. Spooky but a talented jumper and lovely loose mover. Could be a useful dual purpose sire as his movement is good enough for pure dressage.

Peppermill. A rubberball powerhouse of a horse.

Romanov. Blood type, super jumper. Perhaps a tad short in the neck.

Temple Akropolis. Sweet horse and good jumper.

Of the dressage stallions

Wolkenderry. Outstanding mover, puppy dog temperament. Lovely horse.

Keystone Rhondeo. I simply wrote "different class" by this stallion. He's got it all, temperament, movement, trainability. Love him!

Treliver Decanter. I don't know why but I never expected this horse to be a big mover. I was wrong. He's a super mover with very good trot and canter. Slightly short walk but could have been tension. Nice stallion.

Catherston Springsteen. Not the biggest mover but he looked such a lovely horse to ride, so willing and easy. I'd use him on a difficult mare.

Worldwide went on my watch list. He's got outstanding elevation and cadence but I'm not sure about the speed of his hind limb. I think he may be a little slow and he pulls his hind toes through rather than lifting them and punching his back legs forwards. I didn't see any tempi changes with this horse. If he does indeed have the speed in his hind leg to get his 2s and 1s then I'll apologise to him about doubting his ability to do these movements and promote him to the top of my "like very much" list. But until I know he can do those things I'm going to watch him and see how he progresses.

Woodlander Rockstar didn't go as well as he can. He looked stiff which surprised me. I know he's a nice stallion but if I hadn't seen him go elsewhere I wouldn't put him on my list based on today's performance.
 
I've skipped down this thread so apologies if has already been posted,
Save your money, disorganised and unprofessional sum it up.
Poor PA system, no head numbers on horses, horses coming into arena out of running order. Arena not dressed with flowers. One handler dumped on floor, one rider dumped on floor, one jump steward knocked down on floor.
Chilli Morning was lovely, jumped super. Up with the Lark, showed himself well. Grafenstolz behaved but knocked a showjump down and didn't jump either of the xc fences.

Oh coffee was good, but at a 25 minute wait and £1.50 ???
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
one jump steward knocked down on floor.

[/ QUOTE ]

Flattened by a Whitaker but unharmed. What a claim to fame! Wonder if it'll be on TV?

[/ QUOTE ]

MBE!!
grin.gif
 
Noooo, there can't be outtakes! I'll be in there throwing my coffee down myself whilst falling through a door a cute guy was holding open for me!
blush.gif

Thank God it was cold and I could just zip up my jacket...
 
Hi bearskin,

just noticed your psot about contido, sadly i didnt get to the expo and it isnt looking likely i will get there tomorrow but when i went to twemlows to see grafenstolz i saw him. As i say i went to see graf but i just saw contido's beautiful head overthe door so i had Tullis bring him out for me to have a nosy at. Absolutely stunning IMHO. He was one of the stallions i really wanted to go and see at the expo so i would like o knw what people think too.
 
Quite frankly I think the expo was a public embarrasment for British Breeding, thanks to p*ss poor organisation!

I can't imagine for one second how anyone who attended could honestly say it was even remotely acceptable.

This weekend should have been a platform to launch British Breeding at it's best. Instead, it made us look like incompetent amateurs.

Where do I start:

- The website, could have been more interactive and had more information (like where do you buy tickets). The schedule was only posted a couple of days ago.
- There was no signage showing where the car park or entrance to the event was.
- There was no signage saying there was a stallion expo on (yet the website claimed it was the biggest event in british breeeding - surely it would merit at least one sign at the entrance).
- The programme, erm...printed list of stallions and timings was not worth the paper it was written on and looked really shoddy.
- The horses had no bridle numbers
- you could not hear the public address system
- They kept messing up when the music should be on or off, they even managed to switch the microphones off at one point.
- There was no sign of the prize draw referred to on the website.
- If you could get access to the stable area for a close up look then they kept that well hidden. I couldn't even figure out where the stables were and how to access them.

Of course there were some positives:-

- From an educational point of view - the info was all there in the one place but you had to work to find it.
- the exhibitors were very friendly and free with their advice.
- A lot of nice horses
- A great opportunity to see lots of stallions under the one roof...and in action.

In summary....a missed opportunity...British Breeders did their bit and I think it is sad that they were so badly let down by the organisers. Who was responsible for the organisation, does anyone know?

I hope this year's disgrace does not put breeders and exibitors off of coming to an expo again next year and that the organisers learn from their mistakes and sort it out for next time.
 
Frustrating for me personally was that I put up a nomination for Weston Justice for the Auction for the National Foaling bank. But there seemed to no advertising, even there, of the auction and surprise it was on the bottom of a board of promises on Joannas stall. This was a charity that really needs supporting and getting behind not used as an add on to try and win people over.
 
The positive things: We both saw some excellent stallions we would not have gone to see or considered otherwise; there was a good selection of stallions from my point of view and it was great to see a few of the smaller and pony stallions; I hope the expo continues and improves - it was a real opportunity not available to me otherwise and I saw a few wibbly wobbly legs that did not show up on videos or yard visits. Those who feel disappointed should not underestimate the new ideas generated. The audience was quite reasonable in the afternoon (admittedly a bit thin in the morning and too small by the end, when many people had left) although the champagne was very nice!

The learning points: in my experience it is always freezing at The College, unless you are there in mild weather - it was mind-numbingly cold and it wasn't until the end of a three hour drive home that I felt my core temperature rose; the commentary (and/or the sound system) was poor until one of the organisers took over; the glossy catalogue was OK but of course there should have been numbering for horses and in the catalogue; also the reception staff should have handed out the printed running order with the catalogue. - This provided info about the auction although, in the end, the auction was deferred until Sunday (today) lunchtime; some stallions were poorly presented in hand and some less than professionally presented ridden - however, we got some good insights into temperament - including some horses showing a really great attitude; the commentary at the beginning was inadequate as were some of the incompetent jump stewards - the girl who was knocked over stepped backwards in front of Whittaker and got in the way more than once before and after that - she should have been told to leave the arena.

I take a "cup half full" view of the experience and we were very glad we went.
 
I had planned to go today but sadly now cannot get there so am very interested to read the reports.

My personal interest is in the dressage stallions but why, oh why, were the four 'youngsters' on first at 10.45 for their ridden display and then all the others not until 4pm onwards?
In the flyer before the day it clearly states that the second group of dressage stallions will be in at 2pm yet on another forum a member kindly posted the running order for the day which was as above.
I would have been very miffed to have driven all the way there and, having to leave at 3.30 ish to get back to see to the horses at home, only seen four dressage horses, three of which I've already seen in the flesh anyway.

I hope it does continue next year and that the organisers learn from the feedback recieved.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top