Ambers Echo
Still wittering on
Also we have not lost venues that would be happy to carry on running. BE have stripped events off parkland venues, which is not the same as venues who decide weddings are a better option than horses.
So what has British Eventing done wrong?
- Thread starter Orangehorse
- Start date
Patterdale
Well-Known Member
Exactly.
BE should be running a special task force to save parkland venues. Rather than what it seems to be doing - a dedicated task force to sacking them off.
spacefaer
Well-Known Member
We lost a huge number in one fell swoop when the National Trust pulled the plug on hosting events a couple of decades ago
RachelFerd
Well-Known Member
I think in the end it was only Belton that was still running on NT land, was it not? I think we lost a bunch over a long period - thinking back to places like Killerton which hadn't actually run since the 1990s.
And we've lost Houghton Hall and Barbury, both of whom were running under the same organiser - and that's clearly a complicated situation.
But the rest - have been depleting in number year on year. Occasionally a new one pops up thanks to enthusiastic landowners, and then ultimately disappears again because it wasn't viable. We've lost plenty simply to lack of entries. There's no doubt that putting on a parkland event as a greenfield site has a much higher set up cost than the permanent event centres. But would people really be willing to pay *more* to run at them? You'd theoretically think there's money to be made from spectator ticket sales, but that only works for events running the higher level classes and it only works if the sport is popular with general public (and with our total lack of diversity and inaccessible cost, it ain't popular).
But just looking at my eventing history, here are the events that I've run at that have since stopped running:
Charlton Park
Royal Bath and West (not a country estate)
Stockland Lovell (not a country estate - think there was some road development or something that killed the site, can't quite remember)
Syde Park
Salperton Park
Orchard Portman (this was at Taunton racecourse, so not a country estate either)
Pontispool (not a country estate - BE falling out/unaff priority)
Barbury
Urchinwood (was just a riding school event...)
Longleat (Switched to unaff for 1 year, that also wasn't sustainable, so stopped)
Monmouth (not sure if that was cancelled for this year or forever?? but more of a farm event than a big parkland thing)
Belmont Park
Pulborough (still a permanent xc schooling venue and gallops)
Milton Keynes (again, still has xc schooling - think this was HS2 cancellation, possibly?)
Mattingley
Carlton (farmland)
Keysoe (not parkland, financial sustainability a problem - but also owner seems to be running a totally chaotic operation on all sports now)
Isleham (farmland rather than parkland - still a pony club track)
Great Witchingham (switched to unaff only - farmland rather than parkland)
Whitfield (HS2)
Stratford Hills (farmland - became unsustainable)
Weston Park (seems to have been lost probably forever, but not confirmed due to estate priorities)
Stafford (HS2)
Brand Hall
Buckminster Park (lost this year due to low entries - not sure if it will run again)
Berriewood (farmland - low entries)
Aske (low entries)
I'm Dun
Well-Known Member
Mk is still there but the owners didn't want to run it anymore. Lots of other stuff going on there, mainly camps and low key things though.
LEC
Opinions are like bum holes, everyone has one.
Longleat would be a classic example where the estate wanted £30k to run the eventing which just wasn’t sustainable so hence it moved to Nunney and is now run under the largesse of Angela Yeoman. I suspect National Trust would be similar - money making vs conservation as well. Wilton certainly went for wanting to make more money worth the hassle.
RachelFerd
Well-Known Member
and i think the other challenge on parkland venues is that I believe that the FEI preference is that FEI events are run at venues with all weather surfaces for the showjumping phase. Not something I'm a fan of since I've got a horse who much prefers jumping on grass, but I do understand why it is favoured in order to avoid situations like the one that happened in the SJ at Chatsworth this spring where there were endless horses falling foul of having too many rails down to be able to even continue onto the XC. Of course this favours the events with big permanent all weather arenas to use - Bicton, Kelsall, Hartpury, Somerford, Aston. And it did favour Keysoe too until the ownership change changed priorities.
What would be cool would to be somewhere like Bolesworth, or indeed Somerford, running simultaneous top class SJ/Dressage and Eventing in the same way that somewhere like Aachen does.
What would be cool would to be somewhere like Bolesworth, or indeed Somerford, running simultaneous top class SJ/Dressage and Eventing in the same way that somewhere like Aachen does.
Tiddlypom
Carries on creakily
It's Houghton Hall International (Norfolk) and Cholmondeley (Cheshire) who are parklands settings under the same ownership and who haven't run in 2023. The events were organised by Musketeer Event Management.
ycbm
Einstein would be proud of my Insanity...
Additions to your list RF, just within 2 hours travel -
Lyme (National Trust)
Sansaw.
Osmaston.
Henbury
Draycott
Marchington (farm)
Standish (farm)
Rodbaston (farm agricultural college)
Tetton Hall
We had the glory days of the big estates. I don't see how the sport can continue at the top levels unless perhaps there is some way that more profits can be made by new big crowd/shopping events to fund it. The higher levels above Novice (maybe including it) can't fund themselves by the event competition alone.
Lyme (National Trust)
Sansaw.
Osmaston.
Henbury
Draycott
Marchington (farm)
Standish (farm)
Rodbaston (farm agricultural college)
Tetton Hall
We had the glory days of the big estates. I don't see how the sport can continue at the top levels unless perhaps there is some way that more profits can be made by new big crowd/shopping events to fund it. The higher levels above Novice (maybe including it) can't fund themselves by the event competition alone.
spacefaer
Well-Known Member
Also lost:
Llandydrock
Penzance
Mollington
Pembrey
Llanfechain
Ferney Hall
Berrington
Taunton
Stilemans
Offchurch Bury
Wellesbourne
Llanover
Pencoed
Wellesbourne
Auchinleck
Burgie (big and little)
Aswanley
Eglinton
Kirriemuir
Thirlestain
Holker Hall
Somerleyton
Brigstock
Puriton Manor
Cheltenham (on the racecourse)
And one at a stud just off the A40 near Stokenchurch- anyone ?
And after this year
Stafford
Rockingham
Llandydrock
Penzance
Mollington
Pembrey
Llanfechain
Ferney Hall
Berrington
Taunton
Stilemans
Offchurch Bury
Wellesbourne
Llanover
Pencoed
Wellesbourne
Auchinleck
Burgie (big and little)
Aswanley
Eglinton
Kirriemuir
Thirlestain
Holker Hall
Somerleyton
Brigstock
Puriton Manor
Cheltenham (on the racecourse)
And one at a stud just off the A40 near Stokenchurch- anyone ?
And after this year
Stafford
Rockingham
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shortstuff99
Well-Known Member
Musketeer also run Barbury Castle which has been stripped of its international.
RachelFerd
Well-Known Member
Offchurch left and came back again... But any read of a 90s calendar will show that most events do not survive for the long term
anguscat
Well-Known Member
Ston Easton Park.
Windsor
Windsor
ycbm
Einstein would be proud of my Insanity...
Storeton Hall.
Winkburne.
Winkburne.
BronsonNutter
Well-Known Member
I would not be surprised if Osberton is lost from the BE calendar at some point too - after the previous landowner passed away (a stalwart fan of eventing and horses in general) many of the horsey events that used to be held on the estate have had to find alternative venues...
dixie
Well-Known Member
Stockton Lovell course is still there as they run a lot of camps from there but they came out of the competition market altogether.
We’ve also lost
Duchy College in the SW
Hatherleigh, I think
Is Bricky still going ?
We’ve also lost
Duchy College in the SW
Hatherleigh, I think
Is Bricky still going ?
Chiffy
Well-Known Member
What a depressing thread. So many names lost where I used to compete. I am now in Scotland and it’s my daughter, son in law and granddaughters who compete and there are so few venues. Floors Castle is the latest loss although I did hear there were discussions going on about it.
Patterdale
Well-Known Member
Witton
Thirlestane
Auchinleck
Hendersyde??
Hopetoun
Thirlestane
Auchinleck
Hendersyde??
Hopetoun
teapot
Well-Known Member
Can't speak for 4*s but if that's the case, the calendar will start to lose the likes of Wellington and South of England at the 2 and 3* levels, Cornbury too (if the family weren't propping BE up etc
) Also doesn't make much sense when the two toughest 5*s have show jumping on grass.Add Rackham, Wilton and Iping to the missing events list, though only Wilton had a house. There was somewhere deep in the New Forest too that had BE with a nice house, can anyone think of where that was? Had to fish Oli T out of the warm up for a steward the time I was there
Chiffy
Well-Known Member
Patterdale, Hopetoun ran twice this year, thought that was ok?
Hendersyde been gone for a while but still has a course, went there for Pony Club
Hendersyde been gone for a while but still has a course, went there for Pony Club
justine1559
Well-Known Member
Doddington Park
Rotherfield
Smith’s Lawn
Rotherfield
Smith’s Lawn
Patterdale
Well-Known Member
Oh that’s good then!! It went for a while though I think didn’t it??
Matafleur
Well-Known Member
Brockenhurst in the New ForestCan't speak for 4*s but if that's the case, the calendar will start to lose the likes of Wellington and South of England at the 2 and 3* levels, Cornbury too (if the family weren't propping BE up etc
Add Rackham, Wilton and Iping to the missing events list, though only Wilton had a house. There was somewhere deep in the New Forest too that had BE with a nice house, can anyone think of where that was? Had to fish Oli T out of the warm up for a steward the time I was there
anguscat
Well-Known Member
anguscat
Well-Known Member
I’ll be curious to see the fixtures list for next year.
Birker2020
Well-Known Member
I thought MK stopped due to a wind farm being built on part of their land. Their 3 day events were amazing fun I went a number of times with Bailey.
spacefaer
Well-Known Member
It'll be ALW every other weekend.
RachelFerd
Well-Known Member
And the worse thing is, it would still have tonnes of entries
LEC
Opinions are like bum holes, everyone has one.
Bricky has disappeared from the calendar this year with no reason. I suspect it has always struggled for entries and sometimes weather so didn’t want to take the risk. The calendar is dire this year. I do think we miss the regional reps a lot.
Bobthecob15
Well-Known Member
Can anything be done to stop these venues being lost? I'm not an eventer so have little knowledge of what's happening other than the insurance aspect...is it a lost cause??