Stayaway at the weekend

[Abi90]

Rosie and I ventured out to a UA stayaway at the weekend. I was pretty excited, and the venue was lovely. Rosie seemed settled and travelled with one of her best pals.

Unfortunately they decided to run a charity families open day/promo day for their new arena side bar at the same time. By the time we got to my classes there were 500+ people around the arena, a live band, a fire pit, children having a great time shrieking and playing football, kids and adults with their feet dangling into the arena, kids playing football next to the arena and the ball occasionally ending up in the arena.

Sadly it was all too much for a horse that I had definitely never thought would have to contend with a carnival atmosphere at an unaffiliated show.

Lots of horses stopping and stressing, lots of upset kids when their normal saint of pony was rearing or running out, lots of annoyed Mums, lots of annoyed adult riders too.

Second day the chaos was over but Rosie refused to go into the ring. Hoping this doesn’t transfer over to other venues.

Feel rather disappointed that something I didn’t know about and that was out of my control effectively wasted a weekend away, maybe I could have desensitised her better but not sure how unless I had taken her to a funfair prior to the show

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

What a stupid thing to do knowing they had a horse show I'm not surprised the horses were on edge.

Did the organisers not tell you when you entered?

 

[Abi90]

What a stupid thing to do knowing they had a horse show I'm not surprised the horses were on edge.

Did the organisers not tell you when you entered?

Nope. Had no idea about it until the evening before. Had no idea they would all be down by the ring until I got there with the horse!

AND it was unaffiliated, so horses potentially less used to an atmosphere.

They had used the showjumping as a draw for the crowds on the families day poster though it seemed.

I was pretty damn annoyed at wasting £140.

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

Nope. Had no idea about it until the evening before. Had no idea they would all be down by the ring until I got there with the horse!

AND it was unaffiliated, so horses potentially less used to an atmosphere.

They had used the showjumping as a draw for the crowds on the families day poster though it seemed.

I was pretty damn annoyed at wasting £140.

Thats ridiculous I would be wanting my money back they should have told everyone beforehand.

 

[Abi90]

Thats ridiculous I would be wanting my money back they should have told everyone beforehand.

Alas I think they will argue that some horses coped just fine, as not everything had a melt down.

A friend left a rather snotty review on their website and has not had a response.

It was a shame because its a lovely venue with lovely stayaway facilities but it became a bit of a colossal waste of time and money plus I now might have to go back to square one to getting a sensitive horse happy in a competition atmosphere again

 

[Tiddlypom]

Run by non horsey people?

Please share where it was so that people can be aware of might await them if they visit.

 

[Squeak]

Were they potentially not expecting it to be as busy as that? 500+ people sounds like a lot to have turned up.

The ball ending up in the ring sounds dangerous and should have been stopped but the rest of it sounds like it was just additional atmosphere that was outside the ring and I would expect a stay away to have a bit more about it than a normal show.

If they had given the impression that it was a low key event that was designed for green and nervous horses then that is another thing entirely.

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

That is so annoying hopefully she will be OK at a different venue.

 

[Abi90]

Were they potentially not expecting it to be as busy as that? 500+ people sounds like a lot to have turned up.

The ball ending up in the ring sounds dangerous and should have been stopped but the rest of it sounds like it was just additional atmosphere that was outside the ring and I would expect a stay away to have a bit more about it than a normal show.

If they had given the impression that it was a low key event that was designed for green and nervous horses then that is another thing entirely.

No I don’t think they were expecting it to be that busy.

We’ve been to plenty of stay away shows with “a bit” more atmosphere at places like Arena UK but I’m not sure I’ve ever been to even a high level event as a spectator where people have their legs in the ring and there are kids running around screaming everywhere. My friend’s experienced showjumper went in, reared 3 times and they got eliminated at the first fence.

The kids were just being kids at a family event. It just wasn’t very compatible with a UA event that started at 50cm. I’d say maybe at BS you could argue that horses should maybe have been able to cope.

 

[Abi90]

Run by non horsey people?

Please share where it was so that people can be aware of might await them if they visit.

It was a charity event for the RDA at Onley. I think it was a one off. The venue was lovely and the staff very apologetic and I think regretted it slightly

 

[humblepie]

That is a very smart facility now isn’t it but not what you expect to be alongside an unaffiliated competition. Not very well thought out.

 

[Abi90]

That is a very smart facility now isn’t it but not what you expect to be alongside an unaffiliated competition. Not very well thought out.

If it had been at BS then I absolutely wouldn’t have been annoyed. Especially as the BN and even the Disco would have been done before the open day started, but I just felt somewhat unfair for the UA lot

But yeh, its an amazing facility and their new bar and grill is fantastic and does tasty yummy food

 

[humblepie]

Whatever the level legs hanging over the fence and playing football not really sensible. Haven’t tried the food but good to have a review

 

[teapot]

The use of the words 'show jumping demo' on their fb page re the open day is one way of advertising!

 

[Abi90]

The use of the words 'show jumping demo' on their fb page re the open day is one way of advertising!

I’m not on facebook much and I was only looking at the adverts for the showjumping. Tbh they’ve got 6 arenas, a “showjumping demo” is a bit vague and could have been one person in one of those. Its easier to see the link in hindsight.