Strathallan and Hopetoun 2011/Scottish Fixtures

I have just posted a facebook campaign too - posted to Scottish horse, the ERA page itself and also My local saddle club Gannochy as I know alot of members there started off doing BE due to the ability to do the BE80 at Strathallan. Hopefully that will boost numbers more :D
 
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Thanks Kirkton and Noodlejaffa!! Duh - it's easy once you know it's there! I'm glad I'm not the only one who is either blind or a numpty (or both).
 
Oops! Wrote that wrong - meant to say I am blind and a numpty, and glad I wasn't the only one that couldn't find it!!! In a rush answering at work is never a good idea! I'll go on ERA tonight and add to the list. Thanks again!!
 
Will add my voice to the list and will let other folks know.

I know it a bit churlish but if Hopetoun manage to annoy enough local Scottish grassroot riders - where will they get all their helpers from? They were desperate last year but I think that said something about them being disorganized (unlike Scone)
 
Strathallan must be saved and we must let BE know of our problems with Hopetoun.

With my scone hat on I know we would be happy to run the CIC** and indeed asked to do so but were told that Hopetoun were getting it. This was somewhat annoying considering we had stepped in at the last minute to run the CIC** in August following Huttons cancellation.

On a purely personal note (Scone hat off!) I am also of the understanding that the new organising committee at Hopetoun are "professionals" and therefore are making money out of this event. I personally would be unlikely to "volunteer" to help if this is indeed the case. I think (with the exception of possibly Blair) all other scottish events are run purely by volunteers who give up their free time for the love of the sport and I think this should be encouraged in Scotland to ensure entry fees do not creep any higher.

I personally would welcome any new events at a higher in particular Advanced/CIC*** in scotland as it would save me travel/money but I am not sure I will be supporting Hopetoun if it does run.

Just one think Kirkton "Basically, the very small handfull of Scottish riders with CIC** and CIC*** horses have been assumed to be more important than the 500+ riders that got to Strathallan" as far as I am aware no scottish cic** or cic*** riders were consulted in this move so please don't blame us. We tend to spend more more on registrations etc for even fewer events!
 
gracemoran said:
Just one think Kirkton "Basically, the very small handfull of Scottish riders with CIC** and CIC*** horses have been assumed to be more important than the 500+ riders that got to Strathallan" as far as I am aware no scottish cic** or cic*** riders were consulted in this move so please don't blame us. We tend to spend more more on registrations etc for even fewer events!
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Sorry - fair point. I think what I meant was .....That BE think that since Hopetoun is putting on a CIC** and CIC*** it is therefore more important than Strathallan despite the fact that only a handfull of Scottish riders will enter the CIC classes and 500+ will be left without Strathallan.

Having paid the registration fees for an advanced horse for the last 2 years I know how horribly expensive they are - and we only ran ours at PN so did not have the fuel bills you had.:eek:

Sorry again - in the heat of the moment I phrased that part poorly!:) I'm not 'blaming' riders of any level, I'm blaming BE for not consulting any riders
 
I have a horrible feeling that this new Hopetoun horse trials is going to go tits up - it is such a fantastic venue but there is obviously some major issues between the old and new organisers (whoever they are) and they have some quite high ambitions. I would love to see it become a success but am very wary - it's obviously going to step on a few toes (Scone). Does anyone have any idea who these new organisers are? If anyone knows please PM me - I am interested on a business level, not just as a competitor. Thank you.
 
I understand that BE in their wisdom wanted a CIC** in the northern area in a specific three week period, which included the Strathallan date. The new, and I believe professional, for profit, organisation, made the successful bid to run the event.

In the event of a conflict of dates BE seem to operate a system of allocating the date to the event running the highest class over that wishing to run lower classes. So Hopetoun offering CIC** roughly equivalent to an International Intermediate class gets precedence over Strathallan running an Intermediate Novice.

Not to my mind fair to remove a well run and established event from it's long established date to accommodate a new event. At least it seems a new event as the old committee appear to have been disbanded and their assets sold.
 
At the risk of getting shot by BE ......The new organising team is headed by Stuart Buntine (sp?) http://www.bedeltd.co.uk/about_us.html aka Express Eventing!

The old committee ..... I resigned after the event ..... One other was sent a letter saying they were no longer required after years of hard work ..... and the Main organiser (Peter) was told at a dinner party that Stuart was taking over. Ie NOT by BE or the estate. I know he was not popular with everyone but he invested a huge amount of time and money into Scottish Eventing and deserved better treatment. The other joint organiser - I'm not sure, they may still be on board with Stuart Buntine as a bit of 'local knowledge'
 
Sorry to ask a really numpty question - but couldnt the two events run on the same weekend? would the issue be with lack of helpers and/or entries?


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I would have thought "yes" and "yes" to both your issues listed Ems. Plus the equipment (I presume) is shared amongst events for the timing, SJs etc? And with so many free weekends in the Scottish calendar why should there be two so close distance wise (within an hour's travelling time) together on the same weekend?

I don't want to lose either Strathallan or the lower levels at Hopetoun. :(
 
Been following this thread with interest.

I love Hopetoun and Strathallan, and this whole situation is sad and puzzling.

Scotland does need more international classes and I have noted this to BE myself back when we had a suitable horse to run at that level. Thirlestane is a big miss.

Why does this not surprise me:

kirkton said:
At the risk of getting shot by BE ......The new organising team is headed by Stuart Buntine (sp?) http://www.bedeltd.co.uk/about_us.html aka Express Eventing!
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I have nothing against Mr Buntine but I do recall back in 2007 when he asked to take on and was given the PC Champs. to run at Shelford Manor. This was going to be the new showpiece for the Pony Club for years to come.
Anyone else there? Shambles would be kind.
 
FigJam said:
I would have thought "yes" and "yes" to both your issues listed Ems. Plus the equipment (I presume) is shared amongst events for the timing, SJs etc? And with so many free weekends in the Scottish calendar why should there be two so close distance wise (within an hour's travelling time) together on the same weekend?

I don't want to lose either Strathallan or the lower levels at Hopetoun. :(
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I agree - they are so close distance wise its unreal, must be 40miles away from each other at a guesstimate! And if I was riding at blair would I want to run two weeks before that? I would have though the riders at this level would prefer to have events spread out across the calander, just comes across as inconsiderate to all levels of riders, to the event planners of Strathallan and to the Roberts family who are great supporters of local horse events of all kinds at Strathallan.
 
Whilst supporting a purely Scottish calender, BE consider Scotland to be part of the Scottish and Northern area. In reality most events need our English based riders, particularly in the higher classes, to run a viable event.

We appear to have a 26 week eventing season and in Scotland we run 19 events, if we include the whole Scottish and Northern area then the number of events run rises to35. There are in fact only 3 weekends in the Scottish and Northern area where there is no event run.

Where there have been two events run in the Scottish and Northern area one in Scotland and one in England in the same weekend some of the Scottish events have suffered a drop in entries. The running of Hopetoun and Strathallan on the same weekend would probably mean neither was viable and both would suffer the cancellation of the event. It would in any case it not be allowed by BE.
 
Old Course Builder said:
Where there have been two events run in the Scottish and Northern area one in Scotland and one in England in the same weekend some of the Scottish events have suffered a drop in entries.
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Which was IMO allowed to happen a ridiculous amount of times this year....
Kirriemuir with Eden Valley
Hutton (1) clashed with Burgie,
Oatridge with Hexham,
Hopetoun with Aske (1),
Scone (2) with Richmond (2),
Aswanely with Hutton (2),
Wee Burgie with Aske (2)....

in fact who on earth planned this year's callendar??!!
 
Old Course Builder said:
Where there have been two events run in the Scottish and Northern area one in Scotland and one in England in the same weekend some of the Scottish events have suffered a drop in entries. The running of Hopetoun and Strathallan on the same weekend would probably mean neither was viable and both would suffer the cancellation of the event. It would in any case it not be allowed by BE.
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Viz Hutton and Burgie - both fantastic events and it would be nice to be able to support both or take a horse to, say, Hutton's CIC* and then on to Burgie's CCI*.
 
Clashing events sometimes have no effect on Scotlands entries. Kirriemuir, Oatridge and Hopetoun all ran about 240 runners so would be considered full. The others were not so fortunate
 
Old Course Builder said:
Clashing events sometimes have no effect on Scotlands entries. Kirriemuir, Oatridge and Hopetoun all ran about 240 runners so would be considered full. The others were not so fortunate
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Perhaps they have no effect on the number of runners, no, but what about providing competitiors with the right to choose to do both events, and thus support both scotland and northern england?!

None of the events you mention above balloted this year - that does not make them 'full' to their entirety.
 
bogpony said:
Which was IMO allowed to happen a ridiculous amount of times this year....
Kirriemuir with Eden Valley
Hutton (1) clashed with Burgie,
Oatridge with Hexham,
Hopetoun with Aske (1),
Scone (2) with Richmond (2),
Aswanely with Hutton (2),
Wee Burgie with Aske (2)....

in fact who on earth planned this year's callendar??!!
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This affected me a few times this year - living in Cumbria most of these events (except Kirriemuir, Burgie and Aswanley) are within 3 hours travelling. Unfortunately did not get to Scone as Richmond is a lot closer but normally would have made the effort to go. Burgie have had a tough time - 2 clashes in the year just does not seem fair!
 
Burgie seems to have been hit hardest, the BE were ridiculous in putting on Longleat, Hutton and Burgie on the same weekend, all with international classes. Longleat and Burgie have often clashed but they are so far apart in distance that it wouldnt make too much difference to entries.

BE really really need to look at the events calander at a wider regional level regarding scotland and northern england.
 
Could not agree more about riders choice to do all possible events but theproblem is that to avoid conflict we need a longer season which is not practical, the first two af the events of the season Witton and Turnberry both cancelled. We have 7 clashing dates and I think 4 event free weekends in the season in the Scottish and Northern area.

I would not get too concerned about balloting being an indicator of an event being full in the Sottish and Northern area. The three events I listed all seemed to have closed their entries sometime before the event. BE recommend no more than 250/260 runners in a day so a figure of about 240 actual runners on the day would indicate a pretty full event. Interestingly all the events mentioned only run one day it seems that when Scottish events go to two days there are difficulties in filling the days.
 
FigJam said:
A quick bit of number crunching on bdwp shows 235 riders/horses listed for Saturday and 250 listed for Sunday at Strathallan this year...
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I was told by 'a well know Scottish entries secretary' :D that Strathallan was in fact the busiest Scottish event in terms of entries and wait lists etc.

Interestesting to note that when Hopetoun tried to run over 2 days it was not a sucess at all.

The nuts and bolts of it is that we need BE to prioritise Scottish events in terms of popularity and not in terms of 'highest class run'. I think they need to recognise that we have a higher proportion of grassroots riders to pros than in the south of England. (Yes, I know that there are non-pros who ride at high levels - I myself have a horse with 25 points and very few places to run him!)
 
Its such a shame that it has come down to this and us North of the border are being penalised. Its starting to make me wonder why I pay for BE membership sometimes! :mad:

Seriously now consdering taking another HHO-ers suggestion and spend 30 minutes with L'Oreal Excellence and the flying coo and turn him into a Totilas looky likey and join the ranks of BD!!!:D:D
 
FigJam said:
A quick bit of number crunching on bdwp shows 235 riders/horses listed for Saturday and 250 listed for Sunday at Strathallan this year...
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How many of these approx 485 riders will make their voice heard about no strathallan in 2011 or those that are likely to run at hopetoun stay quiet? I hope more folks let BE know their feelings
 
I just had the following reply from BE Scotland's Regional Director.

"Thank you for your comments re Scottish dates.
The Fixture list for 2011 is not finalised yet so I do not think it
approriate at this stage to comment on a particular Event.
As you rightly say there is a Fixtures Protocol to assist all BE
Organisers in understanding the placement of their Events. The reason
for starting from the top is that as you will appreciate all
International, Advanced and Intermediate Events have to be considered
nationally to give Events of that level a chance of being commercially
viable but also to give riders the oppurtunities required to qualify
so that horses and riders can progress up the levels."
 
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