The nothing?!?

[racingdemon]

I clicked intermediate, as although i've not done BE above 100, i used to do Open Pony club (so the same as BE novice) as well as Int/Open Team chasing & point to pointing, so fairly capable

I stopped doing RC about 5 years ago, I just found it horribly cliquey and seemed to jump from 2'6 to 3'6 with nothing much in between,

the one thing i will say in defence of BE (only do that) is that compared to P2Ping, (when i did it) BE is so accommodating, yes, you might not win gatcombe as a one horse amateur, but you can go out week in week out, on a fairly ordinary horse & providing you train hard etc, & you can produce a nice test & a double clear you can have some good results.... when i was p2ping, i remember one day lining up along side a horse that someone had paid £120k from france for.... it won in a hack canter, no matter how much I trained my horses, I couldn't compete with that kind of quality!

I do think that the 'professional amateur' isn't always well catered for, whether it is in the different disciplines or in the wider industry in terms of information/products/etc

 

[cptrayes]

I have been thinking about this a lot! and I think today at YHL it was clarified to me a little more.

I feel like I am a non existent, non catered for rider - I am not good enough for many things but too experienced for the majority of other things on offer.

I am a nothing and I am wondering how many others would consider themselves nothings?

I am not really catered for at RC as I am in the minority and most lessons do not go above 3ft or the flatwork ones are slightly frustrating so I end up having private lessons which cost £££.

Competitions - You want to move up as far as you can go but there seems to be a glass ceiling for amateurs. At BSJA the 1.20m amateurs are a joke, BE the novice championships should be renamed the Pro Festival - BD have got it nearly right with restricted and open and perhaps BD is the fairest sport for an amateur??

This is not really a moan but really to see who else would consider themselves a nothing?!? Surely we cannot be that huge a minority?

You have described me to a T. I knew I was something, now I know it's that I'm a nothing!