PolarSkye
Well-Known Member
First - I need to say two things:
1) I put this in here rather than CR b/c I wasn't actually riding; and
2) We actually had an amazing day, but this one element really did irk me
Went to T-down today - my birthday treat. Went with my two daughters, a family friend and a picnic. Also went today b/c two of my yard mates, plus three other friends were competing so we wanted to cheer them on. After spending time watching dressage and SJ, we headed out to the x-country course and parked ourselves at the water complex to have our picnic.
The fence judging was appalling. For the earlier sections the judges positioned themselves with their backs to the second element of the fence (the log on the way out) so couldn't see if riders had a run out. There were a lot of refusals early on and riders began to pile up a little (not literally, just a bit of a queue) but there was no management/order and while one rider was trying to jump out of the rider, another was arsing about on the bank causing the aforementioned rider to have a runout at the log. We didn't hear them blow the whistle once - and we were there 6 hours - despite people walking in front of or letting their dogs play in front of the jumps as riders were approaching. Runners/officials often parked their motorcyles in such a way as to block one of the optional lines the riders could take and more than one rider had to change the line at the last minute - once resulting in a refusal. On one occasion the young lad ran back from using the portaloo exactly when a horse and rider who were having a particularly sticky time had jumped into the water - horse spooked and stopped. Also, young lad spooked several horses by moving his chair just as horse and rider were at the fence (they were sitting too close) or twirled the umbrella he was holding.
I've never seen such poor fence judging. If I had been unfortunate enough to encounter these two and they had hindered my horse, I'd be spitting feathers.
Who do I moan to?
P
1) I put this in here rather than CR b/c I wasn't actually riding; and
2) We actually had an amazing day, but this one element really did irk me
Went to T-down today - my birthday treat. Went with my two daughters, a family friend and a picnic. Also went today b/c two of my yard mates, plus three other friends were competing so we wanted to cheer them on. After spending time watching dressage and SJ, we headed out to the x-country course and parked ourselves at the water complex to have our picnic.
The fence judging was appalling. For the earlier sections the judges positioned themselves with their backs to the second element of the fence (the log on the way out) so couldn't see if riders had a run out. There were a lot of refusals early on and riders began to pile up a little (not literally, just a bit of a queue) but there was no management/order and while one rider was trying to jump out of the rider, another was arsing about on the bank causing the aforementioned rider to have a runout at the log. We didn't hear them blow the whistle once - and we were there 6 hours - despite people walking in front of or letting their dogs play in front of the jumps as riders were approaching. Runners/officials often parked their motorcyles in such a way as to block one of the optional lines the riders could take and more than one rider had to change the line at the last minute - once resulting in a refusal. On one occasion the young lad ran back from using the portaloo exactly when a horse and rider who were having a particularly sticky time had jumped into the water - horse spooked and stopped. Also, young lad spooked several horses by moving his chair just as horse and rider were at the fence (they were sitting too close) or twirled the umbrella he was holding.
I've never seen such poor fence judging. If I had been unfortunate enough to encounter these two and they had hindered my horse, I'd be spitting feathers.
Who do I moan to?
P
