Venues, do they think we are mind readers?

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be positive

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For the second time this summer one of my liveries has entered a dressage comp and been surprised when the times came out, first was unaff on a Sat and they started at 2pm we were expecting a time in the middle of the day, last class, and had a 6.30 time, not an issue for us luckily, we turned up allowing a 30 min warm up only to find due to numerous withdrawals, probably others expecting morning times couldn't rearrange their day, there was no one else waiting to go and the judge was 'ready for you now' a quick warm up and in before 6.30 as it felt rude to keep them waiting too long.
Horse went ok but rider felt under pressure to hurry up, we were not the only ones caught out, a friend turned away a very lucrative mornings teaching work as she had clients entered and like us expected it to be running from 9 am, website just said dressage and the date.
A different venue running dressage tomorrow, 12 classes, expected it to be daytime, nothing on website to say it wasn't, a message to check was not replied to so she entered only to find it is evening and due to other commitments she cannot go, we cannot be the only ones that have made arrangements based on the info given, she had taken the day off work and I expect others may have done the same, entries are extremely low and there will be at least one w/d now, others may have entered if they knew it was an evening rather than daytime so the venue must lose out.
Are we just unlucky having 2 venues with a similar way of running, they are both near us, have a fairly busy schedule and often run the same type of comp on the same day which must effect their entries, we have to choose which one to go to as they clash so often and both rarely have what I would think of as good entries for dr or sj .
 
I entered a warm up class at a championship. - that class late pm. Got 8 am time for venue 3 hours away. No indication that warm up the other end of the day to the championship class so wasted that entry.
 
BP, that's not good, especially when some events are crying out for entries.
Our 2 local big centres do have their events listed as 'evening' dressage etc, or at least put 'class 1 starting at 9am prompt' so you know what's what.

I'm naffed off with being asked (as a breed supporter, not personally) to support xyz shows as they are 'desperate' for entries, to then look up on line and find the in hand is at 9ish, then the ridden isn't till the afternoon, one specifically stated not before 3.30. Sod sitting on a showground for hours, that's one of the reasons I gave it up!
 
The Fuzzy Furry said:
I'm naffed off with being asked (as a breed supporter, not personally) to support xyz shows as they are 'desperate' for entries, to then look up on line and find the in hand is at 9ish, then the ridden isn't till the afternoon, one specifically stated not before 3.30. Sod sitting on a showground for hours, that's one of the reasons I gave it up!
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I like it when the inhands are Am and the riddens PM, it means no clashing classes if you do both and a nice lie in if you only do the riddens. When the inhands and riddens are running at the same time I don't enter the inhands as I hate clashing classes or having to do a quick change and shove a saddle on a horse to go straight into a ridden class from an inhand with no warm up.
 
FF they both have less entries than ideal, I don't know how they make any real money, we don't need an exact time but if they can put am/ pm or evening it may improve their entries and reduce the withdrawals, one place is definitely not open to constructive criticism, I once suggested they gave a bit more structure to a show they were running with about 100 classes running on 2 rings and got 'this is the way we do it' in reply so never bothered to attend for class 33 as it could have been anytime and life is too short.
Tomorrow has about 6-8 in the prelims, less, I think 2 now in one of the novices so hardly worth running.
 
be positive said:
FF they both have less entries than ideal, I don't know how they make any real money, we don't need an exact time but if they can put am/ pm or evening it may improve their entries and reduce the withdrawals, one place is definitely not open to constructive criticism, I once suggested they gave a bit more structure to a show they were running with about 100 classes running on 2 rings and got 'this is the way we do it' in reply so never bothered to attend for class 33 as it could have been anytime and life is too short.
Tomorrow has about 6-8 in the prelims, less, I think 2 now in one of the novices so hardly worth running.
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Cripes! Merrist always has good dressage entries whether unaff, rc or bd, unheard of to be less than mid teens in intro, prelim and novice (numbers can head up into 30 odd per class on occasions) tho sometimes less in higher level classes.

CG, that's ok if you prefer that, but I'm one who prefers maybe a short break or perhaps a couple of hours between but not 6 hrs, more so if there is a good drive there and back.
That said, our local RC show this weekend has ridden directly after in hand for all types, so native in hand then ridden, coloured in hand then ridden, same for veterans etc etc. On querying by several, all had the same cheery answer that nobody does in hand as well as ridden.... head desk.....
 
ester said:
I'd never think something was evening unless it specified that. They probably miss out on loads of entries for people who could make it after work!
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They will do, normally we would have not looked at midweek for this livery unless it said evening because the owner works mon-fri, she entered this because she has the day off work then setting off on holiday early evening, another livery is on shifts so can do days during the week so we are fairly on the ball with reading websites, just back from early eve sj which was very busy, different venue.
 
I've had venues run class 3 before class 2, so when I asked for a late time in class 2 and an early time in class 3 they've given me what I've asked for, but I've had 1.5 hours wait between the two because the classes have been run the wrong way round.
 
That reminds me of a venue that ran it's ODE's from class 4 to class 1 so entering in class 1 meant a very late start, entering class 3 or 4 expecting a pm start meant getting an 8.30 dressage and complete panic changing an entire days plans in order to leave home at 6am, they did this regularly and looked blank when questioned why they couldn't change the class number around to make it clearer, it was not logical but for them it was!!
 
I'm wondering whether you're near me, as I have this issue with two local venues. It's so annoying! One also organises clinics, but gives no indication of times when you book in and then only releases times the day before. So you have to keep the whole day clear, just in case... 🙄
 
Cowpony said:
I've had venues run class 3 before class 2, so when I asked for a late time in class 2 and an early time in class 3 they've given me what I've asked for, but I've had 1.5 hours wait between the two because the classes have been run the wrong way round.
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Yes, this is very annoying!

I know event organisers have a very difficult job to do (and I couldn't do it), but just a bit of guidance as to running order and timings would make a big difference. The centres and rc/pc events round here that do manage this well really do stand out.
 
I’ve had evening times beyond 10pm, request earlier for obvious reasons then they go and advertise the withdrawal slots earlier to the public knowing no one is going to chose to come down the centreline at 10.07 on a winters night for a novice test. Cheeky and puts you off entering again :(
 
One venue near us runs unaff in the morning and team quest after which usually means an afternoon time. This probably wouldn't be clear if you hadn't been before.

If you enter on horse monkey they indicate a start time.

Plus I always nosy at what the times were for the last comp to gauge times.
 
Had a nightmare with this last weekend.
I had a wedding to go to in the evening so needed time to "de-horse" - I had to leave the house by 3pm.

Found a BD comp to go to, start time for the 4 previous comps was 10-11am with very small entries of 2-5 in each class. HorseMonkey had it down as an 11am start. I messaged the venue to ask what time they were starting, and was told "probably 11am".

Times come out... 1PM START, my time is 1.30 so obviously not feasible. I was not a happy bunny. Sent them a polite message informing them of my withdrawl and asking if it would be possible to consider a refund.. to which I've had no reply.

It's super frustrating. As an event organiser myself we stick to the same start time (10am) unless we need to change things, and then it's well advertised as such.
 
It's really frustrating isn't it.

I had a situation a few weeks ago, I had booked into do a BD test. Checked my time when the times came out, had everything planned and ready. Happened to check my time again the morning of the test as I couldn't remember my number and my time had been moved 45 minutes earlier. No email, call, text or post on facebook to say the times had changed.

Luckily I did manage to spot it, but if I hadn't I wouldn't have been a happy bunny!
 
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