Well we won't be going to our village show then..

[henryhorn]

Got the schedule for our local show today (Bank Holiday Monday) and it's been taken over by someone with kids in mind. No course higher than 2' 6" (even the Open) and the WH will also be low apparently.
We had planned to take two horses in the WH and SJ, but at that height they are likely to knock them down, so won't bother.
Other years they have had decent height courses but the end bit on the entry form made it clear what they were aiming for. "Please don't forget at all times this is a fun show!"
Never mind, it's a great little show to wander round with lots of stands, ferris wheel etc and beer tent plus some sheep, perhaps we'll go and be "normal" visitors instead of competitors.

 

[I_A_P]

thats so silly"!! and annoying, i remember when i used to want to do little things with my old horse that there was always at least a 3ft3 and mostly a 3ft6, but now u dont even get that, whch in some ways forces u to affiliate to try a bigger class, even if u only want it for experience!! out local rc shows only go up to 3ft3 and they r rarely up 2 height!

 

[lilym]

it's a shame they can't cater for everyone, i am a wimp when it come to jumping and i like to do 2ft classes to build both of our confidence, but often find that that height is for under 16's.......

 

[Toby_Zaphod]

This seems to happen alot. I was at a show last weekend & for some reason the entry numbers were down. Classes were being won without a jumpoff & the course builder wasn't putting the jumps up to the correct height for the next class. The result was that by the end of the day the Open Class was at least 4 holes lower than it should have been. By doing this the integrity of the class is compromised & those who enter the open because they want to jump 3'6"-3'9" (the correct height) in the first round are being cheated. The programmes should state height of jumps & these should be adhered to. Unfortunately the term 'Fun Show' invariably means tiny jumps, Fancy Dress, & very little for the adult rider. Sorry to be on my soap box but It pees me off.

 

[hairycob]

A lot of the unaffiliated shows around here are cancelling the higher classes due to lack of entries.

 

[Ludi-doodi]

It was our yard show (open to public not just the yard) yesterday and is usually quite popular with kids and adults alike but in recent years they have stopped doing an 'open' show jumping class because of so few entries. The Novice horse jumping class was 2'6 - 2'9 in the first round and 2'9 - 3'0 in the jump off, there weren't any no doubles or water trays etc, simple straight forward course(which was difficult considering the arena was very long, but narrow!). For intermediate it was 2'9-3' in first round and 3'0 - 3'3 in jump off. For this course we put in a double and a triple, water tray, parallels and spreads. The one thing I did notice was that it was mostly teenagers in both classes, not sure why the adults didn't show up this year.