Weston Lawns today...... sorry rant.

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Peanot

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Friend went today for the 1.05m and Newcomers. She said that there was over 70 in the classes. She only did the 1.05m class then came home. Being as it is very popular and loads go, the heights of the fences are higher than maximum.
I know that I have gone on about this before but I am having confidence issues at the moment.
The builder is told by the owners to put the jumps up to get through the classes quicker. Well, the Newcomers was at 1.15m first round. I know this from a reliable source. What is the point of course builders building higher than what people are thinking that they are jumping. For example if someone is jumping Discovery height and practise JO height which is 1.05m at home, then they get to the show, see that the Discovery is at 1.05 in the first round, and they get nervous etc, and confidence is lost. Aren`t they supposed to encourage confidence at the lower levels? Out of 70 odd jumpers this morning, there was only 5 DCs.
Without looking at the rule book, I thought that they were maximum height not average height. So why do they build higher?
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I`m sorry to go on, but does anyone else feel the same or is it just me being a big fat chicken???
 
I thought that they are not allowed to build above max height, hence MAX height!!
If they expected lots of entries why don't they just build trickier courses not bigger.
 
weston lawns always do this. the first affill show i went to was really quiet, so they didnt bother "wacking the fences up"in the british novice, and it rode really nicely. next time i went, i thought we were in the discovery instead of the british novice by accident they were so big! coincedently, it was reallllly busy! and people where getting placed in the top 6 with 4 faults!
 
I would be furious especially if you had a young horse or was looking to upgrade for first time. I also thought they were max heights. Agreed they should make it trickier not bigger.
 
Well they are allowed to build bigger to compensate for ground conditions - bit different on a surface and a Discovery JO is 1.10 usually not 1.05. But I wouldn't be happy and would probably go jump somewhere else as they obviously don't want your custom
 
If it is the first round and you measure a fence and it is over the maximum you should take it up with the course builder. We jump often at weston lawns but I haven't noticed that the jumps are over height. The bsja state the height of the jumps and that is what they should be. If you don't have any joy with the course builder then you can take it up directly with the bsja.
 
They can't do this. Maybe you could report them to the BSJA? Hopefully they'd send along someone to see for themselves one day and they'd be told off for it!

Its in the rule book that there are max heights. I believe 80% of the course should be up to height (NOT over). If there's loads of entries, the course builder should make an effort to build the course more complicated like trickier lines etc. NOT just wack the height up. If you want to be jumping 1.15's then you'll bloody well enter a 1.15! Id be really peeved TBH and would complain.
 
I've jumped at Weston Lawns a lot - like twice a week at various times and have never noticed that, their fences are imposing so would look bigger and courses normally well built but never though them to be bigger than they are meant to be. Compared to a BE course a BSJA one will always look bigger as they build it all to max height not just 2 fences like BE but they can't go over it and the Wells's wouldn't be that silly to risk doing it.
 
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I've jumped at Weston Lawns a lot - like twice a week at various times and have never noticed that, their fences are imposing so would look bigger and courses normally well built but never though them to be bigger than they are meant to be. Compared to a BE course a BSJA one will always look bigger as they build it all to max height not just 2 fences like BE but they can't go over it and the Wells's wouldn't be that silly to risk doing it.

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my thoughts exactly!! the course builder decides what fences and of what height to use be it under or max, not the wells'. There were a hell of alot of people there today, with many event riders coming along to jump their younger horses and less experienced ones. The fences didnt seem over height in any of the classes
 
Actually the course builder builds the course and then the judges are supposed to approve it and they can change a course if they want to.
 
fair enough but its not down to m and h wells, its down to the course builder and judges. some places are known to build bigger and some smaller....i like the ones on the small side! lol
 
i quit agree all novice courses should be built to hight, the courses should be strait forword and inviting, not more complicated, course designers are part of the training team bringing on young horses not putting them off.
 
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Well they are allowed to build bigger to compensate for ground conditions - bit different on a surface and a Discovery JO is 1.10 usually not 1.05.

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Gosh, I didn`t realise that it was 1.10m JO.
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But I can guarantee that the New was 1.15m first round. The course builder today always builds bigger, as I know him, he is a friend. I`ve been when someone else was building and they seemed small compared to his courses. I liked these much better.
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I agree with above that they should make the courses trickier than higher to give us confidence and make us concentrate on our riding abilities rather than the size of the fences.
I was in the WL 1m championship qualifier one week and I thought it looked very big when I walked the course. Afterwards I found out that it was 1.05 as there had been a lot in the BN.
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I am not out to cause friction, but just airing my opinion on the size of the fences. If I enter a class where the max is 1m, I expect to jump 1m, not 1.05. Just wanted to get other views, cos believe me, I wish I could jump 1.10m without even worrying if they were bigger than they should be, but at the minute I am not as confident as I was.
 
I don't think they should build bigger or trickier on a BN/DISC/NEW/FOX as everyone should be jumping the same standard track to get their 4 DCs. An Open, yes make it more difficult, but the right height.
 
I have a niggling feeling that course builders have a 5cm leeway under the rules so can build larger if necessary. I do find most of the time though that if they use it there will only be a few fences at the larger height as if a hole lower it may be under height (remember at least 80% of the course has to be at maximum height in BNs etc).

I won't tell you the amount of times I have jumped 1m20/1m25 opens that have been 1m30+ because the class of the field warranted it. Blue chip saw the 1m25 open become 1m35 in the first phase and 1m45 in the second phase one year due to 110+ starters, they still had about 20 DCs!

I suppose I have got used to strong courses and I will always where ever possible make sure a horse is jumping the height it is competing +10cm at home so that an up to height course at a show will not appear imposing and I would happily prefer to jump an inviting big track then a technical underheight track anyday...

I can see why you were annoyed and the fact there were ony 5 DCs from 70 would suggest the course builder today made a bad judgement call as I would expect 15-20 DCs from that number generally.

Katie
 
Having been at Weston Lawns yesterday with my 4 year old at his 4th show i can say the fences were not over height. They were up to height and with all the fillers they use they will always look bolder. With a venue like Weston Lawns and the type of riders they get there the courses are always going to look bigger than some of the smaller show centres. I watched the 115cm which looked a very fair track to me, the first 15 in the class were eventers and you could see that they did struggle, they wouldn't be used to courses like that. We are very lucky to have a venue like Weston Lawns in the midlands and i for one can't believe how much it has helped my youngster.
 
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I've jumped at Weston Lawns a lot - like twice a week at various times and have never noticed that, their fences are imposing so would look bigger and courses normally well built but never though them to be bigger than they are meant to be. Compared to a BE course a BSJA one will always look bigger as they build it all to max height not just 2 fences like BE but they can't go over it and the Wells's wouldn't be that silly to risk doing it.

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I agree. Course builders can quite often make a course look bigger and bolder (Hickstead another example) but I would think it unlikely that a venue would consistently build 5cms over height in the first round.

And jump offs can be up to 10cms bigger than first round, so yes, a Discovery jump off can be 1.10 but isn't necessarily. Some venues it will be 1.05.
 
I have spoken with the course builder before who was building the course in the small arena. He has stold me that he is allowed a leeway of 5cm when he builds a course. He very often uses that leeway when he builds a course. His courses are normally or certainly appear larger than some other builders....but then again it's the same for every entrant. He likes to believe that if you have jumped clear around one of his courses you have earned it
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I agree, although most of the times they usually just look larger because they build nice and square there.
I must say the 1m05 was big on sunday, but i thought the newcomers was a very nice track and jumped well
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I do love weston lawns though!
 
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