Whats the ground at Keysoe like?

[Dusty85]

Hi all,

So Im planning on doing the unaffiliated ODE at Keysoe at the beginning of August...does anyone know what the ground will be like?

Do they ever water/equivate for unaffiliated events?

I will only be doing the 90cm class but not sure if I want to waste the entry fee/diesel if the ground will be like rock!! (And I may well take him to the beach that day instead...)

Thanks all!

 

[shortstuff99]

It can be hard, but the dressage and SJ is often on a surface and the XC is sanded with rubber on a lot of it.

 

[Jane_Lou]

I wouldn't run there unaffiliated unless I knew they had done work on the XC course. Its on clay and they have done a lot of work to improve the ground in recent years but I wouldn't think that would be enough on its own. I took a couple of friends over for an unaf event a couple of years back and it wasn't great but they may well do more now.

 

[Carefreegirl]

We did the BE90 several weeks ago and said that if it had been held a week later the ground would of been to hard. Pray for rain !

 

[Jane_Lou]

We did the BE90 several weeks ago and said that if it had been held a week later the ground would of been to hard. Pray for rain !

Exactly - there is a good reason their BE events are May and September!

 

[Holidays_are_coming]

I walked round it last week to check out the intermediate course and it has been agrivated and he has spread a kind of mulch down on the track, I'm very fusdy about ground and I thought the track looked good I wouldn't have gone off it though

 

[foraday]

Having just competed there this week for the SJ the arena failed and we all withdrew on the wednesday evening, that's the outdoor arena next to the shops and cafe. The surface has not been cared for and rode loose. Even the next day the surface was still too loose

There has been no watering on that so would even doubt anything happening on the xc course.

We walked our dogs around it as wanted to see a xc course up close and found a livery there from the wooden far barn who events. She says that the muck heap has been emptied and spread on the xc course so that's the 'mulch' that is evident which would obviously be for the grass to grow surely? I am no eventer just a SJ

I personally would not pop a horse round there unless Keysoe actually did some serious work there, the ground was rock hard and I mean rock! So unless it threw it down with rain for the next two weeks.

 

[shortstuff99]

I'm surprised you didn't like the outdoor the going is normally fab! Also I believe the surface is Vaseline coated so does not need watering? However I feel most eventing around here is going to be like rock at the moment!

 

[Bestdogdash]

I did the BE Novice there (May I think) and the 'prepared' XC course was mostly rock hard. Made a mental note not to go back unless LOTS of rain. Certainly wouldn't think of it of it in this weather. Given it is a fully time equestrian facility they should do a lot better - they get the same entry fees as others eg Aston, who always try very hard.

 

[Dusty85]

Thanks for all your replies.

I think I won't enter, but instead I think I'll take him for a day out at the beach instead!!

 

[keysoe]

Having just competed there this week for the SJ the arena failed and we all withdrew on the wednesday evening, that's the outdoor arena next to the shops and cafe. The surface has not been cared for and rode loose. Even the next day the surface was still too loose
.

I am sorry but this is absolute rubbish

We just ran our CSI this week, so on Wednesday, unless you were competing internationally, you were not here. Surface worked brilliantly BTW

We are in the process of putting more organic matter on the XC. It is hard now, in May we were running with ground that had totally dried out, with a combination of surface treatments and agrivating, we got to conditions that worked well. Will be the same for autumn events. We cannot agrivate weekly for schooling, as excessive machinery use destroys the turf, but for events we can bring the ground around

 

[Dusty85]

Will you be doing anything to prepare the ground for your unfilliated event on aug 4th? X

 

[keysoe]

Yes, about to go spreading. Also on the hunt for a bowser