Your Horse Live... comments?

Meredith

Meredith

riding reluctantly into the sunset
Joined
21 February 2013
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the sat-nav is wrong, go farther up the hill
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I went for the first time today Friday.

I won’t comment on the mud or the parking as that is on another thread.

Directional signage is rubbish. I got lost more times than I could count.
Programme is confusing. The list is alphabetical and the map random numerical. Neither make for easy reading.
Friend wanted jods. No changing area, so pay, go to the loo, try on, return item, get refund. At the fourth place on being told no changing room she gave up.

For items personal to me.
Very few numnahs, all saddlecloths
No Champion hats that I could find.
I was able to try on more brands of boots ( I have difficult to fit feet!) and buy both smart and casual long riding boots.

What are your comments?
 
Finding the car parks wasn't a problem because I knew where I was going but I can see how it would be confusing if you didn't. There seemed to be multiple signs all pointing in different directions.
I wanted a new LeMieux numnah, the person I asked didn't actually know what a numnah was. Turns out they hadn't bought any with them, just saddlepads. They had a minuscule amount on sale, mostly tendon and overreach boots and nothing like they have had in the past.
The smaller feed and bedding traders were really helpful, good advice and samples of feed given out.
Some nice human food and drink suppliers, Hay Wine had some cracking port 😁 and I bought my mango and brandy Christmas pudding. Yum.
Didn't think places like Hope Valley and Tower Saddlery had much variety either. I wanted some Shires winter riding tights which I know they have online and found one pair in xs.
Wasn't at all busy until about 1pm.

I did enjoy it but hardly spent anything.
 
First trip for us and takes a bit of getting the hang of it but I soon learnt how to spend money! Lots of other things going on and thanks to a LOVELY friend we had tickets for the main arena and saw Lee Pearson and fellow riders which was just wonderful. We also saw Charlotte D giving a lesson to two girls one on a 4 year old and the other a 9 year old so covered lots of things. So we had a very good first experience.
My spoils were a 300gm stable rug for £25, an end of line bossybib for £10, my joint supplement I use with a BOGOF and quite a bit of beautiful chocolate from a HHO member. I also thought I had found a lovely horse for my OH in the rescue tent but it was Hovis and he is happy in his current home!!!!!!!
 
My first trip there today (Friday). Thoroughly enjoyed it and thought it very good value for £21. We saw the paralympic riders do lovely demos of their different levels of work, led by Lee Pearson, then we saw Charlotte Dujardin instruct two riders one on a 4yo and the other on an established 10yo, then we watched Ben Atkinson's beautiful liberty work and fascinating as he explained and showed how he introduces the young horses to it. 400 stands to peruse for shopping. Not too crowded so we had time to chat with many stall holders and fill out lots of surveys and free prize draws. Bought a couple of Christmas presents, some bargain price gloves, a rug and some of my horse's usual joint supplement at a discount price. A lovely day.
 
Thought they tried to do their best with parking given the state of the ground but can't for the life of me fathom the tour of Warwickshire on the route in - only to end up within 200 yds of the main gate for parking. Not the first time there but always lose my way between the halls. Agree the signage needs to be better and would it not be possible to link the programme list of companies etc better to the halls they are actually in? Eg Hall layout on one page with list on the other. A composite alphabetical list at the end is helpful but finding them is another matter. Good demos in the Country and Stable Arena too.
 
There were different online prices before it opened on Friday. Normal shopper was £18, if you wanted to get into the arena without a guaranteed seat it was £21. On the gate yesterday just a shopper ticket was £28 so another £10 for not booking in advance.
 
I though it was great this year, I never watch the shows as I go alone and purely to shop and see new products. I also paid 12 plus booking fee for ticket as I found a code someone had posted on here which would have let me go in to the shows had I wanted to as well.

I spent far too much money as I go alone I am able to take shopping back to car and start again with fresh hands a couple of times which I would say is a top tip for any first timers :D

Watched the clipping demo for first time and thought it was v interesting 😊
 
Not been for 4/5 years but decided to visit this year. Because of previous visits, I know the layout and had no problem navigating the parking area and the venue itself. We parked on hard standing this year due to the wet ground.

Saw both of Charlotte’s performances - queued for around 30mins to get seated which I didn’t mind - there were still seats available after the performance had started - in previous years ALL the seats have been filled. The best (most centrally positioned seats) were all reserved for VIP ticket holders - gone are the days of first come, first served 😉

I found the shopping disappointing. A few premium brands on show but mainly it was cheap tat. Lemieux had lots of discounts but on limited sizes and nothing that I wanted. I remember being spoiled for choice if I wanted new rugs or an expensive saddle cloth.

The food outlets were dire. Chips, burgers, the usual rubbish all at top prices. Glad I took a sandwich 😉

I enjoyed it - If only for the demos I watched but, I won’t be going next year.
 
I went today for the first time. No issues with signage or mud but it was birthday treat and had the VIP package. Parking was good and food and coffee were included.

I enjoyed the three demos I went to. I bought some riding tights, can't remember from which place (it began with a T) but was able to try them on. I am not big on shopping so didn't spend much time going round it and didn't see it all.

Got to see Hovis and Teddy too.
 
I'm here for the whole weekend on the TREC GB stand (blatant plug!). It seems less busy than I remember it, and with fewer demos? I bought a lovely Regatta softshell jacket for £20 so there are bargains to be had - I look forward to another foray tomorrow.

And for anyone who is planning to go tomorrow, if you are even vaguely interested in fining out about TREC, check out the TREC demo in the smaller arena at 11.30 and come and say hello to us on the stand opposite Hovis and the clipping area:)
 
[QUOTE="Landcruiser, post: 14131879, member: 84205"
And for anyone who is planning to go tomorrow, if you are even vaguely interested in fining out about TREC, check out the TREC demo in the smaller arena at 11.30 and come and say hello to us on the stand opposite Hovis and the clipping area:)[/QUOTE]

Oh dear, I walked straight past you yesterday.
 
Landcruiser said:
I'm here for the whole weekend on the TREC GB stand (blatant plug!). It seems less busy than I remember it, and with fewer demos? I bought a lovely Regatta softshell jacket for £20 so there are bargains to be had - I look forward to another foray tomorrow.

And for anyone who is planning to go tomorrow, if you are even vaguely interested in fining out about TREC, check out the TREC demo in the smaller arena at 11.30 and come and say hello to us on the stand opposite Hovis and the clipping area:)
Click to expand...

I spoke to a lovely lady on the TREC stand Friday, think she had an ex racer, hello again if that was you. Am v excited for my local TREC rep person to get in touch after the show as think my cobbler will love it 😀
 
We had a good day today, enjoyed the demos in the Country and Stable Arena, especially Ben Atkinson and his liberty team. I was looking for new boots and managed to try on loads before finding my pair, which was great. Also picked up some softshell fleece lined breeches and was able to try them on.

Downsides were the muddy parking and the queuing to get in (45 minutes which meant we missed Charlotte’s demo) - never had to queue like that in previous years. I also really wanted to treat myself to the Le Mieux heritage GP saddle cloth in plum but they only had dressage squares and CC ones - I’ll live though!
 
We’ve been most years since it started. I remember wistfully being able to find a seat easily, watch all demos on a standard entry ticket, go to loads of stalls just for info, and find bargain buckets of gloves etc.

Today... much less choice of products than before, less decent brand name rugs (awkward horse only fits certain brands!), few bargain buckets of things (did find some!) and so so so much less info. I am guessing the prices per stall went up, so it was only worth going for the stall holders if they were selling something. I would go again but on my own, and buy a more expensive ticket to have a guaranteed seat.
 
We’ve had a wonderful weekend. We were careful about organising who we saw when which meant we didn’t miss anything and really made the most of the demos. We even had lovely chats and photos separately with Sir Lee Pearson and Jonty Evans, who were both honest and emotional in their demos and truly inspirational. Spent a small fortune but got some brilliant bits including a Falpro turnout rug. Le Mieux had a proper bargain scrum this evening with £2 baskets, and I got some white gloves, a white fly veil and some yard gloves for £6 in total. Brilliant weekend 😊
 
Had v nice day (Sunday). Was parked on show ground (perk of being there early) and std plus ticket allowing shopping + demo watch without rushing. Only thing didn’t like was equi gym demo
 
Interesting you didn't like the equi gym demo @Myloubylou How come?

I used to go years ago when it was still the British equine event but then it became difficult to get seats for the demo and bargains disappeared.
Went today for the first time in a while as my brother bought me a standard plus ticket so we could sit and watch the demos.
Actually managed to find more shopping bargains than expected (3 pairs of breeches for £20 and a coat that was £135 down to £50 - both things that were needed) but agree there was definitely a different demograph of stalls to how it used to be and less bargains/more tat in general.

I enjoyed the clipping hints and tips, the equi gym I enjoyed bits of (That gorgeous roan!) LOVED Jay Hallams demo, was disappointed in Charlotte's (although no denying what an incredible rider and how cute is Blueberry!) And fell in love with Art- what an honest sweetheart of a horse. It was really interesting watching Jonty and Podraig (whose name is not pronounced like I thought it would be AT all!) Doing their session, very relatable.
Felt so gutted for Hovis having his tack stolen and missing out on his ride with Jonty though :(
 
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