Your views on this - results farse at hunter trial

Angelbones

Angelbones

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I've just typed this out and lost it so this time it will be shorter!

Today at a very well known and well supported big hunter trial the results for one class were posted for all to see and announced over the tannoy. Then it became clear that they had been incorrectly calculated and were taken down and worked out again. This took a couple of hours from end of the class to the actual placings being finalised.

So it lead to some people losing their placings and others being moved up. Now in the real world nobody wants anybody to miss out on their success and recognition, and presumably nobody really wants to be awarded a prize they actually didn't earn. However, it lead to a lot of disappointed people, a lot of them kids of about 10 or 12.

So what are your thoughts?

Should they have stuck with their original results having made them public? (a tough one with a seething mass of angry mums and confused kids at the caravan door wanting answers)... Should they have recalculated and reawarded the prizes as they did? Should they have found duplicate rosettes and prize money for the 'new' placings?

As it turned out we won the class on both reckonings, and we certainly would not have taken a prize we didn't deserve but we are a lot older than most of the competitors and I suppose more easy come easy go. However, a new pair were moved into 2nd and the rosettes were taken from the announced 2nd duo who were about 12 yrs old and went away really upset having been on a high.

All in all a miserable end to a good morning's competition for a lot of youngsters.
 
Good grief - how on earth did they get it wrong in the first place especially considering it was a "big" hunter trial?

It must have been gutting for the kids to have had their rosettes taken away :( A harsh lesson in life to chalk up to experience :(

I guess its all down to the show secretary and what she/he felt was right at the time and I suspect there was some clause in the schedule to say that the judges decision was final - although it appears there were two decisions :(

Tough one!

I remember jumping a show jumping round when I was a kid and just before I got to the double the judge rang the bell, I stopped, bewildered wondering if I had taken the wrong course but the tannoy announced that it was a mistake and that the judge had hit the bell by mistake but they also said that if I circled I would get three faults :eek: How unfair was that!!

Thats the trouble with local events ;)
 
Its suprisingly easily done. Its unfortunate (perhaps bad organisation, don't know wasn't there) that the mistake didn't get picked up on until later on, but I can well understand it takes a long time to sort out - having made one mistake they really don't want to publish them again and make another!

I think they did the right thing, and those who were disappointed just have to accept it as one of those things. Let it be a lesson in good sportsmanship I say.
 
I think they did the right thing. Yes some kids would be upset but it is good for them to learn from. It would have been a shame for the kids who were placed lower in the first lot of results. As long as it was all correct in the end thats what matters. Kids will get over it.

They should have got it right in the first place but mistakes happen. My yard published the dressage results for one class then were told one of the competitors was a junior not a senior so they had to take down the results and alter them.
 
The key is to get it right in the first place. Post results & allow half an hour or so for competitors to look at them & lodge any queries / objections. After that result stands.
 
TBF-the kids who placed probably knew they shouldn't have... They absoloutely should have done what they did. Getting a false rosette would not have made the kids any happier at the end of the day knowing they didn't actually come 2nd..
 
I think they have to stick to the rules even if this means they have to recalculate, but maybe giving out an extra set of rosettes would have been best.

I have been involved with British Riding Cubs Teams Event where they took the rosettes off a whole team of juniors (a week later - after it was awarded, announced & published) because of a flu jab that was out of date by one day .... try explaining that one :confused:
 
Well they should have got it right in the first place but we can all make mistakes, possibly made some sort of gesture to the wrongly awarded winners and i am sure it wont happen again.
 
TBF-the kids who placed probably knew they shouldn't have...
Click to expand...

Not so sure. At a HT of this size you often genuinely have no clue how you did until much later.

Really tough one but I would have gone with duplicate rosettes. It's fair enough to say that children need to learn to deal with disappoinment, but these kids will have been on a high - they'll have had a clear round on a large, famous xc course and they'll have been told their time was good ...

Maybe I'm a soft touch, but to pry a rosettes out of a 12 yos hands isn't something I find character building or strengthening.
 
I do believe they did the right thing. Having been in all similar position when I was that age, I know it's horrible, but my mum would have said, tough luck, you didn't do well enough, try better next time!

However, I think they would have been better giving out specials or clear rounds to those disappointed, after all if it is such a big competition, surely they would have extra rosettes...

bexcy-bee x
 
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