Piggy March!
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Such a small field. 
I know itās a bit bigger than last year, but there are so many notable absences this year. Most of them have obvious reasons, yet itās still disappointing. Plus weāll surely have scratches.
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more time for shopping?
ETA Contessa took a nasty fall yesterday at Plantation. Hopefully sheās ok.
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No Canadians in the 5*. I know we sent a team to Europe, but I wish we had more depth and some up and comers able to take advantage of the fall 5*.
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It seems like a lot of riders, USA and Canada alike, are in a lull between 5 star horses. 
Covid restrictions are now playing their way through the upper levels.
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And possibly the updated and tougher MERs.
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Could you describe the COVID situation a bit better? Sorry, Iām in the USA and there are very few if any COVID restrictions here now.
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Iām not @Willesdon but I assume what is meant is that 2 years of canceled and limited competitions globally means that now we are seeing less horses ready to move up to the 5* level.
Older horses are retiring from the level but there arenāt as many younger horses (or riders for that matter) prepared for it because of the disruption.
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That makes sense, sadly.
We had a shortage of good riding horses of prime age (around 10) a few years back because of the economic troubles of 2008-2010. A lot of breeders did not breed much, or stopped breeding entirely. It actually went on for longer than that. That combined with COVID really does cause issues.
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Same here in the UK. The 2008 crash still has an impact on the national herd.
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Itās a bit of the perfect storm of things going wrong. Covid, the lingering impacts of the Great Recession, plus current inflation. I was listening to one 5 star rider say he has a horse ready to go at the level but no funding to compete. He doesnāt want to sell, and might even take a loss on the deal. But the money just isnāt there right now to compete the horse as needed.
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Somehow they need to be able to get the entry numbers higher. Right now, there are only 28 5* entries listed. That only includes 7 non North American riders. Itās really hard to call it an international event. That few riders doesnāt even give a spectator enough time to see the whole XC course ridden.
Even if you factor in the 3* which has no non North American Riders, its not worth the 3 hr drive it would take me to go there.
They really do need to do something to attract more true international riders. Maybe doubling the prize money would draw more.
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I have to ask, why does Maryland 5* need more people from off this continent? It just happens that this continent only has 2 countries (Iām aware there are more than 2 countries in NA read the next part) that do a lot of Eventing. Of course thereās more countries attending Pau, thereās a crap load of countries mashed together. Iām not an expert but arenāt these entries around what Kentucky was?
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it could be the cost exceeds the profit. And it costs SO much money to come from across the pond. They wonāt come unless they think they can win. There are a lot of people in Europe, but there arenāt that many 5* people here.
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I attended some of the state level meetings on this and there is a lot of money invested in the 5 star. I want to see it succeed.
In my mind, fields of only 20 something are not going to be viable forever. I donāt have any budgetary info to back that assumption up, but I know they want to make this a world premier event. Thatās hard to do when your own continent doesnāt even show up for it.
I tend to take the success of Fair Hill super personally, as not only a Maryland tax payer but also someone with a lot of connection to the place. I grew up a stones throw away trail riding there, showing there, eventually working at the training center there. My family is still local. I want to see it do well and get the same prestige as Kentucky.
ETA: ok, I think I totally misinterpreted your question. When you said āoff this continentā I thought you meant from North America. Re-reading, I think you meant why do we need more Euro, etc. entries. In which case, I would agree the international entries from across the pond are about equivalent to Kentucky and donāt think we necessarily need āmore.ā I would just like to see more entries period.
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yes sorry it was someone else who had stated there are only 7 non NA teams. And I guess I donāt know why there needs to be any non NA teams?
Also are there a bunch of NA 5* horses that arenāt attending, that instead fly to Europe?
Iām not from MD but I live an hour away in PA and I LOVE this 5* and I want it to be viable, but covid really did put a damper on events for 2 solid years. Are these numbers way different than Kentucky? I didnāt think they were?
