I parked Thursday afternoon and parked at the far end of the available parking down by the main venue and cross country. When I left Saturday morning there were 3 more areas with signs for parking up above the venue on the hill. Parking will forever be an issue for them just as ithe is at an horse show
Spent the entire day watching advanced cross country and intermediate stadium. Both courses seemed to ride well and seemed appropriate for a year end event. Intermediate had more rails in stadium than I anticipated but the course looked very fair. I really enjoyed the event as a spectator and look forward to future events as a spectator and eventually, competitor.
So it sounds like every of who actually went was happy and the usual miserable old rail birds (who did not) are complaining about everything.
What a shocker!
I simply cannot believe it.
So it sounds like everyone who actually went was happy and the usual miserable old rail birds (who did not) are complaining about everything.
What a shocker!
I simply cannot believe it.
I missed seeing KCMEL at the venue and the others who posted here that had been competing. Something to consider in the future to better coordinate a meet up of folks who post and ride 
I rode Novice. As I walked the course Weds/Thurs I was not happy with parts. The first water question was a mess for BN/N since we had to drive between two sets of jumps and had a jumbo-tron in the background. The steep decline after #8 was ugly, but what got my goat was 17, 18 and 19. A non combination combination. A max cabin to a ramp up to a bank down to a bending line corner and it was not a “soft” corner since novice normally never has corners. It was a lousy question yet as some said, it was a “championship” question. Meh. There were options for it if you had time.
We had no studs so footing was an issue. After all the rain the ground had been torn up because there were many many divisions doing the same track. I will say this, TIEC did their best to get footing back where it was needed and even without studs, a horse could haul the mail.
I watched the I and A rounds and won’t say much as they had more to deal with, but as one agreement, the derby field did not allow for a team to get into a good rhythm to make time.
The venue was great. Compact, well run but for food service. With no place to graze horses could only be walked around, but the tracks were well maintained. Dressage rings, well done, warm up management well done for all three phases so no complaints there and riding in the George Morris Stadium…Damn that was cool.
I don’t want to see Eventing turned into a complete spectator sport and there were shades of that here, but then this sport, meaning BM, PD, SH, AS et al would have to asked the question they don’t want to ask, should this sport embrace the professional or the amateur for the AEC is the cross over between the two.
From Prelim on down I saw heart, guts, emotion go into every phase. Standing next to the field, the start, the finish you could feel the joy, then frustration and the pain. When I watched I and A or when I watched the Pros run someone’s horse at a lower level I saw a job being done. Yes, they supported the horse, but it was off that one and on another. Even watching AS and Arthur finish I just did not see much but "we got it done, good job’.
What then are the AECs? A showcase for professionals or a venue to promote and venerate the majority of folks that make up this sport? To get this out of the way…it is not the best of the best blah blah blah, but it is the best of who showed up that qualified… I did…and my own sense is the the AECs should be designed for and organized for the Amateurs that are the heart of this sport. I watched, live, multiple professionals start and finish and while it was a technical marvel…In a crowd of none I watched BN JR start and finish and found as much or more excitement and passion. I may move up to training next year and hell, miracles might happen and I qualify for AECs. Would I go at Training? Would I go at all? My answer is a qualified yes only because USEF/USEA need to figure out what matters to them and if it is still the veneration of professionals, if they get a CD that caters to the UL powers the no, that would be my last one.
My two cents…Since I did compete, here is my FPV of the Novice course.
Courtney cooper, who is very much a professional, won the training horse and was absolutely thrilled. It was a big win for her and her owners. Those things still mean something to professionals who are bringing up young horses who have investors and owners.
And I watched a lot of people finish intermediate with a lot of emotion. And everybody got a big cheer coming down the galloping lane and at the finish. I don’t expect an advanced pair whos gone round a 4 star and come in 2nd to be particularly thrilled at finishing that course. It’s expected. The amateur who’s brought a horse up to advanced, yes, I get it. But thats not their job.
That’s where the divisions need to come in… horse, amateur, jr/yr.
There was grazing but it was small and sparse.
[QUOTE=kmwines01;8829060]
Courtney cooper, who is very much a professional, won the training horse and was absolutely thrilled. It was a big win for her and her owners. Those things still mean something to professionals who are bringing up young horses who have investors and owners.
And I watched a lot of people finish intermediate with a lot of emotion. And everybody got a big cheer coming down the galloping lane and at the finish. I don’t expect an advanced pair whos gone round a 4 star and come in 2nd to be particularly thrilled at finishing that course. It’s expected. The amateur who’s brought a horse up to advanced, yes, I get it. But thats not their job.
There was grazing but it was small and sparse.[/QUOTE]
Yes, I found some of those grazing spots and my horse was thankful.
As to the rest…we differ. Peace.
I respectfully disagree. From prelim down the majority competing had a single horse. When you have a single horse and you cross the finish line you get to let go of all of those emotions, celebrate, etc. When you have four in a division you can be thrilled but you still have to keep your mindset in the right place to give the next three the ride they deserve. Also, I can’t say I’ve ever ridden 7 horses at AEC in a single day but I imagine those riders are also dog tired. For some with multiple horses I felt like I could see a big difference after their last ride of the day and they could finally take a breath.
Meh, if you go to any bigger show you witness the h/j mentality of UL riders who teeter on the edge of treating the horse like a replaceable car. Some of the comments heard in stabling or the warmup are just 
Not to mention the flagrant rule-breaking to get all of them worked.
This Eventing must change / Eventing is changing stuff is getting quite old. It changed with the old format and if people want fancy jumbotrons & facilities they ought to go to h/j land. I think many UL riders are in awe of this lifestyle & it makes them an easy target for the likes of MB. Unfortunately, the embrace of this type of show isn’t going to lead to Team USA rider success so you can keep on adding it to your calendars pros. Good luck. A weekend in England at Burghley would do Americans who are saying Eventing is changing well. You want to see an event that attracts 160k people? New participants? Amazing for spectators? Involved grassroot pony clubbers, YEH, and the ULs in one weekend. You create that, not these Showcases that demonstrate Eventing must change. Look at Rolex.
But for many amateurs we take it all in flow. We can embrace a new venue for what it’s worth. Every single social media report of a fallen rider who slipped having spent thousands to get there is lined with some bitterness, but the desire to be a good sport & see the best in things is what makes eventers a good bunch. When I’ve shown at HITs and you want under the bridge into that million dollar ring it is a cool feeling. Disney land for horse people has some appeal.
[QUOTE=Duckz;8827868]
THAT WAS FUN!!!
Lincoln chewed it up spit it out and would have romped around it again if I let him.
From warmup I saw lots of problems at fence 5 of all things. Maybe because it was going away from warmup? Linc had no prob. As expected he took a moment to assess the first very busy water, hesitated but didn’t break stride. The rest was a breeze. I was a good 30+ seconds up on the clock coming to the weird cabin/bank/corner thing at the end, so I took the safer route off the bank and rolled back to the corner. I appreciated my large studs. Footing was never an issue, but I never would have rode such an aggressive pace without them.
Akor, I suppose I meant I hadn’t seen a course like this in terms of the footing, the track, the Jumbotron, etc. All the fences and questions have been asked of us before. It was different. It was great fun. I’m excited to go to VA for area 2 championships in Oct to run a very different kind of xc course. I can like them both for what they are. I reiterate, this is not the apocalypse.
And since I’m bragging about my horse, I’ll leave this here: http://www.chronofhorse.com/article/mister-president-has-bunch-tricks-his-sleeve
:D[/QUOTE]
Thank you very much for your post and sharing what your experience was like. I’ve been at TIEC volunteering (dressage) and watching xc but it’s wonderful to get a taste of the experience from rider perspective. And thanks also for posting the article - you have a wonderful horse and it sounds like he has a wonderful person - may you have many more great years and adventures together!
[QUOTE=JP60;8829048]
My two cents…Since I did compete, here is my FPV of the Novice course.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFXbMDxI380[/QUOTE]
I loved your video. I enjoyed listening to you talk to your horse thru the whole thing. Thank you for sharing it.
Who me? I wasn’t there! I was one of the vicarious rail birds (although not complaining I hope!).
Great job Justin!
I was there cheering on a friend with a young horse in the BN division. The course was very rideable but definitely asked some different questions, mostly about focus. I thought they’d actually done a pretty good job with the footing because the base was solid and forgiving at the same time. The turf did let go in places and there were a few skids here and there, but if they maintain it as well as they’ve started it the footing will be fantastic.
My beefs about the course were more about the narrow seeming path and the busy-ness of it, there was a LOT for a young horse to look at and process. My friend’s horse had an issue going into the first water, and not because of the water itself which normally doesn’t faze him. The entrance was a narrow-ish path between two giant barns (Int or A, I think) and he just didn’t believe that she wanted him to go between, not jump them. He also had an issue about the long down hill with the new fence on the right. Again it’s narrow (or seems so because of the hill & fence), and the approach is such that it looks like you’re asking them to jump the 5 board fence into nothingness.
This pair is based in western PA, so terrain is not new to them, but the confined-seeming gallop lanes and the plethora of fences out there kind of messed with his head.
The venue itself is lovely but almost too big, and definitely geared toward the higher end crowd. My number one beef with the place was the constant music, and its volume. We could NOT turn it off in the barn and couldn’t really get away from it anywhere. I HATE being forever bombarded with noise like that.
Having real restaurants on grounds was kind of nice, but they were woefully unprepared for that many people. And closing a horse-show-venue restaurant at 9 pm is ridiculous, especially when the division doesn’t end until after 6 pm. Thankfully the Italian place did keep the kitchen open well past their posted closing time, our food was great, and the service was too considering the general mayhem of the place.
I think in time it will be great, but (in my opinion) if he’s really trying for WEG in 2018 he’s out of his mind.
I’m glad to hear from those that were there that the courses by and large rode better than they looked on paper, and that the footing wasn’t as slippery as it looked like it might be.
I’m still not sold on this whole format for eventing, but I’m glad that those who were there for AECs seem to have had a better experience than the Pony Club Championships competitors.
[QUOTE=trubandloki;8829198]
I loved your video. I enjoyed listening to you talk to your horse thru the whole thing. Thank you for sharing it.[/QUOTE]
I can see that going through the water, Sterling reaaaalllly questioned if he should be doing one of those sets of jumps on either side.
[QUOTE=JP60;8829048]
What then are the AECs? A showcase for professionals or a venue to promote and venerate the majority of folks that make up this sport? To get this out of the way…it is not the best of the best blah blah blah, but it is the best of who showed up that qualified… I did…and my own sense is the the AECs should be designed for and organized for the Amateurs that are the heart of this sport. I watched, live, multiple professionals start and finish and while it was a technical marvel…In a crowd of none I watched BN JR start and finish and found as much or more excitement and passion. I may move up to training next year and hell, miracles might happen and I qualify for AECs. Would I go at Training? Would I go at all? My answer is a qualified yes only because USEF/USEA need to figure out what matters to them and if it is still the veneration of professionals, if they get a CD that caters to the UL powers the no, that would be my last one.
My two cents…Since I did compete, here is my FPV of the Novice course.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFXbMDxI380[/QUOTE]
LOVED the video, thanks for sharing.
And I totally agree about the AEC’s. I really hope it improves, it would be such a wonderful thing to have it this close. I don’t want to see eventing change.
[QUOTE=CindyCRNA;8828657]
So AEC’s are at Tryon again next year? My friend thought it was Colorado Horse Park.[/QUOTE]
Yes, at Tryon again next year. They had said it would be at CHP in 2017 or 2018, I recently emailed USEA to ask and they confirmed it would be at Tryon again in 2017 then CHP in 2018.
[QUOTE=Manahmanah;8829023]
So it sounds like everyone who actually went was happy and the usual miserable old rail birds (who did not) are complaining about everything.
What a shocker!
I simply cannot believe it.[/QUOTE]
May I ask if you have statistics/research in your background?
If so, I will just assume you actually know better than to use comments on this thread, or this board to form a conclusion as brazen as “so it sounds like everyone who actually went was happy” without any comment on your confidence interval or that your sample, is at best, small and likely subject to all sorts of biases.
If you do, I can only assume you are trying to be manipulative and desiring to spread hyberbole. YOu cannot possibly conclude anything from the posts on this thread or board other than of the people posting here…or of those who attended who post here, x think this or that. How that relates as a representative sample of who was ACTUALLY there, (your words, not mine) is beyond me.
You may be correct, of course, but the way you got there is not logical, at least statistically.
[QUOTE=akor;8835290]
May I ask if you have statistics/research in your background?
If so, I will just assume you actually know better than to use comments on this thread, or this board to form a conclusion as brazen as “so it sounds like everyone who actually went was happy” without any comment on your confidence interval or that your sample, is at best, small and likely subject to all sorts of biases.
If you do, I can only assume you are trying to be manipulative and desiring to spread hyberbole. YOu cannot possibly conclude anything from the posts on this thread or board other than of the people posting here…or of those who attended who post here, x think this or that. How that relates as a representative sample of who was ACTUALLY there, (your words, not mine) is beyond me.
You may be correct, of course, but the way you got there is not logical, at least statistically.[/QUOTE]
oh give me a break! :o
