screens are up and working!
for there having been a cloudburst, the footing looked great!
Believe me, it was more than a cloudburst. It was a monsoon, with severe lightening and wind, for about 2 hours. I drove through it coming down for the party and to watch Advanced. I kept telling everyone it was headed for the KHP. Fortunately, I got a table up high and toward the middle, so our group did not get wet. The tables closer to the arena got a bit wet. The footing was amazing considering how much rain we had.
For me, the sad part of the event was that they had to call Novice Jr. show jumping, with 12 riders left. They sat in the barn/tent near the arena for 2 hours, then had to warm up again, come into the Rolex arena, in front of the inebriated, loud crowd in the big tent by jump #1, under the lights, and show jump. Not one single horse went double clear. Therefore, a lot of the horses/riders in the ribbons had ridden early in the day. A horse in 25th place moved up to 3rd! If a rider had an issue, the crowd in the tent would hoot and holler. I think they thought that they were encouraging, but I feel that it made things worse. I felt horrible for those kids!
I left before Advanced and got home around 10pm. Mainly, I did not want to support riders, who had been so rude to those kids. Their behavior was very disappointing.
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Yeah my trainer’s student was one out when it was called and would have finished in the top 10 without the rail. Plus my trainer was in the advanced so I’m sure that didn’t help either.
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I wonder how their parents, as well as the trainers, felt about them having to ride under those conditions? Those kids worked really hard all week to get to that place, only to have a totally different arena from the rest of the riders who rode early. When you have put in the time and money to get there and have a chance to win? I wonder if there is a rule that states that the division has to be finished that day?
were the upper level riders the ones hooting and hollering? I can’t believe they would be drunk and awful with themselves yet to ride. (Call me naive), How bad WAS the footing for the kids? It was great for the seniors
The upper level riders were hooting and hollering, but they were not drinking. They just joined in with the rest of the crowd. I did see one of them laughing afterward. Whether it was because of the crowd, or someone said a joke?? It does not matter to me. I thought that the crowd should have been quiet and respectful of those very young riders.
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(Popping in from being MIA here for AGES). My horse was one of the top 12 to have to be held in junior novice last night. He actually was sitting in 2nd before show jumping (finished 3rd with a rail. His barnmate won). While the lights were a contributing factor to a lot of the carnage that happened for those poor kids last night, I think a bigger issue was the fact that once they were called out of the barns, those poor kids were really rushed. Some of the early riders barely got 10 minutes, after having basically been ready to go, then sitting in a stall for two hours. Our two horses were lucky, since they went toward the end (they were fourth and second going in), so they both got a solid warm up. They both went in rideable and settled (helps that Toby is a PRO and rarely lets us down when it counts). But the rush to get them done, pinned, and out so advanced could start was really aggravating, and, having stood in warm up and watched most of all of their prep, I would say that had some of them had more time, they probably would have had better rounds.
Otherwise, it was a delight to be at the horse park, and, having been away from my dude for 9+ months, I had a glorious week with him and his people from back home in VA. We are already planning for next year. Hopefully, show jumping will be kinder.
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I was just going to post on this! My friend was in the junior division that was held.My other friend who had been done for hours said by the time she rode, the people in the tent were loud and drunk which added to the commotion. My friend had issues of which the lights and loudness of the stadium I’m sure contributed but the loud drunks did not help at all. I feel bad for them.
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Because Toby didn’t go until second to last, I only saw his round. The crowd was loud, but, at least when Toby was in the ring, I didn’t find them that boisterous and rowdy. They cheered as the ride before him left, ahhhed at his rail, and then cheered after his round. Maybe the fact that I was a complete and under mess with a pounding heart at the ingate dulled the crowd (I’m also congested with stuffed up ears).
Someone asked about the footing. It was fine. Not slick at all. When I sent videos to my mom of the victory gallop, she commented that it looked dry.
Thank you for volunteering, Auburn! Great to hear from you yellowbritches!
I am actually thankful that the livestream showed the Beginner Novice show jumping on Sunday, since I was the one who bitched on social media…and precipitated a discussion about the unfairness of what was streamed. The BN jumping was really fun to watch! I was unable to see much of the other divisions earlier in the week due to work, though. If they had streamed Novice or Training I for sure would have watched and rescheduled work.
I am very concerned about the ungrateful people regarding volunteers in all parts of an event.
I heard from a FB friend who volunteered as a warmup steward who was delighted to report she was regularly thanked by the lower level riders she worked with one day. I also heard from jump judges that they were not thanked by riders. Also stewards on XC who went the whole day without a thanks, and myself I jump judged a couple weeks ago - ended up running late over an hour after the last scheduled ride - and received only a few thank-you’s from about 90 people who walked past my station while course walking (I counted - 3 from 87).
This MUST CHANGE.
Dr. Bonnie Kibbie said this spring in a very good FB post that “if you are not thanking volunteers you need to rethink who you are as a person.” I believe this is true. (It went around on social media and was reprinted in EN). We do not get to walk past a volunteer with our nose in the air. Every single volunteer doing even the lowliest job NEEDS TO BE THANKED and appreciated and held with esteem and respect. Every one. Every event.
Without volunteers our entries would be $3,000 a show and there would be 10 riders. Without volunteers our cross country would be 10 to 12 jumps. Without volunteers we would NEVER have more than one judge in dressage. Without volunteers we have parking lot chaos. Warmup chaos. Office chaos. The list is long and expensive. If events had to pay people to show up instead of counting on volunteers, there would not be 50 events in Area II - maybe 10 instead and half of those would not be open to anyone above preliminary since they couldn’t afford the courses for those levels. We would put the sport back to the stone age.
Volunteers ROCK the sport. We must fix this.
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I’ve never been to an event as a volunteer and not been thanked. I am certain the people from my local barns would be scolded had they not.
retreadeventer, I absolutely love you! :yes: You are spot on. We worked our butts off to make this the best AEC’s ever. My DH and I got up at 5:30am to drive down to Volunteer. I did 4 days and he did 2 1/2. Were there glitches? Yep. But, having gone to 5 AEC’s, the first year always has them. I think that we had less, than the ones that I attended.
My husband worked as a crossing guard for over 12 hours on Thursday and close to that on Friday. Some of the BN riders said, “Thank you!” to him, as they went across the road crossing. The Novice, and other riders, not so much.
Folks on Facebook said that I was shaming them into Volunteering. Hey, whatever it takes. We needed more people to step up. Next year, I will start earlier trying to get folks to help. Otherwise, we are going to be so burned out that we might not be able to help as much. After all, I am no spring chicken. 
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I did out gate on Sunday and it was pretty fun. Got thanked a handful of times maybe?
My personal favorite was the woman who bitched at me about how stupid the victory gallop was…because yes, I was the one who made the call do ask riders to do one.
But overall it was okay. The kid who won the BN Junior was SO nice and so grateful, I wish every kid was like her. And the woman who was sitting in 4th in the BN Master who came off was the best sport-she was on a mustang and she said “well at least we got this far. its not like he saw things like this in the wild!”. She made me smile.
And overall, riders were no where near as rude or ungrateful as they were at Area VIII Champs last year so that was good. I think if that had happened again, that would be the last time I volunteered.
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Thank you for volunteering! Those last few days were HOT! So, if I did not thank you, thank you 100x! I may have been sprinting around my course walks!
My owners of a Novice horse were really upset about the lack of live-stream. I agree, if they requested $5~ just to subscribe for the week, I’d be willing to pay this for the service! I’m also a little perturbed that I cannot find a replay of the live stream. As a rider, it would be super educational/fun to see it. I would love to re-watch my Preliminary horse’s round.
But, overall, favorite venue, a fantastic destination event, I believe the course designer did a fine job for really making this a non-dressage event even at the lower-levels. Now, I need a week of sleep to recuperate!
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Are the AECs going to be held at KHP going forward?
I agree with you 100%. I didn’t make it to the AEC’s because…well…I’m on the wrong coast but I do volunteer at local events when I can. I think the staff who are in charge of these shows can make a HUGE difference.
Area VII championships was lovely, I didn’t have people thank me for jump judging but I had lots of people come and hang out with me, ask me how my jumps were going and offer to get me water. Their volunteer coordinator makes sure the volunteers are taken care of including calling for bathroom breaks between classes and time status updates for long holds on course. They also made sure if you had a time to be off by, you were off at that time. Another local event was also lovely and even allowed us to drive our cars on course to make the judging more pleasant. I was stuck at the last jump all day and got checked on multiple times to make sure I wasn’t going crazy.
The last show I volunteered at I will not be doing so again. The show was disorganized, the show staff wasn’t pleasant (baring the TD and one of the controls) and overall I get left somewhere and ignored. I was on course for over 5 hours without a call for bathroom break, check for water or a check in if any of the volunteers needed to move on. I got thanked by the competitors and spectators but I felt like I was taken for granted by the show staff. I wasn’t riding but I came out to help because my other volunteering experiences had been so positive.
As a volunteer I am not looking for much. Just check on me beyond the cart grabbing scores (those guys are nuts and work so hard at every venue), make sure volunteers can get to their start times without being rushed, and make sure volunteers are able to do personal business quickly!
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I agree, the crowd was respectful while the horses were actually competing. IMHO the lights contributed far more to the rails than anything else (save maybe for some nervous riding ;). It should also be pointed out that the rails were flying before the hold happened; my rider who jumped double clear moved up from 32nd into the ribbons.
All in all, it was a great show. I did feel bad for the Training divisions as the Head of the Lake question was pretty tough (it was a skinny rolltop in, 2 strides to a drop, but the whole thing was in the shadows most of the day).
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My take on the juniors and the crowd in the tent was similar to what @yellowbritches . Was it loud in there? Yes at times. But the people were making all the appropriate noises at the appropriate times. Kid drops a rail and everyone ahhhhed, kid makes it over after a refusal everyone cheered. When a kid finished everyone cheered more.
I did not see or hear anyone making noises that were not appropriate for what was happening.
I personally was impressed by the kids who went out there and showed under the lights like it was just another course. Very impressive kids they were!
I admit, I have never thought to talk to a jump judge on cross country while I am out there. I figure they are doing a job (yes a volunteer job) and I would not want me talking to them to be the cause of them missing something.
I do say thank you to the other volunteers. Even when I was just walking around I would thank the people doing the crossing, etc.
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@Auburn , @Jersey Fresh , and @L00kAtMeN0w , from this competitor at AECs, my sincerest thanks to you and all volunteers for your hard work! I hope I was one of the riders that thanked you - if not, I apologize! There were so many wonderful volunteers that it was hard to thank everyone (and I fully admit to forgetting to thank the in-gate person for stadium because, well, I was about to ride in the Rolex Stadium and I was nervous). It was a magical weekend and it wouldn’t have happened without the dedication of all the staff and volunteers. I wish I had time to help out as well, but I just couldn’t make it work. Next time for sure!
And I’m with @trubandloki on thanking jump judges while they’re working - I’m scared to talk to them in case I distract them!
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