Where, exactly, did I call anyone a racist or demand that they continue holding events against their will?
I apologize if it wasn’t clear from my post that I don’t think either “side” of that whole mess handled it well. EN handled it very poorly, but being a generous landowner/organizer also does not mean all your actions must be free from criticism at all times.
I apologize if I was unclear. The racist and head up his ass along with other insults were earlier up thread, not you. Sometimes when you come to a thread late and read it in its entirety it reads a little differently!
I do agree that things could have been handle better, certainly by the USEA and EN. I have some property myself and occasionally allow others to use it for things like clinics or schooling, so I really get where this land owner is coming from. He could have handled it better, but he should have not been put in the position that he had to handle it at all.
EN should have had the basic human decency, and common courtesy to have never made it an issue in the first place. The whole thing was ridiculous and I can see no reason for it short of self aggrandizement and attention seeking. But as a whole we are uncomfortable pushing back on enthusiasts like EN because the typical, unfair, insulting response. If someone at the USEA had had the courage to tell EN to “shut the hell up or else” from the very beginning it would have never happened.
Maybe we do disagree a bit. I do think being a land owner does mean that you should be mostly free of at least public criticism. It certainly means that members of the organization that greatly benefit from your generosity shouldn’t be on public forums calling you names and insulting you. And other member of the same organization should not sit quietly by when those things happen.
ETA @Sticky_Situation I should add that the “you” in my post was the proverbial, plural you. Not the singular you you.
@subk Thank you for clarifying! I thought it was a direct reply to just my post rather than a general “you” and was kind of taken aback.
Sorry! I usually find you a rock star voice of reason around here. The only thing I disagreed with in your post was the “meet in the middle,” but good people don’t have to agree about every detail!
Let’s steer the conversation back to the overall discussion of loss of venues vs. rehashing the issues surrounding the PF situation.
Since there were Black riders that said the name made them uncomfortable, I think it may have been something worth having a discussion about … but emphasis on the “discussion” part, as in 2 parties expressing their thoughts with respect. EN going straight to the nuclear option of boycotting was not a discussion.
A better approach IMO would’ve been if EN reached out to the organizers and owners privately, thanked them for all the things their event does well, then said something along the lines of, “we’ve had a few Black riders and people close to the black community reach out to us and say they feel uncomfortable about the word ‘plantation’ in the name of the event, given the historical use of that word in the South. Would you be willing to talk about how that name came about so we can help make sure everyone feels like they’re welcome there?” That seems like it would be much more likely to have the effect of getting the organizers and Black riders all on the same page, if that was indeed the intent rather than just being “right” about things.
Alright. I’m flexible…
There is a long term problem to dropping the recognized and continuing with just the schooling. The schoolings make more money and are much easier to run, but they are preparing riders for the recognized as a goal. Having both feeds off of each other: Schooling events work because they prepare for, welcome new riders, and build community momentum for the recognized. I’m not sure in equestrian communities without other neighborhood recognized events that it doesn’t slowly depress the total size of the eventing community.
Here we have MTPC HT, oldest horse trial in the US (I’m required to say that.) It is probably a loss leader for the profit made from their massive spring schooling and multiple open cross country schooling days–both of which are highly profitable. It’s the engine that centers the eventing community and not only is it a loss leader for the Pony Club it also gins up action for some other local schooling events–one of which is literally a week or two before the recognized and billed as a “MTPC prep opportunity.”
I think the real winners are places like Poplar Place, Chatt Hills and Stableview in N.Area 3. They run both–pretty much something every month–and the schoolings are running over the same courses that were just run weeks earlier in the recognized. They own their own stabling and that’s where a lot of the profit is.
But I get it. I was just at Poplar Schooling. The XC ring steward was also the XC starter and also the jump judge for fence 1. There was a very long hold in SJ and it totally fouled up the XC schedule. At a schooling everyone just rolls with it and makes it work. At a recognized the officials would have been hopping around (because the riders were agitated) and there would have been lots of drama. Here, this one guy running the start and the warmup pretty much handled it byhimslef–lots and lots of appeal for an organizer to simplify.
I’d be curious if any of you are in places where you’ve loss the only local recognized event and what long(ish) term affect it had on the rest of the eventing community. Can an eventing community survive long term without a local recognized?
I love schooling events. They’re great for green horses and beginning riders, great for working out issues, and great for moving up at the lower levels.
But to me, the end goal is still to compete at recognized events … not because I chase points in any significant way, but because recognized events set the “standard” and are a truer test of each level. I also appreciate the level of organization and preparation that is expected at a recognized event … things tend to run on time, courses are usually well designed, and dressage judges are actual licensed judges rather than just some local person that’s competed a bit and knows the scoring system. They also tend to be fairer as far as rules go … since the officials are hired from outside, you don’t tend to have the trainer that brings 20 students being allowed to slide for her unauthorized assistance because they don’t want to lose her business or cause a scene, while the no-name rider who’s there alone is asked to push their time back to make it more convenient for said trainer. Sometimes unrecognized events are run just as well as recognized ones, especially at places that run both types of event, but it’s far from universal.
I appreciate the schooling opportunity presented by unrecognized events, but I tend to think of them as preparation for recognized events rather than the end goal in and of themselves, and once my horse and I are ready I’m willing to pay more for the recognized event experience. I’d hate to see more and more places continue to go to unrecognized-only.
Nah, happens at recognized events and riders have meltdowns and make fools of themselves and the event just carries on.
Had a major storm running in like bad bad so we were taking people as soon as they were ready in 1 minute intervals and people were having a stroke about going early. Go early or not at all. The jump judges are about to run for cover.
At my first HT I had the organizer herself try to fit in 10 riders ahead of me as I was literally standing in the start box.
Starter “I don’t care who you are, I’ve never started a rider late and I don’t plan on starting now and I won’t log any of your riders if they go early” it was beautiful.
I feel it’s similar to the boarding price increase thread that got lots of replies in H/J the past few weeks. I posted quite a bit on that one as I have run my own boarding/training facility for awhile now and very aware of all the costs.
Have never run a competition facilty, but I imagine the story is much the same- a toxic cycle of upward spiraling costs that facility manager has zero control over, facility either can’t or won’t continue to absorb all the 1000s of hidden costs and must pass them on to competitors , a little or a lot of hassle (complaining boarders vs complaining competitors), and just a general feeling of ennui considering all above factors that the work and ROI is not even close to worth it anymore.
I live right between Galway and Copper Meadows, two of my close friends board right at Cooper, and other good friends of mine board at Galway. Both Cooper and Galway have poured money into the facilities for years the improvements to both are tremendous and kudos and commendations to all involved at both facilities. However, Galway has a a lot of money behind it, and Copper is family run. I don’t blame them one bit for stepping back in the face of the economic challenges of the moment
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