This thread really underscores the very very big differences in experiences and access to schooling, training, and competing around the country (and beyond).
For your typical working adult amateur, perhaps one who is no longer as brave and bouncy as she used to be, it must be tremendously hard to progress living somewhere so many hours from regular and varied competition and schooling venues.
I am right smack in the middle of Area ii, and board AT a venue that hosts competitions from starter through intermediate, as well as easy 1-2 hour drive from multiple others. I have a very ditchy horse, and last week, just before our first outing in over a year (see, ditchy, plus life), I not only schooled at another venue, but then popped over one of the ditches on our course on my way out for a hack.
The other thing we have as a corollary is a very long list of competent trainers to choose from, either as regular coaches or as clinicians within easy distance.
Hatās off to all of you who compete and progress with such long drives to everything! Seems like a very different sport when seen through that lens.
Agree with the above post. It is why I choose to live where I do. As a working adult who was serious about this sport I did a lot of research for where I would live and work. It was several thousand of miles from my familyā¦so not a choice everyone would make. But an exampleā¦I volunteered at a venue (area championship) yesterday ( they ran Intermediate and Prelim on Friday)ā¦driving there and home the same day. Went to my farm this morning then Drove and watched one of my horses compete (I missed her dressage but was there for SJ and xc) at Prelim at a different venue. She was done before noon (All three phases). Went back to my farm. Worked a bit then pulled one horse out of his stallā¦tacked and put in studs and drove to a schooling venue in less than 40 min. Schooling venue (Boyd Martinās place) is 10 min from my farm. Xc schooled a young horse over Training+ questions. Multiple ditches, banks and watersā¦great for schooling up through Adv horses. And was done with everything (horses turn out etc) before 5pm. This is one of 5 schooling venues within 30min of my farm (not counting when some of the competition courses are open several times a yearāthat opens another 3-4+ venues available in under 1.5 hours). The access to schooling venues is HUGE.
Yes it is a huge huge huge advantage and why many of us locate to this area. I think the easy access to multiple schooling and competition venues is criticalā¦especially for someone like me bringing along green horses.
I live in Western Canada and my closest schooling facility is 3 hours away. Unfortunately it also means crossing into the US so a Coggins and health papers are required. Weād typically go for a weekend and school 2-3 days to make it worthwhile. There are 2 other facilities 4 hours away in neighboring province and about 3 more I can think of in the 5-8 hour range.
There used to be a local event in my area about 25 years ago. Unfortunately a local woman was involved in a cross country accident (at another location) and tried to bring legal action against host and all volunteers. The host of local event felt it was no longer worth the risk and insurance costs to continue hosting events.
Reading the responses in this thread makes me wonder about accidents. If you have to travel multiple hours just to school and then 6-8 hours to compete, you are probably very unlikely to pull up on course. Youāve spent too much time and money to get there and you are probably extremely determined to finish. If you start out on course and realize you have no brakes, itās not as simple as thinking āIāll pull him up and try again in 2 weeksāĀ. That would require more time off work and travel time and costs. Not realistic for the average adult amateur.
Having lived on the east coast and moved to the west coast, I donāt think Iāve seen more serious accidents but I think I see more falls, typically because horse and/or rider probably arenāt quite ready for the level they are competing at. Iāve definitely seen people move up too soon because there is such limited access to events and people want to qualify for something or move up at an āeasierā event which only runs once a year. Iāve also noticed many people are super ready for dressage and SJ, but less so for XC due to, again, limited schooling venues and opportunities. Iāve also seen people putting a ton of pressure on themselves to ādo wellā because of the time and money invested to get there and the limited number of accessible events per year (Iāve totally done this myself). This usually leads to poorer results, but can lead to falls too.
I would say in may case, at least, you are wrong. Iāve driven 2,000 miles just for a dressage test and withdraw. Actually, I have done similar things around 6 or 7 times.
Donāt assume amateurs are stupid nor only driven to get a ribbon.
Sundance. If they stopped using that drop, I hope someone will let me know!
Went to your link andā¦ weāve met! I think we were on a BN team at Wayne DuPage ages ago.
I hope the omnibus isnāt complete, half the Area IV events are missing and we sucked anyway.
I havenāt been up to Sundance - but the courses looked lovely, although they are known for being tough (& the xc results from this year - even the championship divisions - certainly prove that!), I met Kelly Mahloch when I was stabled near her @ Heritage, they work so hard on that event, I would love to make it up there next year (& since I am moving farther north 
I just might!) https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=ā¦29920657310221 - this must be the bank you are talking about - not a very good pic, they went up this year (if you arenāt a member of this page yet, I can add you)
The fall events havenāt been posted yet, there will be more to come & we can celebrate Catalpaās return!
Holy Hannah, that drop is BIG :eek: Maybe photo angle? Iām schooling Training right now with one of my track finds, and I think that jump looks yugeā¦ I bet it rides well enough, since the log in front of it is pretty smallā¦ but stillā¦
Itās been a few years since Iāve competed at that level so maybe Iāve just turned into a weenieā¦ lol!
That comment string sure was interesting where one person (paraphrasing) thought the jump was big for Training, and someone else said āno, I donāt think soā and then went on to say in the same sentence that they were looking for modified Training[s] so they could move up to Prelim and that this course was exactly thatā¦
Definitely think thatās a good example of level creep, a Training that is presented as Training +ā¦
Yesā¦solid drop, but having a little log on top to ride at (And the slope on landing) would make it ride easier. It does look like a solid training level question to me (not too much or too little)ā¦IMO level creep would have a jump afterwards (on less than 3 strides). Honestlyā¦jumping UP is much harder in my book. But if your position isnāt correctā¦jumping down will show thatā¦With a correct position, this would ride just fine (and much preferred with that little jump to ride at) and is what I would expect at Training level.
I always preferred the drops with little logs. Unless it was into water, lol.
I didnāt mean the photo was an example of level creep, for what itās worth. I was talking about the FB exchange about the image, which someone said the course was basically Training + (modified). Thatās a pretty good example of level creep to me, if itās true. A Training course should be just that, Training.
This is a fun thread. I am in northern VA, and very spoiled-
Morven, which has 2-4 events/year - 20 min
Loch Moy, which has a gazillion - 35 min
Surefire, 2/yr- 20 min
Seneca Valley 2/yr- 45 min
Hunt Club 2/yr- 30 min
Oatlands 2/yr - 20 min
Great Meadows - 45 min
CDCTA, Full Moon, probably more Iām forgetting.
VA Horse Trials 2.5 hrs, Fair Hill close to 3 hrs.
Love Area II! I also wonder about how my dedication to competing would be if I had to travel furtherā¦ props to you guys!
The nice thing about this heritage course (since I was interested, I went to look it up) the course description on the US eventing omnibus reads " N, T, P will have maximum size fences on course so do not consider this a āmove up courseā, however, the courses should be considered standard for their level"
So you would know going into it, that it would not be soft. It seems like most shows I see posted state ācourses are average for horses with some experience at these levelsā or something similar. It would be nice if the course designer could give more information, so you could plan depending on if you where looking for a hard course or a soft course.
I think all they meant is they wanted a tough training to prep before they moved up to Modified (but maybe I miss read it)ā¦ IME most courses now are not softā¦but I do wish the descriptions for courses would be better as sometimes you want more of a move up course and other times, you want a tougher course as a good prep before moving up.
Yeah, add me, I canāt see it. I only went one year when I was doing BN, and that bank did not make me want to do Novice. Would love to support the event, butā¦ I thought it looked like a 5 foot drop and it (IIRC) was on a steeply pitched hill. How far north are you moving? Guessing you are still in St. Louis.
It seemed there used to be an agreement (in my local events at least) somehow about what was appropriate for the level and there was never a max bank down. I donāt know if there were any changes in max height and width over the years, but there did not used to be anything near the size of THAT TABLE at Catalpa on a Novice course. Seems to me at lower levels that fences being max height OR width, never both, would make sense. I think the definition of level creep might be āscares the cr@p out of competitors who have been doing that level for 10+ years.ā
Yes - that was actually my comment on my post & this is what I meant. I had some issues @ prelim last year so I moved down until we can rebuild confidence, I wonāt know if we have rebuild anything if we donāt see challenging questions at the lower levelā¦ My reference to Modified was confusing, Modified is only offered at one venue in our area (which didnāt run this year) & there is a big gap between Training and Prelim (hence the creation of Modified) so I appreciate when the Training courses are built at least to the standard for the level. From what I have heard from course designers and from what I have seen this year, we should expect to see that more often.
Area VII - For recognized, the closest is 2 hours but traveling 4 or more is not uncommon. For schooling and/or derbies, the closest is less than 5 minutes from my house and is just lovely. This area has a good number of activities going on in a normal year and attending 2 events a month is not uncommon - Aspen, Caber, WSHP, Spokane, and others.
A Drop on a steep pitch actually rides a lot easier and is more forgiving than a smaller one on level groundā¦but it certainly can play mind games with riders! And going down really is easier than going up (You can easily walk or trot going down and not worry about a distance but some many riders have fears of going down.) Iām most definitely the opposite as Iāve seen far more horse falls going up than going down and going up takes more scope by the horse and accuracy by the rider. That said, sometimes sending a note to the organizers can help. Most donāt want people avoiding an event just because of one fence. I do wish events would keep those hard fences but maybe offer an alternative.
Sorry to bump an old thread, but I thought this info may be interesting for some folks. Iām at a lovely crossroads of figuring out where I want to live (from Atlanta, lived in the Bay Area, very interested in moving to Seattle/Portlandā¦ or the PNW of the east: Burlington ;)) So I did a little study, and looked at how far away events are using 2, 4, and 8-hour benchmarks, assuming that youāre also a low-level eventer like myself.
Atlanta
FebāNov (but fewer events JulyāSept)
34 events in 2 hour radius
49 events in 4 hour radius
89 events in 8 hour radius (11 in Area 2, 12 in Area 8)
Bay Area
FebāNov
6 events in 2 hour radius
15 events in 4 hour radius
23 events in 8 hour radius
Burlington
(Barely) AprāOct
7 events in 2 hour radius
22 events in 4 hour radius
53 events in 8 hour radius (28 in Area 2, extends season MarāNov)
Portland
Mayā (barely) Oct
5 events in 2 hour radius
7 events in 4 hour radius
9 events in 8 hour radius
Seattle
Mayā (barely) Oct
6 events in 2 hour radius
7 events in 4 hour radius
11 events in 8 hour radius
I also just want to echo someone elseās comment on the time/financial commitment of living on the west coast vs. east. The 3-day events are brutal workwise and on the pocketbook (the entry/stabling are usually the same, but the extra cost of hotel/training sucks). Iāve often wondered why we canāt reduce them down to 2-days, or in some cases, 1-days. I wish schooling events were more available around the country. As an AA re-rider, I royally suck right now, and its painful to pay $1K+ per event just to realize that I suck ;)ā¦ and knowing that the only way to get better is to sign up for another one. Even XC schooling in CA was difficult. The closest venue was $300 with fees/training/trailering combined. In GA, we have a decent schooling venue 10 minutes away from my barn. All-in costs are $120.
Ok, you suck! lol Thatās a ton that are less than 1 hour.
