Of course not!!! A new BE computer system has finally been binned this year after £ millions have been lost over the past decade. The latest report suggests that BE has moved back into solvency, at last.
To save costs, as voted on by the membership, last year abandonment insurance was passed on to individual Event organisers rather than being covered by BE. Such insurance is hugely expensive, due to the UK weather. As a result many popular, long-standing and even famous events pulled the plug and just stopped running.
Then there was a really weird decision whereby BE said any Event running an International competition would not be allowed to run any unaffiliated ones. Anti-competitive or what? The UA ones make money that supports the FEI ones. I think that rule actually came from the FEI but that isn’t how it was presented. More organisers just walked away. Barbary Castle, famous 4*, ran UA last season. It will be interesting to see the fixture list for 2024.
There is strong growth of at least two regional circuits of UA Events, run by the same organisers, staffed by the same volunteers, built by the same course designers but with, Good Grief!, a little bit of prize money. BE doesn’t show much sign of learning or improving in light of this healthy competition. There is some limited lip service.
BE has had a period of high turnover of senior board- and committee members. They arrive with good ideas and motivation but rapidly become worn out by the infighting and toxic relations. It is a small world and horse people tend to have strong opinions and firm views.
Eventing was given Government dispensation to run during the pandemic, with special measures in place to keep people safe. Many of these will probably stay because things like printing one’s own bib number makes sense and riders really liked having fewer people in the warmup arenas. But I think the pandemic has impacted participation as horses and riders lost a lot of match practice and that lack of opportunity has impacted the development of horses right up through the levels. The numbers at 5* were light last year. On the other hand, low level participation probably grew during the pandemic as people had time. I’ll have to check that when the figures are published for 2023.
Then the cost of living crisis. Eventing is most definitely not a cheap sport. Many Events just found they hadn’t got enough entries to be viable and had to reduce the days they ran or cancelled totally. Yet other Events were so over subscribed, they had to add extra days. BUT there was no discernable pattern, why some, not others. Again, that 2024 fixture list will be an interesting read.
On the other hand, there is imagination and innovation amongst Event organisers. There are new initiatives to promote BE membership and to promote education and training as widely as possible. And having a really engaged and active membership, who squabble and argue and bitch and moan and demand special meetings and vote on issues and require transparency from Head Office means BE is probably not in terminal decline yet.
