Spin-off: Is eventing the new Money Spot? Why do H/J shows want to steal yo fiyah?

[mvp]

Cloistered Hunter Princess asking a question: What is going on with H/J shows and promotors doing Eventing Show Cases and “Potted Cross Country (Wannabe)” contests?

I thought the H/J crowd had all the money worth chasing. Do you guys now have All The Money such that the H/J show managers want to woo you?

Is this like the Westminster Dog Show opening things up to Cats?

I thought we were closing borders right now and were getting all xenophobic. So I don’t understand what’s going on with these H/J shows.

Can you all explain?

[fordtraktor]

I am more of a jumper than event person but I think it is working both ways. I think many event pros are pushing to get these things in front of H/J owners to generate interest in the sport and attract higher prize money, better horses, more support etc.

Show jumping has gotten SO VERY expensive at the top there is a fairly large market of people who would like to be owners but can’t afford to keep a couple of Grand Prix horses on the road. Or for the money you spend on a mediocre GP horse, you could be financing a really nice 4* eventer or three with a possibility of getting it on the team. Maybe this is a way to connect those dots.

I also think from the organizer’s side it is a way to bring in a little excitement and something different. Like Jack Russell races, exhibitions, and the amazing donkey race I saw on FB this morning (THANKS LAZ!!!) https://www.facebook.com/BeverleyRacecourse/videos/781273551974056/?hc_ref=SEARCH

I also think they think there is a demand for “really nice” events with top notch facilities. Which is true – for example the number of competitors at really great venues is huge (KHP, etc.) people are willing to drive and pay for super nice experiences, so much so it is driving the little venues out. This is just the continuation of a trend and before you blame the facilities/organizers, think about whether you’ve driven extra far to show at a really nice venue. Most everyone does! I certainly have, used to drive my jumpers to Atlanta (14 hours) because it is just so nice to show at that facility.

[NCRider]

[QUOTE=fordtraktor;9042346]
I am more of a jumper than event person but I think it is working both ways. I think many event pros are pushing to get these things in front of H/J owners to generate interest in the sport and attract higher prize money, better horses, more support etc.

Show jumping has gotten SO VERY expensive at the top there is a fairly large market of people who would like to be owners but can’t afford to keep a couple of Grand Prix horses on the road. Or for the money you spend on a mediocre GP horse, you could be financing a really nice 4* eventer or three with a possibility of getting it on the team. Maybe this is a way to connect those dots.

I also think from the organizer’s side it is a way to bring in a little excitement and something different. Like Jack Russell races, exhibitions, and the amazing donkey race I saw on FB this morning (THANKS LAZ!!!) https://www.facebook.com/BeverleyRacecourse/videos/781273551974056/?hc_ref=SEARCH

I also think they think there is a demand for “really nice” events with top notch facilities. Which is true – for example the number of competitors at really great venues is huge (KHP, etc.) people are willing to drive and pay for super nice experiences, so much so it is driving the little venues out. This is just the continuation of a trend and before you blame the facilities/organizers, think about whether you’ve driven extra far to show at a really nice venue. Most everyone does! I certainly have, used to drive my jumpers to Atlanta (14 hours) because it is just so nice to show at that facility.[/QUOTE]

The difference is that the type of people who stopped being able to afford showing h/j 10 years ago or more STILL event. And they love it. But all of this showcase BS and catering to the h/j owners will price them out of eventing. And they’re being asked to go quietly, to give up their sport so that Boyd and 15 of his friends can attract more rich people to buy another 4 star horse to try to make the Olympics in a sport that is inevitably getting kicked out sooner rather than later.
ULR’s will sacrifice the rest of us and adopt the derby model if it means they will make more money. They want a system where all of them, not just the best ones, make a good living from riding and selling horses like h/j. They’re not talented enough in pure SJ or dressage to make it to the top so they’re willing to corrupt eventing to achieve their goals.

They may have loved bonding with their horses, galloping over terrain and jumping out of stride at one point but now they love money and jumbo trons and sponsor events and staff and buying expensive horses and being feted like rock stars and winning big prizes for doing nothing special.
There is no way a preseason exhibition derby should take priority over a real event. But it does because it dangles more money than any event in the US other than Rolex. And it does that because business people have seen a way to monetize eventing and you have to start with bang if you want to kill off the competition before you jack up prices. It’s like Wallmart.

If people are bored with hunters I wish they would either work to make hunters more exciting and realistic (any maybe that would help with the doping problem) or come try eventing at real events. There are tons of local events all over the US and most of them could use the entries.

[pologirl27]

If eventing is the new money sport my 1992 model horse and truck certainly haven’t heard about it.

[fordtraktor]

that’s fine, but mvp asked for an explanation of what is happening. I explain what is happening in my view. You can argue all day that is bad but you can’t ignore it. if you want to stop it you first need to understand it, with a clear head and provide alternative, practical solutions that work for lower and upper level riders.

Gnashing your teeth about the good old days online is not going to do anything. probably the best think eventers can do is to support your local, struggling events by riding in them, and volunteering your time (and money, when possible).

Us vs. them doesn’t work in politics or sport.

[Jealoushe]

It’s all about the Benjamin’s. Event riders have some big $ owners. And those owners want to be wined and dined. These events are for them and their friends.

Us vs. them is the only thing that is going to save our sport, and keep it safe. Sorry we don’t just bury our heads.

[fordtraktor]

Are you getting results? is it working? Let’s be realistic here, what you are doing is definitely NOT working.

[DrBeckett]

Good Lord fordtraktor, I wish I could like your second post a thousand times. You nailed it completely.

[devvie]

From a Canadian perspective, I get this, though I realize this is an aside – what we have here is the departure of the upper level riders to the U.S., perhaps to return for part of the season, perhaps not. And ditto wrt to events, Richland, etc. draw away from the ability of organizers here, I suspect, at least to some degree, to even try for big events (Bromont excepted). I totally get why they do it if they’re trying to run a competition business, but it’s interesting.

[JER]

I don’t really care about eventing showcases or pageants or whatever they want to call them. I’m not venturing out to watch one; and the organizers of these spectacles only seem to be interested in the big names anyway.

The grassroots can still be the grassroots and interested riders from other disciplines will still find their way to real eventing if they so choose.

[D_BaldStockings]

“I thought the H/J crowd had all the money worth chasing. Do you guys now have All The Money such that the H/J show managers want to woo you?”

The other way around.

The UL eventers are chasing the H/J owner and sponsor pool to fund their careers.

What they are trying to offer is ‘thrills and spills’ -oops! Well, not too many of those; but the possibility of same to give an exciting change to H/J show.
Comparison to Jack Russell races is apt in that sense.

UL riders have found a way to shoehorn an appetizer bite of bits of Eventing into an H/J show schedule. It is an Advertisement, or Promotion, or Propaganda; whatever you want to call it.

Bringing the Riders to the Money Suppliers is what it is for.

[mvp]

Man, I feel like the Hunter Industry is the model and the super-virulent scourge. I apologize on behalf of my type.

Such a bummer to see the money collect at the top of any sport… and maybe its a question of everyone running out of money (post-2008 recession and a longer trend of declining wealth for everyone born after 1975)… as well as demography. NCRider’s post strikes me as right (in a reasonable respect): As pros age, then want more money and less risk and less pure horse love/sport love romance as the reason to keep riding. Oh, and I like the rest of the dastardly conspiracy theory, too.

You can’t blame people for following the money (meaning trying to tap into the H/J owners’ market to find folks to buy them horses). But it looks so glaringly obvious and cheesy when they do.

[soloudinhere]

It comes down further than just ULRs chasing big $$ owners.

The middle and low level trainers want those mid-low level HJ riders who want to buy a made horse and compete. Event horse prices have gone WAY up and the # of people failing their way around BN is also going up. As hunter barns and lesson programs have been closing due to financial pressures, eventers tend to remain and collect the leftovers.

[Heinz_57]

Big Eventing wants the PUBLICITY! The FANS! The EXCITEMENT! The MONEY!

Trying to garner public interest and therefore more money via a bastardized derby-cross sideshow in the H/J circus.

It’s cheap, it’s easy, and it’s convenient. And I can’t imagine the H/J’ers in the stands aren’t pointing and laughing a bit. Or at least cringing.

Traditional eventing hasn’t yet been cast aside for it’s faster, cheaper and easier cousin-twice-removed, but only time will tell.

JMHO, of course.

[mg]

Wow, some of the responses here… I’m sick of seeing the ULRs villianized on this board. I’ve never seen a quote from Boyd et al saying they prefer the showcase format to regular eventing. But let’s be honest here: it’s very expensive to campaign and care for an upper level horse. Heaven forbid the riders and owners appreciate having their entry fee and a couple of bills covered thanks to the prize money.

[Sticky_Situation]

I think it’s a combination of the pros at the upper levels wanting the H/J business model because it is far more lucrative for professionals than eventing traditionally was … and the Mark Bellissimo types of the horse world seeing the money that is in eventing (even if it has nothing on those at the top of the H/J world) as a somewhat “untapped market” that they can use to expand their influence and bring in more money to their venues and developments, as long as it’s done on their terms (Showcases, the Tryon AECs, etc) and they don’t have to venture too far out into the sticks and, you know, build fences out in fields and the woods and stuff.

[Janet]

My father had a saying (about sports in general):

“When you start CHARGING ADMISSION you change it from SPORT to ENTERTAINMENT. And that changes EVERYTHING.”

I see this very much as ENTERTAINMENT.

[Beam_Me_Up]

Using the Jack Russell races example, is this going to be interesting enough to the H/J community to amount to more than a little distraction here and there?

I can see why it was fun to see something new, and it sounds like they did a good job on the “hospitality” end. I have no doubt that if organizers could offer that kind of prize money regularly, eventers would come, but can they, or is it just the novelty?

I understand and agree with the concern that this type of showcase is unlikely to bring much support to actual eventing in the way of event sponsors or venue sponsors. But it’s hard for me to imagine how that showcase could be a self-sustaining sport (riders competing in it or developing horses for it full time).

[vineyridge]

Aachen does arena eventing and so do some other big European shows. Arena eventing is done within the confines of a regular show grounds and doesn’t claim to present XC. There are new FEI rules this year for Arena and Indoor Eventing. The Welly World showcase is neither fish nor fowl. It’s not Arena Eventing because it uses TWO jumping fields with a gallop in between them.

Does anyone know which version Devon will use? For some reason, I was under the impression that they had sold their outside course and wasn’t aware that they had as much space to spread out as the Welly Showcase.

Arena Eventing is not eventing but it does exist in Europe, has been noticed by the FEI, and doesn’t seem to be going away. If that’s what Devon is putting on, let us hope they get FEI sanction and apply FEI Rules.

One only supposes that Devon is offering it because they think their spectators will enjoy it, and the riders will draw money that otherwise wouldn’t be available to them.

OTOH, if it’s another version of Wellington’s Showcase, my disappointment will be enormous. America doesn’t need any more of those bastard competitions.

[Groom_amp_Taxi]

Per Eventing Nation, “Capt. Mark Phillips’ course will run across 1,000 meters through both the Gold Ring and Dixon Oval.”

More details in the EN article.