We were there. Suagerties is a quite long trip for most, particularly those not in the New York vicinity. Our haul was approximately 16 hours. The numbers were varied with the 3’3" smalls (older and younger) each starting with near 25 in each. The 3"3" larges had close to 35 in each. The smallest section by far was the younger 3’6" smalls, but that was offset a bit by the other 3’6" divisions having over 35 in each. Many went to Devon because it was Devon. I wasn’t a huge fan of the facility, but they did drag and water the two rings frequently so the footing wasn’t horrid as I had heard it would be. My biggest complaint was the absolute lack of communication by the show office to any of the competitors or trainers. There was a rider meeting at 5:00 on Sunday. Great. Absolutely NO mention of where said meeting was to occur. I was literally standing in line to check in for finals (which I could have done at noon, but again, no one mentioned that - rumor mill for the win). Word was finally passed along from somewhere at the front of the 400 person line that it was in the VIP tent. Texts were sent and all was fine. That was all I had to complain about. They were quick with running the rings, even though the days were stupid long. Staff at check out were pleasant enough.
1 Like
