Call me a cynic, but I think the uproar just made for an excuse. They also halved the number of participants and required them to bring their own horses. With those two changes plus the removal of the live stream, this seems more like a cost-cutting measure with a convenient reason.
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It certainly won’t be much fun watching just 6 riders especially if it is only “highlights”. I can’t imagine that any of those kids would be bothered by a live stream. . . .
Aren’t these juniors supposed to be our future professionals? The top of the sport? They need to be able to handle all the pressure. We need to stop coddling everyone.
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Who says they’re going to be future professionals? Maybe they will be, maybe they won’t be.
Right now they’re still just kids.
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I’ve watched this event virtually for years and used to glue myself to my screen for it. Now, I think the whole thing has run it’s course.
Once upon a time, it was an opportunity for the rest of us to watch “lessons” by BNT, like GM. Back then, here was a lot of dialogue about the topic: philosophy, etc.
Last year was a fiasco for reasons already discussed. But overall, I think these riders have great coaches and trainers and may not get much from this event.
I haven’t seen what the EAP sessions are like, but it’s possible that it’s more productive to put resources into that level of rider vs those invited to this event, who are already so accomplished.
I’m grateful for the clinicians who give their time to this, year after year (Laura, Kent, McLain, …). It’s a big commitment from them.
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I think we’re looking at 3 standout reasons:
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Court of public opinion online and clinicians not being keen on having to be crucified by keyboard warriors.
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If it’s a free livestream, then it’s likely they won’t have as many come to audit, and they can potentially monetize it by charging for attendance, or, if nothing else, they get money for local concessions and parking.
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Professionals and parental pressure to not have their horses/kids looking bad online if they have some hiccups.
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Couldn’t agree more.
Plus- since the kids that do the clinic can’t show that week, I know a few of the trainers of those kids that ARE “pros” -Carlee, Mia etc- have spoken out about not liking the loss of a weeks showing sale horses, young horses, warmups etc. Whether that’s financially, or just from a lost time perspective. Or both.
I think it was winding down in recent years. As much as I am NOT a GM fan, he made it entertaining in a way that the others can’t. I will miss it a lot.
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