| Author | Message | ||
     peter edwards Member Username: Petere Post Number: 1 Registered: 06-2011 |
I would go along with the loss of dressage as I am never satisfied with my dressage scores but we have to remember that we drop behind the europeans in this area even though they give the impression that its ignored in europe! They tend to do a lot more dressage training in private so in public they can drop the dressage stage. I find that if when helping a beginner to do dressage it is easy to imagine doing simple everyday things like passing a car (deviation) going round a roundabout (circle) etc and suddenly the fear of doing the movements tends to fade. then its only their own fears doing something silly in front of a crowd buts thats a different fear all together, so unless this country puts dressage first we will have a lot of ponies and horses going in the wrong outline because prople starting will just want to go fast!! Somehow we need to increase the numbers of both drivers and spectators but we mustn't let standards slip. | ||
| Deirdre Luff Member Username: Pinkpink Post Number: 1 Registered: 12-2007 |
Over the last few months I have read with great interest the discussion regarding the development and promotion of our sport. With all the possible changes that are afoot and the possible use of the World cup series to reach and promote our sport to the general public, would this be a good time to highlight and reformat the use of the Indoor Driving Trials? World Cup Driving is in effect Indoor Driving. Within the Indoor circuit, the more affluent regions with high density populations are thriving, but those of us in more rural settings are struggling with the cost of hiring venues, diesel costs to distant venues and the entry fees. I like dressage; even if I’m not that good at it, cones are fun and a wonderful schooling aid, the obstacles always exciting. I would go to more Indoor events but the format is time consuming and in the wet winter months the day is too long. The thought of turning up for 3 rounds of world cup style competition and then tucking the ponies safely away and watching others or even going home to dry off is appealing. This would also mean that the smaller venues would have room for parking and warm up with the competitors rolling in throughout the day. The public would also have action to view throughout the day. The format of arriving for your class/event at a set time, competing and leaving works for other equestrian disciplines such as Dressage, Jumping and Showing. It might even allow for evening competition where the facilities are available, which could increase exposure to the public. This worked at the Conference. The World Cup format might also get us entry to the county show circuit. I appreciate that this goes away from the format of Dressage, Cone and Obstacles, but if it gets people driving and enjoying their driving, rather than being initially intimidated by the thought of trying to remember the dressage test, or scared that dressage is only for posh people! Any of those following the development of our sport work very hard to earn enough, train enough and be fit enough to enter our flagship events. To continue to do so we need to get enough people on board to support our events at all levels. I think the reformatting and promotion of World Cup Series format for Indoor Driving may benefit Indoor, Club and National Driving. A series of local, regional (such as at Addington) and National Indoor Driving events could provide positive exposure to the general public and potential sponsors for the sport. Just a thought Deirdre Luff | ||
| Martyn Willis Member Username: Martynw Post Number: 47 Registered: 02-2007 |
Carole, Could not agree more with you and your family. What we need now is for Council to grab hold of this format and put in place a competition for us. | ||
| Carole Redgrave Member Username: Caroleredgrave Post Number: 75 Registered: 03-2008 |
I don't mean to change the thread of this but just as an observation to confirm how popular World Cup Driving could be over here were it given the chance by the Tv Media, Yesterday ( Christmas Day ) I played the recording from H&C Tv from last week of the Stuttgart World Cup Event. My Dad, an 89 year old whose main Armchair sports are football, cricket and boxing and my VERY non-horsey brother who is not really into sports at all, plus his wife- again, not a clue about sport or horses , well, they were all glued to the Tv!!!!! They all sussed out the format & Rules within minutes and were all on the edge of their seats cheering on the Drivers! A discussion then began about how Teams of horses are picked, questions about how they are steered, what the Backsteppers do, etc etc. They were all captivated!! If only some of the Big Men in TV could realise what huge potential there is out there. This is a sport that could take over where Showjumping left off in the Seventies! By the way, non of the aforementioned relatives would sit and watch Showjumping on Tv if you paid them!!!! | ||
| Jane Smith Member Username: Smithies Post Number: 24 Registered: 10-2009 |
Correct me if I have read it wrongly, but the London International Horseshow website says we would have to pay £199 per square metre for space in the shopping village.How much space would we need? | ||
| Naomi Harbach Member Username: Naomiharbach Post Number: 6 Registered: 03-2007 |
I think a stand sounds like a great idea and one not to be dissed in the first instance. It was fantastic to see how many people enjoyed it and wanted to find out more about driving. Do we need to have a stand for the whole week, maybe just the days the driving is on and I'm sure people would volunteer to man it, there were loads of us there supporting and i'm sure we could all spare and hour or two to man the stand. Also re merchandise, surely we just need info about our sport, our clubs etc and how to get people started, maybe some DVDs, magazines and books etc, I cant imagine people wanting to walk away with a BHDTA jumper! | ||
| Vicky Brennan Member Username: Vicky_brennan Post Number: 21 Registered: 07-2012 |
There must be passes available to man the stand and noone would have to spend 7 nights in London - there are likely to be a lot of people that would volunteer for the benefit of the BHDTA and the opportunity to contribute - praps it would be best to put it out there rather than diss it at the first suggestion??? | ||
| Martyn Willis Member Username: Martynw Post Number: 46 Registered: 02-2007 |
OK nice idea to have a stand at Olympia. A stand cost £6000. How does the association recover this outlay? How many new members do we think we will get through being there? Who is going to buy the merchandise? Suspect members only who can get it at events anyway. We could promote our UKCC's to get people driving but that does not bring money directly to the association. Finally who wants to spend 7 nights in London at their own expense and up to 68hrs (The shows open from 9am through to 10:35pm) manning the stand with little opportunity to sneak a peak at the competition. Any Volunteers? | ||
| Debbie Tatton Member Username: Debtattonhotmailcom Post Number: 7 Registered: 05-2011 |
Having a bhdta stand at Olympia is a brilliant idea and a meeting place sounds good too. I was there weds evening and it was really great to see how much the audience embraced the excitement of the driving. Well done to all those involved. Lets hope it happens again next year! | ||
| Janet Pilling Member Username: Janetp Post Number: 86 Registered: 03-2007 |
I agree Sonny - there were loads of drivers there and I'm sure if we had a visible presence/stand/meeting place it could only do our sport good. I don't understand why we didn't have one there this year (and please don't give us the old 'no money' grumble again - we're not wearing it!) We must invest some money in this show, we spent a lot of time watching the crowds and they were enthralled! We could be selling vouchers for driving lessons, BHDTA merchandise, give out info on all of our events, have all of the fantastic videos Cavewood have made running on TVs - this was a missed opportunity. | ||
| Sonny Hillier Member Username: Sonnyhillier Post Number: 7 Registered: 05-2007 |
With such a fantastic shop window and a captive audience can we not look into having a Bhdta stand next year to promote our sport ? I know trade stand space is not cheap but it would surely be a worthwhile investment ?? | ||
| Frances Collings Member Username: Victory Post Number: 55 Registered: 03-2007 |
Brilliant Event perhaps next year we can have a meeting place for Carriage Drivers. Kept meeting people on the train and in shopping area and would be great to have a BHDTA seating area or meeting point. | ||
| Patti Atkinson Member Username: Pattia Post Number: 68 Registered: 03-2007 |
Brilliant event - we were surrounded by folk that had never seen it before and they loved it. Well done Karen and Hugh. | ||
| Heather Clark Member Username: Clarky Post Number: 24 Registered: 08-2008 |
Well done to everyone who worked towards getting the Extreme Driving to Olympia, not least, to generous sponsors Hugh and Karen Scott-Barrett. I was in the audience last night and it was interesting to talk to non-drivers who knew little or nothing about the sport but really enjoyed it. The atmosphere was great and the crowd really got behind the competitors. Let's hope it becomes a permanent fixture on the Olympia schedule. |