At 13:16:55 on 28.10.10, Flicka wrote:
I don't know if anyone has noticed lol but I'm a bit obsessed about how little equestrian sport is on TV and why show jumping in particular is really struggling to get bums on seats at shows! I personally think we need bigger personalities rider and horse wise. But I also think show jumping, even to someone like me who's really into the sport, at the top end has become really boring. It just seems to be a parade of wonderful horses effortlessly popping over the jumps and maybe rolling a pole-yawn. There are certain classes that are a bit more fun and get the crowd behind them such as the speed classes and the puissance wall but obviously something is missing here. So it was with interest I read a column by Graham Fletcher in H&H today. He says we want to put the drama back into show jumping with fences that really make the spectator think ****! I wouldn't want to jump that! Nowadays the courses are about light poles and technical difficulties-apparently the FEI recommend that they are light and airy and this is what foreign riders want and so we build them like that in the UK to attract them. But he suggests we need to include a couple more solid imposing jumps that call for bravery and also rather than fill arenas with a complicated course of jumps we should give horses more room to run and jump. I think what he says makes a hell of a lot of sense but would be interested to hear what others think. What classes do you enjoy watching and what will attract more viewers to show jumping?

At 09:28:47 on 31.10.10, EmandBlueX wrote:
I agree i only ever go to SJ if there are other things involved which is why i go to olympia and Burgley ect as its a bit more exciting, some of teh jumps are just not exciting and i cannot remember what show it was but i remmeber thinking tha i could jump with no effort over half of those. It needs to be daring and almost scary again x

At 00:08:41 on 17.11.10, kibby wrote:
We were actually talking about this at the judges clinic i went to on the weekend (i'm a probationary judge now) but we were talking about how show jumping has changed from those exciting speed classes or huge big scary tracks to light rails and technical tracks. Its partly the riders fault because now its all about precision and accuracy they dont want to take there horses into a class where they are just going to hoon around and partly organisors fault for not running those exciting classes anymore. And yes we need bigger personalties in the ring but also the equestrian federation of each country needs to promote these people.… big crowd favourites in europe are your puissance, well in australia ours was our six bar. But barely any shows run this anymore. Maybe after other shows saw the success of our bareback class in entertaining the crowd they will start to include maybe not a novelty class like that one but something fun for the crowds

At 13:27:01 on 17.11.10, Sylvia Hibberd wrote:
i agree, there is not enough exitement for the spectators nowadays but it is alot about trusting your horse to jump anything, for example the tougher jumps to knock down as there could be more accidents if the horse is prone to refusal

At 18:07:14 on 27.11.10, Flicka wrote:
Hopefully bareback classes might make a comeback if organisers are brave enough to ignore or this health and safety rubbish. Kibby your fancy dress bareback jumping with a water slide was brilliant-please put another photo on:D And we need more acts like this one where some good looking guys tackle huge show jumps without a horse!! Here's a video from a couple of weeks ago of their world record attempt :D

At 01:58:08 on 28.11.10, kibby wrote:
I have the video.. I'm just struggling with getting it on my computer.. the girl that filmed it for me burnt it on to a dvd.. so i need to do lots of mind boggling formatting.. organisers i think need to realise sponsorship will only keep coming if the sponsors think they are getting their moneys worth.. which if there are no spectators they aren't.. I hope something will give soon..