BSJA Hand Equestrian Centre

Another morning up at 6.30 as Amelia was jumping at Hand Equestrian Centre in Somerset, after ringing  Hand we decided it was going to be quite busy so we left a bit later and arrived about 11am. Amelia jumped Ami de la Destinee and Watts MiddleMarch (Leo)  in the 105/110m restricted open, Destiny jumping the 1.05 and Leo jumping the 110 although it is one class but horses having won over £300 have to jump the higher course. There we approx 60 in the class so it took some time. It was a single Phase class where you jumped fences 1 to 6 and continued 7 to 11 against the clock. Destiny jumped fence 9 on a bit of an angle and took it down which was unfortunate as she had the third fastest time. Leo jumped well and was placed 4th. The next class was the 110m Blue Chip qualifier. We entered both horses but were then surprised to find there were 86 entries in the class. Leo was drawn 28th and Destiny was 71st to go. We put Destiny back on the box for awhile. Leo jumped a clear but the Dest didn’t go well, I think she was a bit tired by the time we tacked her up at gone 5pm and went back in, she met the treble wrong and had a few fences down. Leo did a good jump off and finished in 3rd place and qualified for the finals in Hartpury next spring which is pretty good going 3rd from 86. Hand is a lovely centre and has had a lot of  money spent there. There is marvellous facillities, large warm up areas, lorrypark, Gallery and arena. The lady taking entries was very nice although the girl on the board was very stressed but the worst thing is the judging. On two occasions I have been there when they make countless mistakes with the amount of faults given and the times. Several competitors in the restricted open were given 4 faults when they had 8 and one guy jumped number three backwards instead of number seven then stopped spoke to his friends in the corner who were laughing at him then realised the bell hadn’t gone so turned round rode a circle jumped number seven carried on knocked three fences down and was given 16 faults, surely he should have been eliminated when he jumped number three backwards but they didn’t seem to notice that. Whats the point in have a large timer on the wall if sometimes it doesn’t work, they claim they have a back up but some times were very obviously wrong. I am surprised people aren’t complaining but then if its in their favour I don’t suppose they would. Its a really nice place to go but the judging does need some addressing.

Posted on Monday, October 26th, 2009 at 2:37 am You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.