NSEA

[Ifyouwantmeillbeinthebar]

I have 2 daughters that are horse mad and compete unaffiliated and with our PC. One is Y7 and at a sport specialised secondary and the other is at a Grammar school and is currently midway through PE GCSE and is using riding as one of her sports.

Both are really good riders with my youngest being slightly more competitive and desperate to get into BSJ but I’m trying to hold her away at arms length just now as it seems like a different world.

I wondered if NSEA was good In-between and was hopeful with them both being at good schools in quite a rural and high equestrian area they might already have school teams but both daughter don’t think so.

How can I encourage the school to get involved and is there anything I can do at my end?

Is joining a NSEA team fun, supportive, would love to know a little more about what they would get out of it from someone who knows.

If you are in PC I suspect you know all the other riders at their schools so unlikely there are existing teams.
I do know of people who have joined despite being the only ones at their school but I’m not sure I see the point if you can’t join a team.
Are they able to join the pc teams, qualify for the championships etc?

Our pc also has a very competitive winter league showjumping competition between all the clubs in our area. The classes go from 70cm to 110cm. This would be a better way of bridging the gap between unaffiliated and bs.

My DD did for a couple of years, about 15 years ago, things may have moved on since. She found it an enjoyable experience and good to get some extra competition experience under her belt without quite the pressure of affiliated comps, but TBH I found it a bit of a nightmare, school were happy for there to be a team in their name but didn't want to put any resource/money or time whatsoever into organizing it (which was fair enough, not a super posh school and equestrian stuff not a high priority for them) so it all fell on the parents and very quickly I was sucked into a world of pain with logistics, politics, organisation, funding etc (on paper we had enough riders and ponies to cobble together a team but then ponies would go lame, transport would break down leading to frantic attempts to secure lift shares, teenagers would lose interest or have other clashing commitments and fail to turn up) and it was always a lottery whether we could even get the numbers (those days a team was 4 with a discard score but you could enter with 3) to actually run as a team. TBH if I had my time again I'd have just taken her and maybe a friend from yard to share costs to more unaffliated and PC stuff, maybe done a few BS events on a ticket rather than ploughing effort and money into the schools comps (DD was never particularly bothered about representing her school or having her name read out in assembly, in fact I think she found it a bit cringeworthy). But that was just us, and no fault at all of the association.

Thanks everyone.

We do jump with PC and take part in all the team SJ’ing, areas, champ etc, and my eldest daughter qualified and competed for Nationals at Arena UK this year which was amazing however both DD’s quite like the idea of travelling and competing away from PC and home experiencing some other bigger arenas.

I was also recommended trailblazers by the lady we bought last pony off so looking into that too. 😊

trailblazers is a bit… I wouldnt quite say a scam but it’s a bit of a money making operation. It’s VERY easy to qualify for the finals and the finals are incredibly expensive in terms of entries and stabling

This. Trailblazers is nothing special. Have your daughters been to the Sunshine Tour? That's much more of an amazing experience and it's at Hickstead. It's difficult to secure classes though even if you qualify as places are limited, so you have to book classes as soon as the booking system opens. It's a great event though.

To be honest, I have a daughter of similar age to your youngest and I am not finding the BSJA shows any more complicated than the u/a shows. The only problem is that there are much fewer Junior shows than u/a shows on at the moment. But I would say go for it - BSJA sounds a lot more glamorous on paper than it actually is. There is not much difference to u/a shows, except that the jumping is of a higher quality and the novice minimum height is 80cm, although the opens start at 70cm.

We go to NSEA competitions if they're within a couple of hours of us (North covers a huge area). All it does is allow you to qualify and then drive further and pay more for the finals, just the same as any of the others (although Trailblazers has to get a special mention for it's dubious requirement for a very long stay at the finals).

You can compete and qualify as an individual, that's what we do. To be honest it's easier to trawl through Horsevents/Horse-events and check your local equestrian centres to find any competitions that you may not be aware of. If your daughters are bored with winning everything locally all of the time, you might just have to join BSJA to find something more competitive.

My dc won a major NSEA championship one year. They only need three for a team and its not expensive iirc. The school can pay to register then each member pays around 20 a year. We did a few things on our own then others slowly joined.

Shame they aren't at the same school as you'd then only need one more for a team!

If they're into eventing at all, the Cotswold Cup series is brilliant. It's not my area (I'm north east) but i have a friend who started the series this year and had been having a wonderful time.

Thanks everyone, this is all very helpful, we in the SW.

For NSEA do they have to have a teacher who has riding/equestrian experience to lead it or can I get involved as a parent?

I’m not sure why I’m holding back from BS we do have a fabulous pony who has a BS record, but it does just seem so complicated in terms of what we can do and can’t do, jumping on a ticket (what does that even mean 😅) and I’ve heard it can be quite meanly competitive, ie parents quibbling over other kids times, questioning kits etc.

DC generally places top 5 which is obviously great but I’ve tried to explain to her that stepping up to BS where money is no object for horses, training for some means she may be much more averagely placed and while they make all the right noises I wonder how DC would really feel about it.

BS is easier in a way. NSEA is only really.fun if.you are.in a team

Yes you can arrange as a parent if the school thinks its OK.

I think you're overthinking it to be honest 🤷‍♀️

All the BSJA shows I have been at have been very civilised. In fact, I heard horror-stories about a parent's behaviour at a recent u/a show. A mum went totally mental at (her own) kids and was so mean to the poor kids (one of whom looked around 7) that one of my daughter's friend's mums had to intervene. Ironically, she was effing and blinding about how her kids were embarrassing her in front of everyone by riding like shit, but she was most certainly the embarrassing one 🙈I've never seen that happen at a BSJA show, but I'm not ruling it out as horsey people are bloody mean. 😂

My daughter usually places top 2-4 at all the BSJA shows we go to and she was placing 1-2 at u/a shows, so not much of a difference and we certainly don't have unlimited money and although a great (but not expensive) pony.

Points-wise, if your pony can still do Novice then it won't be any different to jumping 80cm at an u/a show. Your daughters could also do the open, which is 70cm.

@XelaM thank you, this is helpful.

DD is 11 and jumping around 90 but I think pony's old owners told us with her already having a record DD would have to step down to 70, this where I got confused!

Any other BSJA advice would be great.

Join Bs for schools and start that way
Or bs club

I have also found calling the BJSA for advice very helpful. They have always been very friendly and willing to assist.

If your pony already has points, you need to check whether it's still eligible for Novice as your daughters might have to jump higher if it's not. Novice is 80cm, Discovery is 90cm, Newcomers is 1m, Foxhuhters is 1.10m etc..

Check your pony's BSJA record and how many points it has (use its passport name as that would usually be the name it is registered with the BSJA). You can either check in the website or by calling BSJA. They will then advise you what heights it's eligible for. You can still enter lower heights I think but won't be able to qualify for any championships. Then just pay the membership fees (for yourself, your daughters and the pony - there is a discount for PC members) and starr entering junior shows 🤩

My daughter does NSEA with her school. A parent is the manager as no teachers were horsey. She has made new friends through riding in teams and really enjoys it. Would highly recommend