So there wasn't much to dislike at this show. It was pretty much top notch over all, from decor, to the planning, the execution, and the caliber of rider (and people watching!)
BUT.
The cost of stuff was pretty astronomical. And I understand, we were in Los Angeles and at a prestigious show trying to imitate the super high end European shows. However, a sandwich (that was very very good, but it was still a sandwich) was $18, bottled water was $4 and then on Sunday I splurged and got a mimosa. $20 later...I almost spit that mimosa back into the bartenders face. Okay, not really but I don't even pay that much for bottomless mimosas at my local brunch place.
Oh. And this was the big one that really irked me. You would figure that an event like this would have a lot of branded merchandise that people would buy to get signed, remember the event, etc. NOPE. They had baseball caps, and then a polo for men and one for women. Like we're all horse people here-where are the saddle pads? Or polo wraps? Or something that is relatively cheap that Longines can embroider and sell at a huge markup? It was disappointing to say the least. Also disappointing is that they completely ran out of hats and I really wanted one. I tried to see if one of my friends who was volunteering there knew of any connection but I guess the show REALLY ran out of them. So much so they had to take the hats (worn hats, by the way) from the volunteers to give to the people who had won. Crazy, right? Seems like kind of crummy planning especially since nothing had dates on it. Longines is contracted to run this show for 5 more years-they could have recycled extras! Or, maybe the person ordering needs to learn how to count...
Anyway, like I said. Small stuff, but it was significant enough for me to note it.
The most interesting thing I saw there (besides the horse statue made out of hangers, OMG! Oh, and some random celebrities) was how these "Masters" rode around each other in the warm up ring. The warm up ring was great-smack dab in the middle of the venue and you could stand there just an arms length away from some of the top horse and rider pairs in the world. I watched before the big class Saturday night. Some of the riders at the time I was watching included Mclain Ward, Laura Kraut, and Reed Kessler. Now I've been in super crazy warm up rings before and it is stressful. But people are generally decent about calling out "rail" or not purposefully turning into other riders or calling their jumps. These Masters though? It was probably the quietest warmup ring I've ever witnessed and holy hell...they are SO RUDE to each other! I saw one riding up right on anothers butt, despite the horse they were riding up on having a red string in its tail (signal for a kicker). Another jumped a jump, and turned left INTO the rail, right where a couple other riders were walking who then had to scramble out of the way. Saw another do a circle RIGHT in front of someone else, literally 4 inches in front of the other horse's nose. When I mentioned all this to my friend, she brought up a good point that they probably do all this as an intimidation factor. You figure as far as riding talent goes, most of these riders are on a pretty level playing field-its the best of the best. So they have to play a mental game to out psych their opponents. Makes sense but damn! It was intense.
