The cost of showing out weighs my love for it. I also don’t like how the H/J industry created and expects codependent clients.
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Honestly, I use competitions for goal setting. Can we perform xyz at x level under pressure? Yes? Excellent! Iffy? What are the weak spots? Work on those. Rinse repeat.
Its much more fun and takes off the pressure.
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This.
One of my daughters rides. She’s totally indifferent to showing. Sometimes she’s there, sometimes she’s not. The other one hates horses entirely. So my choice to show is an active choice to be away from at least one of my children. With my work travel, I’m already away enough. I just don’t think now is a good time for showing. Maybe the local shows here and there with my older girl. Besides, I just love spending time with my big handsome gelding. Doesn’t matter where we are or what we’re doing.
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I totally get it. I rode and showed ALOT as a junior, and got burned out actually. Always considered myself a rider and knew I wanted to get back to it once time and money made it doable. My first horse show in twenty years was fun but afterward I said, hmm, don’t need do that again, and never did (that was 5 years ago). My daughter shows so my horse show weekends are spent caring for our horse and cheering her on, and that suit me JUST fine. When she goes off to college I will ride again but I highly doubt i will ever show, certainly not rated.
That said, we board at a great barn with more adults than juniors (and they set an amazing example for my daughter) and I really think they enjoy it and have a great time. I give them lots of props and they would be the only reason I would ever show myself once daughter ages out. They are just awesome, fun and supportive.
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Can’t say that I ever was a show fiend, but as a college student I got into a groove and started seeing nice improvement in my performance (related as much to becoming much less nervous along with the improved skills).
After a good bit of time away along with a much different family life and financial situation, the thought of showing is much less enticing. I do still have show aspirations in a general sense, but until time and money free up, I’m not forcing anything and instead focusing on lessons and trying to get fit.
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^^^this!
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Exactly this. The cost of showing, on top of everything else, has just killed me. Additionally, it’s just hard to compete against the people who have the funds for pros to ride their horse when they can’t, and have the unlimited funds to show every weekend.
It’s convenient that my horse is also getting older, so now I just take him horsepacking in the mountains (I know, I know, horsepacking on a 1.50 jumper?!), but he enjoys it, as do I.
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That makes me sad. It would be like me saying I don’t like tenors, therefore I refuse to teach them. I’m the teacher. The expert. It’s my job to meet the client where they are and work with what they have. Even if they are a tenor.
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Yes!..and no.
When i think about the money I spend showing, the time away from my kids, and some of the general ickiness of the H/J industry, I find myself looking for an escape hatch nearly every year. I can never really carve out the time to ride enough to be super competitive, and sometimes it seems totally futile.
Then, inevitably, I commit to and show up at a show. My friends are there, my horse looks so beautiful braided, and I am so proud of the partnership I’ve built with her over the last 9 years. We go around the adult ring, we miss, we leave long, and sometimes we get it right. Regardless, I always have an amazing time once I’m there and it all seems worth it. I remember why I love to show - it has nothing to do with ribbons and everything to do with the people and horses around me.
Then, I go back to real life and start the whole cycle all over again 🤪. Once my girl retires, I will probably hang up my spurs for a bit until my kids are older and it feels less like a massive drain on them when I am away. For now, I’m just trying to enjoy the years I have left with my wonderful mare.
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Me! Mostly cost of showing.
I had horrible horse luck.
Ive had a horse since age 10. I evented, recognized 5+ times a year. We always had a horrible dressage test but that horse jumped the moon, even with me not knowing what a distance was! That’s when I decided I disliked eventing. We placed top 5 ever recognized event we did.
I later got serious about jumpers. All the strings got pulled so I could buy this horse. Best memory was riding in a Greg Best clinic and him saying “I think this horse could jump around the 1.40 at Spruce, if he doesn’t run off with you.”
I landed an amazing working student gig, I’ve always loved learning vrs showing. I did a few local AA shows, like SHP, Sac etc.
Right after I aged out my legal guardian passed away. I ended up in a not great living situation. I was working off board for this horse, and a retired horse. I don’t know how I even managed it. I really had to sell the horse. Here I was with a high school degree, no money etc trying to keep a high level horse at an expensive barn.
Sold that horse, continued to groom.
I moved out of the state. I had bought a cheap TB, we did our first and last unrecognized show in the Bay Area. He had never seen a fence. Jumped every little 2 foot fence in that ring, pretty well imo and we didn’t place. I was kinda butt hurt!
I took the cheap TB with me when I moved. The past 2 years I’ve been working a crummy job, 6+ days a week just to try to stay afloat and pay for my two horses that say in pasture.
I love to learn, learning with the horse and about the horse is my biggest motivation.
I finally found myself in a financial position to show (thanks to DH) also thanks to DH I’m going to have a child so I’m sure I won’t be showing simply because of that.
I haven’t had a trainer in the past 4+ years. I restarted that TB by myself, got another younger TB that isn’t jumping material.
Even when I showed as a junior I did everything myself. Grooming, braiding, all my feeding and stall cleaning. I don’t think I’ve ever had someone tack a horse up for me. I think I can be too hands on sometimes.
I would really love to show again but I’d be like a complete re rider. There isn’t a lot of English trainers out here. Someone from Canada comes down often to do clinics and that’s about it. Closest rated shows are in Colorado and Canada
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I am loving showing. I am having better seasons than I have ever had in my whole riding career. I have finally found that I really enjoy jumpers and always have but now it’s enough to be the main/primary discipline. That said I still consider myself a ‘rider’ not a ‘jumper, eventer, foxhunter’ even though all of those are true.
When I was a kid I had supportive parents and I would say I didn’t capitalize on that when it existed. Now that the money is mine I am more creative about how and where it goes. I laugh that I didn’t plan well since I now have a horse that we’re aiming for 1.30 (and maybe beyond) this year. Those levels don’t typically exist at most of the budget friendly local shows. LOL. So I started a push to add up to 1.20m classes to our local shows and so far it’s working a bit. I’m hopeful we can keep it going all year.
Additionally I have found some cool unrecognized shows like Twilight Jumpers in Va that have a 1.30 class for $100 all in. I anticipate spending more of this year working on our skills and doing fewer shows overall. That’s the best plan for myself, my horse and my budget. I really need to work on getting better and this is especially challenging without a full time trainer. So I’m buckling down and working harder on getting better before we go out and hit the bigger shows/higher classes.
I think often how ridiculous it all is, but I love this sport and I really do want to do the best I can.
Em
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Quit showing a while back, after years in and years out. Honestly: it’s not fun at all. It’s a total hurry-up-and-wait, even at small shows. As a teenager, you don’t care about this at all. As an adult, working or not: I really don’t want to spend the whole day waiting to show, then waiting for X rounds to finish (all those cards) before you can learn how you did. Total drag, and not fun for family or friends either. I know this is very efficient for trainers, but sorry, it is a complete drag for everyone else. I am not interested in this game any more. It’s sad for me to say this.
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When I was younger and the bank of Mom and Dad paid my horse bills, I did quite a bit of showing.
Now that I am older, with a mortgage and two horses to support, I have zero desire to show. If I have some extra money to throw away, I’d rather use it to learn how to ride better (lessons) than to show how well I can ride (shows).
Having two grey horses probably helps this decision a bit. I have no desire to try to get them squeaky clean!
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I find this thread interesting because now that I have children, and have been listening to friends complain about the wasted day, I’m just so glad I event now because I would not be able to waste my precious weekend days playing the hurry up & wait game. Honesty if showing went past 5pm and I had been at a show since 8am I would leave. And that’s a large amount of money to flush down the toilet. Would have to carefully plan and maybe do one or two away shows a year & treat them as mini vacations versus regular showing. Balancing the hobby with family and a career is difficult.
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I grew up in the h/j world, but not showing big time - I did lessons and local shows, then got good enough to be the working student type in the bigger barns, so I’d warm up horses for clients at shows, etc., or catch ride the horse that needed some more effective riding, etc. When I got my first horse, an OTTB I planned to train and sell, I did train and show, and it was super rewarding to be competitive on my TB that I trained, but then I realized I’d just blown close to $1000 for a few courses and ribbons… I also HATE the timing issues of h/j shows! I always loved flatwork and dressage, so I switched gears and now only show dressage, though I still jump for fun/cross-training. I also am willing to do local CTs/one day events, etc.
I was discussing this with a friend who still does h/j. To be competitive as a hunter, really, you have to campaign at shows - get points at a lot of places. That eats up a lot of time and money. Dressage - you get a literal score, and can compare that to your last performance, not just placing in a different group of people. And you have RIDE TIMES which are amazing, and you can go to “x” number of shows and if you get the scores at those shows, you get recognition for that accomplishment, without having to go to more shows than your nearest competitor to be able to be recognized.
I wish hunters would do ride times, and potentially develop a scoring system - you could break down courses with the approach, jumping effort, take off, etc, and get scores for each segment. I know that won’t happen, but I think it’d improve a lot of the issues people have with hunters. In jumpers, you have your speed and number of faults to gauge how you’ve done.
But as long as there are people with gobs of money and time, I doubt the big shows will change. But maybe other show venues could emerge that catered to those who no longer show because of a few common reasons…
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Nailed it.
I don’t want to pay to lose (because I didn’t buy the fancy enough horse to begin with), to be exploited (horse shows that charge each competitor out the wazoo so as to fund prize money, jumbotrons and real estate investments for people who need all that money less; or part of an industry that’s dishonest about horse sales, work being done/not done when the owner isn’t watching), or to be in a co-dependent relationship when I don’t need to be.
But I do enjoy taking my horse to a horse show. My favorite thing would be to have the whole weekend be like schooling day in the 1990s. I’d bring the matchy-match stuff and the nice horse…and I’d just camp out for the weekend. I’d watch great rounds… maybe groom some so that I was making some money rather than just spending it… and then my pro would school me in the ring (wearing some super fancy full chaps) after the show. That way I could be part of it all including the matchy-match Pretty, for way less money and ride my horse in a way that I enjoyed.
I have a Dressage Nugget now and I bought her to bring up the levels myself. I really don’t care for the DQ show scene. I say this as a po’ folks and competent rider who wants to make up her own horse and as a groom from hunter world. But I do enjoy the training process of making my scaredy-cat mare rideable at a horse show. I would like to show her in that Schooling Day 1990s way, too.
What I do like about the dressage world is that I have an attainable goal-- I just want to make up a horse that can earn me my bronze medal. If she can go farther, that would be great.
Part of the joying coming back into showing for me has to do gaining some goals that feel legitimate and attainable.
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Very curious about this. As someone who lives slightly northwest of you, how do you all handle the snow and temperatures in winter that Michigan can throw at you? Of course, we do occasionally have milder winters, but it’s not something I count on.
For what it’s worth, my beloved Morgan mare, Knick-Knack, was purchased (40 years ago) from a private party who purchased her from our hunter-jumper instructor who supposedly purchased her from someone at the Battle Creek Hunt Club. I wish I had done some investigating then, as she was, for me, a horse of a lifetime. Some time after I bought her, a friend got an invitation for her and me to take part in a Battle Creek Hunt. When Knick-Knack heard the hounds, I can’t tell you HOW EXCITED she got. Never did anything out of line, but I think her “history” was showing.
Sometimes, I think foxhunting is the only thing I could enjoy with horses in the future. Unfortunately, my current horse is not doing well, and I am not sure I have the heart (and time—I’m 64 years old) to look for another one.
Timely as I went to my first A show since 2017 last week and was just turned off by the whole thing.
Apparently, I live under a rock and missed the micro-chipping requirement. So after I go to the office and have them send me away because I don’t have a microchip, they somehow also took my entry and charged me a late fee and a scratch fee because I filled out a form. $528 after a stall and misc. fees, I was just… done.
I never loved showing, but used it as my incentive to keep working and motivated, but I have officially been priced out. I guess it’s back to the schooling show circuit for me. I guess I’ve just finally realized all the hopes and dreams in the world won’t make my $5k mare competitive against the $50k ones.
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I don’t understand how they can do this. We al least know what time our class starts and have a start order an hour at least before we start.
RHdobes563 --I’ve been riding out with Battle Creek Hunt Club for just short of 20 years --it’s my 5th hunt club since I started hunting at 15. The hunt goes out every Thursday at 4:00 and every Sunday at 10:00 from Oct. 1 until April 15th. I only hunt on Sundays as I live 1 1/4 hour south of the hunt club. It is a long dark drive home on Thursdays!
As to how do I (we) handle the cold --well, we dress for it. I’ve found Oct, Nov, Dec, Jan hunts to be moderate to sort of cold (my ideal hunting temperature is 40 --any warmer and I am too warm, any colder and I’m layering up). In Feb, March, it can be very, very cold --but this year only 4 times did weather keep me home —that was in late Feb, early March when ice was an issue --on the road to the hunt club, club parking lot where we unload, and in the field. I don’t shoe for ice (don’t think it’s worth putting shoes on my horse who never wears shoes for 4 hunts). The only other time weather affected me was at the last hunt when it was rain/sleet/ wind --horse and I looked at each other and said, “Not fun.” We asked for and were granted permission to withdraw from the field. Otherwise --I’m out with the hounds. All of us who hunt wear Mountain Horse Winter Riding boots (with toe warmers); long underwear, winter breeches, Polar fleece stock ties, heavy weight Melton wool coats, helmets with hoodies (kind of like ski masks for riding helmets) -and me personally, I wear a safety vest under my wool vest and heavy coat. I keep my hands warm with glove liners and winter riding gloves and hand warmers. And remember we are moving at a brisk pace!
I’ve attached a video of Battle Creek Hunt --3 min --there are others on YouTube --this one is my favorite --also take a look at Battle Creek Hunt Club’s facebook page. Lots of pix and videos there --if you wonder who I am --look for the black coat on the brown horse (joke --we all dress like that) —I am the only one riding in knee pads --I have a double knee replacement and wear those for protection --my horse is a red roan with a white markings on either side of his tail.
Please consider coming to Battle Creek and riding out with us --if you want to come in the summer, we do have club rides each month. You are welcomed to ride as my guest either then or come hunt with us in the fall as my guest.
As to your horse and age —I am considerably older than you and just got a new-to-me horse two years ago – it is very hard to do. But I found the hunt club to be understanding and supportive. Two members helped me pick out my horse, the entire club staged a “mock” fox hunt just for us to see if hounds/ screaming whips galloping buy, passing, bothered him. It didn’t. Of course he had no clue what a jump was --but last summer we started with one of the members and will continue our over fences education this summer.
The hunt club is vast --there are 80 horses residing at the hunt club, but only about 1/3 belong to hunt members --the rest of us haul in. Video and Facebook links —OH you’d be the 3rd COTH member who has met me on this BB and then come and hunted!!
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