Yes, but the shiney things in the UK are frequently perpetual trophies that are returned after a year and the prize money is about £10-15 for a major showing class. A £1000 prize is BIG money. That does change the dynamics.
I showed that wonderful horse. His name was Pharoh and he/we competed in equitation and pleasure classes - both english and western, saddle seat, trail, and costume. His owner and I were trailering to the Twin Cities one summer and the vehicle broke down in the middle of nowhere - except in those days, all gas stations had garages associated with them, and we WERE near a gas station. It took most of the day to get the vehicle back on the road. In the meantime, I got Pharoh out of the trailer and we rode around in a field behind the station. Then he stood tied to the trailer quietly eating out of a hay net.
Gawd I loved that horse!! He was a beautiful blood bay too. My favorite color.
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There are ethical breeders/showman out there that take a look at what they bred and say “yeah, that’s never going to be animated enough to be competitive without us abusing it” and find a different job for it.
And that’s how I ended up with a Country English Pleasure-bred out of multiple US & Canadian CEP champions going back 6 generations … and she made a lovely dressage horse. We joked that all those generations of seeing the cans and the whips at shows (her breeders really Don’t Do That) resulted in the world’s most bombproof and laid back arab …
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