Yes, the other side of the coin is the very nice people who put on their annual show about a 1.5 trailer ride north of me. When the organizer called me to tell me my times, she was EXCEEDINGLY apologetic that my rides (2nd Level) were ONLY 20 mins. apart, at 4Pm and 4:20. I told her I was DELIGHTED -a leisurely morning to braid and prepare the horse, trailer out, one warm up, ride, break for the horse another ride and home. They did all they could to accommodate me and even mailed me my ribbon so that I received it two days later, together with all my breed score paper work, when then were unable to finishing scoring before I left.
No, they are not. What I would have done is call the person who did the scheduling when I got my times and explain to her that this would not work for me. (in a very diplomatic way of course, 
)
I realize that scheduling a show is hard, but that is not fair to a young horse to have to sit around all day for 3 classes, and start off with the training level test before the intros. (duh, that is the reason for the intros, to get the horse used to being in the show ring without having to canter, yet… )
If this was a schooling show, usually you can get your times changed without a fuss as they are smaller and more informal than a rated show.
Don’t feel bad about your training level class, even Olympic riders have disasters in the ring. 
Learn from it and move on, believe me, it does get better. 
Why are you whining? Sorry to sound so brutal, but do you realize you are saying that you were unprepared to ride the test that you signed up for? There are reasons (as previously stated) that the tests are scheduled at different times. You should never expect the order to match the prize list.
You should only enter classes you are prepared for. That’s all there is to it. If it is a training situation for your horse, then ride “Hors concours”, without honors, and just train the horse without worrying what happens in the test that makes it less than perfect.
What is with this ribbon happy society? You should be riding/schooling one level higher than you show, so you should always be ready for your test. Whining to management is ridiculous. There are no warm ups in the ring. That is why they are called “shows” and why they have judges.
(Okay, flame out if you want to, but I have no patience for all of these pity parties about horse shows anymore.)
<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by slc:
but i’m still mystified. why would you ride 2 tests a day, and why at different levels?
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Around here, most schooling shows are one day, and most people enter 2 classes.
Usually they are sequential classe, possibly at the same level, but not necessarily. For instance people often enter Training 4 and First 1.
Around here, the schooling show secreatey will not usually accept an entry for the same horse to enter 3 or more classes in a single day.
<< a lady did ride 1st, 2nd, 3rd in one show. it was a recognized show.>>
According to my AHSA rule book, "horses may enter no more than 2 consecutive levels at any one competition"-- followed by the
nifty chart, showing Training/First First/Second and so on…
Has this rule changed?
<<but i still don’t get it. why ride 2 tests a day? i’ve never done that, even with baby lunatic where’s-the-steering horses.>>
Well, I think 2 tests in one day at lower levels is just fine…especially if the horse is in good condition. There usually is one major warm-up, a test, and then a minor warm-up before the second go. For a younger horse still showing lower level, it can be a good thing to have a second test lined up, to work on ringcraft, show-worthiness,etc.
In Europe, it is quite common–at FEI level–for the riders to do a serious warm-up several hours before showing, then a short ‘tune-up’ before the actual test, and then the test.But at these higher levels, the horse is really being asked for max performance, so only once a day does the horse ‘perform’.
cheers,
Lita
at a show the following have happened to me.
hot air balloon descends to get a closer look at my test.
loose horse tears around with people screaming.
horse goes ballistic in warmup, rearing, tearing around, plenty of people screaming.
horse runs away - TOTAL runaway, in a very large circle around warmup area, with instructor absent, friend of mine steps in and screams and screams to rider what to do - rider eventually comes in out of ozone and horse stops.
plastic on judge box flaps, freaking all horses out. yellow boundary tape flaps at high frequency, sending all horses flying.
storm descends suddenly, blowing down ring, judge’s stuff, sending plastic sheets flying across show ground from judge’s box.
tents blow down in big storm.
arena turns into morass that sucks small ponies down.
woman next to ring stands up and vigorously flaps rain coat - nice heavy rubber one.
so, if you want things perfect for YOU, i say, first you have to go back in history and undo all the stuff that happened to ME.
