Anyone notice the in hand numbers at Devon?
Sad sight.
Help someone who is not watching, is the turn out low?
It’s similar with the breed days at Dressage at Devon in the fall too - the in hand numbers have really dropped off. I’d say it was just Devon with the tricky logistics of showing there…but in hand numbers seem down across the board at a lot of venues 
unless one has a breeding program they wish to promote the costs of just getting a horse into an in-hand class is fairly prohibitive
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At DHS this year the numbers were about the same for ponies, down for horses.
I think there are numerous reasons for this.
Last year they combined ponies and horses on the same day and the logistics were pretty rough (it’s never easy to get in and out of Devon but it was worse than usual). It was dark by the time we left. I think that left some people with a negative feeling and they just didn’t want to deal with the hassle again (even though this year they moved the ponies to a different day).
It’s expensive. This is nothing new, but it’s real and it has been incrementally impacting the numbers. It’s a creeping thing that happens slowly but it kind of becomes apparent after a while. I pay more in entries to get my young horse in and out of a show than I do my riding horses. It is so much cheaper to do local hunters or local dressage. I can see why people with nice young horses don’t bother. Some do YHS instead which is cheaper and a lot more egalitarian (YHS has its own plusses and minuses but that’s not the point of this thread).
There’s been a consolidation of who does hunter breeding and it’s created a situation where it can be discouraging of new people giving it a try. If you’re not with one of the well known barns, it’s hard to get a look. This isn’t new, but the number of well known barns has been shrinking and so either you are willing to send your horse to one, and it might not be super local to you, or you just kind of don’t bother. My horse is farther than I’d like him to be because I wanted him in one of these programs. I couldn’t be happier-- but I can totally understand being unwilling to do that. I am blessed to be in the Mid-Atlantic area so even sending him “away” isn’t THAT far. But it’s farther than he’d otherwise be. If I was still in Atlanta I’d have to send my horse really far and I just wouldn’t do it.
Fewer people want to buy and invest in young horses. Fewer trainers to make them up as greenies. It’s easier, cheaper, and faster to buy a made horse from Europe. Fewer people are standing stallions. It used to be a lot of people doing hunter breeding were the ones running the breeding program and it was a way to promote the stallion. That’s not as popular as it once was.
Some zones don’t promote hunter breeding well at all. Zone 2 is one of the most competitive zones and they treat us like a complete afterthought. Don’t get me started in the debacle of our zone finals last year. THIS YEAR WE’RE NOT EVEN HAVING A ZONE FINAL SHOW. We are one of the most (maybe THE most?) competitive zones for hunter breeding and we are apparently not having a final because the powers that be don’t care?!? What is the incentive to do hunter breeding when the local folks around you make it apparent that they just don’t care? I will say we have a couple show managers who are lovely so it’s NOT THEM. We get accommodated well throughout the year and have a nice choice of shows to attend. It’s the folks higher up.
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Historically hunter breeding was on Grand Prix day so it was a wonderful opportunity to showcase your breeding program to the spectators and participants who would potentially be in the market for a young horse. Once they got moved to the last day long after everyone else had packed upand left that went out the window. Since then it has just been for prestige but that only gets you so far. I don’t know if I will ever show there in hand again and I don’t even sell my horses.
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That too, though once the hunter derby became a regular fixture and had to get slotted in it was pretty clear that hunter breeding was going to be moved to a different day. And for riding in the YHUS, I am not sorry it’s on a much quieter day. I 100% get what you’re saying and for some people not being on a busier day of the show is a letdown, but I personally prefer HB on a quieter day. We don’t even do locals anymore because we are always up against shakey tails in the other ring and it’s just too chaotic and unpredictable. I’ll take peace and quiet over eyeballs!
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What are “shakey tails”?
The gaited saddlebred classes which come complete with chains in the warm up ring, calliope music, and people whopping and hollering. Not dogging it, it’s how those classes work. It’s just not fun to have to get a hunter horse around a ring cold while at the same time having all of that happening right next to you. It’s not what hunters are used to having happen at their shows so it can be really distracting.
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In other words you’re showing at a carnival. They sound like fun classes to watch if you’re 3 sheets to the wind. I don’t like the sound of those chains though, do they attach around the fetlock?
On top of actually showing at a carnival. Because that is ALSO happening at Devon 
I am not an expert on how the gaited saddlebreds work but they sometimes warm up with bungees and chains on their legs and it makes a noise. They visually appear to be around the fetlock, but again I am not an expert on this and have never inspected them up close. My horse actually found that far more unsettling than the music and the cheering.
One year they had the locals up against a cowboy demonstration involving whip-cracking. I mean LOUD, MIKED, WHIP CRACKING.
Fun times.
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That’s hysterical! Not what I think of when I hear Devon.
There’s a Ferris wheel too!
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It’s the Devon Horse Show and Country Fair
The fair isn’t next to the rings, but you can see it from the schooling area.
I think showing in-hand on the last day is sad. Seems Devon hunter breeding is the unwanted stepchild now.
In-hand horses are next Sunday. Saw numbers online.
Local hunters have been steadily declining in number too. Most everything that’s not rated and doesn’t require qualification has been down except maybe the jumpers (technically requires qualification but the cutoffs are low enough that anyone who is showing at all should be able to make it). Devon is expensive and a logistical pain. I completely understand why people would rather skip it.
I was so sad when they moved the hunter breeding classes from Thursday. I used to love to watch those classes. As a local by the final Sunday I am heartily sick of Devon.
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Did the local hunters used to have 3 splits? Am I delusional? What happened to the field hunter class?
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They have as many splits as are necessary given the number of entries. I can recall years of 3 and 2 splits.
The “Working Fox Hunter” class is still on the schedule. It’s class 187 Saturday at 3:30pm. Don’t ask me why they insist on using the name. It doesn’t really have much to do with fox hunting, no more so than any other hunter class. It’s really just a reward for doing well in the local hunters. It’s open to the top 4 placing horses in the 3 o/f classes of the local hunters. No one is entered yet because we don’t know who has been top 4 in the local hunter o/f classes yet.
As a former chairman, I was sick of Devon before it started
I hear you. But as someone doing HB, I prefer a quiet day. Different strokes for different folks, for sure.
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