[QUOTE=AKB;8741604]
Grace, I have to disagree with you on the value of clean tack. Some eventers work a lot of hours. If you are working 60 hours per week, riding the horse takes priority, in my mind, over cleaning tack. My friend used to not ride her horse during the week before an event because she had to clean her tack. Her prioritizing clean tack over riding the horse was one of my pet peeves. As long as the horse is well cared for, fit, and well shod, dirty tack doesn’t bother me.[/QUOTE]
I get the working long hours thing, and I definitely have nights where the tack doesn’t get clean because other things are more important, but I try to make that the exception, not the rule. If you clean tack regularly and keep a bucket/sponge/bar of soap in a convenient location, cleaning after each ride becomes a 60-second commitment. If you give it a good thorough clean once, maybe before a show, you can just give it a quick wipe-down after each ride. Everyone’s got a spare 60 seconds most of the time 
I think you can’t separate tack from horses as far as care goes. You wouldn’t want to have to do your job in clothes that were dirty or smelly or didn’t fit correctly, and I think it’s respectful to our horses, who work so hard for us, to do our best to set them up for success. Not to mention years in pony club taught me that dirty tack wears out faster, making it dangerous (especially for stirrup leathers and girth billets that can break mid-ride and cause falls) and EXPENSIVE (I don’t have the budget to replace things, which is why I’m an avid tack cleaner).
I think my pet peeve would be any lack of warm-up etiquette. For example, at the KHP they have a VERY large warm up ring for show jumping, and the jumps are clearly set in the middle of one half of the ring. Clearly, management meant for that to be the jumping area, and there’s an entire other half of the ring that is open and quiet. Seems logical that you do your flatting in that end. But without fail, every time I’m there, I see a rider practicing 10 meter circles and figure 8’s within 20 feet of the row of jumps. I realize that you need to do what you need to do to get yourself and your horse ready to go in the ring, but it’s just common sense to do that in the empty part of the ring, rather than further clogging the jumping area that is already chaotic enough. If you have a horse that needs to get used to the traffic of the jumping area on the flat before you start jumping, then at least go with the traffic and keep an eye out for traffic.
Also, the last event I was at, there were people standing on the rail of the jumping half of the ring, chatting with friends and spectators so that people jumping the warm up fences had to swerve around them. Again, if relaxing and taking a break is part of your warm up strategy, that’s great, do what you need to do. But not at the expense of everyone else.
I’ve never run a show before, so I don’t know the exact motivation, but it really bums me out when there are NO practice dressage rings. I get wanting to keep the show rings nice and not wanting hundreds of horses packing the footing down the night before the event, but if you had a designated dressage ring to size that was just for warm-up, it seems like that wouldn’t cause too many problems. I know dressage rings take forever to set up, so maybe even just measuring out the letters without adding the little fencing or something could be helpful. Wouldn’t go so far as to call that a pet peeve, because I know show management has a lot on their plate, but its something I always find unfortunate.
Also, people that aren’t friendly. This is VERY RARE, as most eventers are SO SO KIND, but every once in a while, you run across one that isn’t. Last event my friend’s husband dropped the two of us and her dog off by the start of cross country. He pulled over, we hopped out, and as I was getting the dog out, a girl rode up and tried to squeeze between the truck and the fence, and then gave me this death glare for taking time to get the dog out. I’m of the opinion that at shows, horses always have the right of way, no matter what, so I smiled and said, “Oh sorry, we’ll hurry and get out of your way!” And she just glared back at me. Like, we’re at a horse show, doing what we all absolutely love. There’s no reason to act like that. Especially when someone apologizes. Who knows, though, she could’ve been having a really rough day. Maybe I’m just spoiled because most eventers are so kind!!
