I’ve searched here and on the 'net and have not been able to come up with an answer –
WHY are the first and second placing colors different between Canada, the UK and New Zealand and the USA and Australia?
Canada/UK/New Zealand: Red, Blue
USA/Australia: Blue, Red
(scroll down to “Awards”)
So, does anyone know?
Eileen
It gets even trickier if you factor in the 4-H ribbon colors.
Hrm, yah, but I just want to know why it’s different for first and second.
Eileen
Almost all the placings are different in various countries, not just first and second.
I suppose the real question is why do the colors happen to go in the order that they do? Or did someone just decide arbitrarily?
I have a Thelwell mug where the pony is holding a red first place ribbon firmly in its mouth and away from the reach of the shrieking rider, and someone saw it and wanted to know why the kid in the cartoon was so upset over a second place ribbon?
Of course, as a designated Ribbon 'Ho, a ribbon is a ribbon. Or really, a rosette is rosette!
[QUOTE=furlong47;4734470]
Almost all the placings are different in various countries, not just first and second.
I suppose the real question is why do the colors happen to go in the order that they do? Or did someone just decide arbitrarily?[/QUOTE]
The real question is the one I asked 
I don’t really care about the color placings for other countries, I just wanna know why the US and Canada/UK are different.
Seems no one really knows.
Eileen
[QUOTE=DressageGeek “Ribbon Ho”;4734492]
I have a Thelwell mug where the pony is holding a red first place ribbon firmly in its mouth and away from the reach of the shrieking rider, and someone saw it and wanted to know why the kid in the cartoon was so upset over a second place ribbon?
Of course, as a designated Ribbon 'Ho, a ribbon is a ribbon. Or really, a rosette is rosette![/QUOTE]
All that seemed pretty normal to me until I moved to the States. I keep getting the colors all mixed up. First and second are easy to remember, but third and fourth are switched, and fifth and sixth are different, too.
You should see how confused the Pony Clubbers get when they look through my scrapbooks and see ribbons with the “wrong” placings on them 
Eileen
Yes, I tell everyone my red ribbons are from my competitions in the UK.
OMG I thought this thread was about this:
:lol::lol::lol:
I use to show cats. There one could receive a rosette of any color - in fact the colors were used to show winnings under various judges - I LOVED all the colors I would bring home!!!
[QUOTE=DressageGeek “Ribbon Ho”;4734523]
Yes, I tell everyone my red ribbons are from my competitions in the UK.[/QUOTE]
Oh, that sounds so positively “hoity–toity” - I love it
They all know I’m Canadian, so that won’t work for me.
Eileen
HAHAHAH! I can see why you’d think that Looks like a neat game.
:lol::lol::lol:
I use to show cats. There one could receive a rosette of any color - in fact the colors were used to show winnings under various judges - I LOVED all the colors I would bring home!!!
Really? No standard color? I’d have a hard time getting used to that.
Eileen
And I’ve wondered what happens in international competition: does the Badminton winner get a red ribbon? Are the tricolors red, blue, yellow? I guess the placing ribbons go by the rules of that country?
In the first CT I ever entered, I got a second (red), and my trainer told me that in England, red is first place. Made me feel great!
Good question! That wikipedia link says: “Champion & Reserve Champion ribbons are commonly called Tri-colors. They are usually a combination of the 1st, 2nd, & 3rd place colors (2nd, 3rd, & 4th for Reserve Champion).”
In the first CT I ever entered, I got a second (red), and my trainer told me that in England, red is first place. Made me feel great!
First place in Canada, too
Eileen
Perhaps since red is associated with royalty and then when it “Americanized” it needed to be switched, rebels that we are???
I had been in the USA a couple of weeks and went to a show, where two of my horses were first and second in a jumper class.
I got nice, big shiny trophies, something I had never seen in Europe at that time and a blue and red ribbon.
I didn’t know English, so I assume red was first and kept wondering why someone was changing the ribbons every time I put them on the “right” horse.
What you do get in Europe, or did many years ago, were engraved metal plates you hung in the stable.
I miss those in the USA.
I would suspect it has it’s roots in the American Revolution. The British wore red coats, George Washington specified blue for the Americans. It’s a patriotic thing
It’s because we’re in the Metric system here! :D:lol::lol:
Dee
Another old thread bumped by first time poster?
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