I’m interested in hearing what horse shows were like “back in the day.” What did it look like for schedules, cost, prize money, points, etc? I’ve gotten snippets of people speaking/writing about how things used to be done but I’d love to hear more!
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I’d say more local and unaffiliated shows, so if you go to those you get a better idea.
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St. Luke’s Fair and Horse Show in Anchorage Kentucky was a one day show that drew 500 head… there was one class in the late 1960s that the horses entered were so misbehaving the judge refused to tie any one first they started with second place.
Show just out grew the venue and closed
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My husband was in charge of a state 4-H show where the judge gave only C ratings in pattern riding. Don’t get me wrong, they were deserved but the parents went on a warpath! His co-chair the actual extension agent ran and hid.
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For me, in SoCal during the 70s and 80s, it seemed that there was a decent one-day (non-rated) schooling show somewhere every weekend. They were well attended, classes were large and it was quite competitive. A few were held monthly, and you could accrue points toward really nice year-end awards. Sadly, most of these shows were held at riding schools or large stables, and when the land became worth millions, the venues were sold to make room for housing tracts.
I also remember the county fairs back then: Orange (Costa Mesa), San Diego (Del Mar), Los Angeles (Pomona) and Riverside (at Indio). It was so much fun! Ride in your class, then visit the fair. Since the horse show was part of the entertainment for fair visitors, classes from various disciplines were interspersed with each other. So there’d be a round of hunters and then a saddleseat class and then a western stock horse (like reining) class. And you’d all be warming up together in the same schooling area. With a Ferris wheel and Tilt 'n Whirl in the background. And zoo animals on the other side of the arena fence. Chaos, but I loved it! 
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I remember my 4-H leader preparing us all for the county fair, reminding us over and over again that the judge didn’t have to give any blue or even red ribbons to anybody at all if he didn’t think anybody deserved it.
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When I live in Maryland there were a couple of barns known for the annual shows- unrated and just a social scene as much as a horse show. One in particular was either a one day show or may have run over the weekend - had a bull roast, a beer truck, exhibitors could use the swimming pool and trampoline. Some of the videos are hilarious, with the show secretaries in their summer dresses and string of pearls, several beer cups. The summer riding jackets were def not in keeping with “hunting” attire as they were sometimes bright colors or worse - madras plaid. A great time was had by all, and some 40+ years later people still have fond memories of those shows.
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I remember getting first place in a 4H halter class and getting a red (B group) ribbon. I was horrified.
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First local show I attended (I was 8, so mid-80s) and entry fee was $3 a class. Office fee was $1.
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Late 1960s-early 70s, PA, NJ, VA, NY, CT. Everyone took the winter off from showing. We started in early April with a schooling show then rolled through a couple of B and A rated shows in the spring before Devon. Every show was held in a different location and each had its own distinct character. The footing in the rings was often grass and outside courses were very common.
You didn’t have to qualify for Devon–the first year I showed there (1967) there were 72 Large Ponies in the division (no medium ponies, just small and large.) I believe the entry fee for the division was around $75. The following year, they started splitting ponies into 2 divisions if more than 50 were entered.
Later that year was the last time the National Horse was held in the old Garden–also the last time they had pony divisions for many years. To qualify to enter, you had to win one blue ribbon at an A rated show (harder than you might think because there were so many ponies showing and not that many A shows.) The charge for the Garden was $100 for the classes and $100 for a stall.
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What do you mean by “back in the day”? That looks different for me by decade.
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I have many fond memories of showing in this area in the 70s, and of taking the train to the Garden each year to watch the Maclay.
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Any decade! I’d love to hear it all and see how it’s changed over the years
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I think there used to be more formality to the rated shows. There’d be a ring steward, dressed in nice attire, who’d come out with the ribbons and a shiny award, and present the prizes. You’d get a “win” photo taken at the same time. Some major shows still do this, but it seems like many of them have become factory productions, all done with expediency in mind.
Anyone else remember having a live organ or piano player in the main arena? A couple of west coast shows had them when I was a teen/young ammy adult. So you had live background music during your hunter or medal round. One of the top hunters back then was named On A Clear Day. Whenever that horse trotted into the ring, the organ player would start playing that song.
Now, the only time I notice an organ player is in the indoor at the big Arabian or saddleseat shows at Westworld (Scottsdale). Us Paint and QH folks? We’re lucky to get country music bleating from someone’s tacky old radio in the show barns.
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When the National Horse Show was held at the Garden, George Fitzgerald was the show farrier and I remember him tacking on a shoe in the ring wearing a tux.
I have a framed poster of the National from 1988 and the rider, even though her head is turned, looks suspiciously like either Katie Monahan-Prudent or Beezie.
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I was a junior in the 1960s so I don’t remember much about the costs, but we had a show every weekend beginning in April and running until the National at MSG in November. Florida was barely in existence although there was something referred to as the sunshine circuit which I think was in the area of the Golden Hills Academy. Many of the shows were held on Gold Coast estates and outside courses were the norm for hunters. Some even had separate outside courses just for ponies. There were no medium ponies in those days, just smalls and larges (13.0 was the dividing line between the two divisions). Except for the ponies, all divisions whether hunter or jumper started at 3’6" or better. Those shows that weren’t on large estates were on farms or equestrian facilities, almost none of which exist today. Now most of the shows in my area take place on the same couple of facilities, they are so boring and have no character.
Most of those shows in my junior days were B or C rated but not only were we nearby to NYC and the National/Madison Square Garden but we had three of the best A rated shows on the eastern seaboard in our area, CW Post, Piping Rock and North Shore, which attracted many of the best hunters and jumpers on the east coast and midwest including USET team members so we had a chance to watch or compete against top competition. At that time A was the highest rating a show could get.
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I showed in Colorado and Ohio, i still have a lot of booze glasses from winning. Why a young teen would get beer steins and highball glasses, i don’t know. They were youth classes.
I did get a jam dish too.
🤷
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Hehehe I have beer steins as well!
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My mom used to drop me off for the day at the Del Mar Fair to watch the horse show… This was back in the days when it ran concurrently with the fair (but might have started a few days before.) Morgans, Arabians, and hunter-jumpers were my favorites. I was all of 9 or 10 when this started and I went back every year for a while. Different world back then! I also remember getting to go watch a couple of schooling shows.
This was in the Anne Kursinski days, and I remember her winning class after class. Of course Jimmy Williams was around, and I thought he was sort of weird… Little did we know.
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I have a framed poster of the 1986 Portuguese Bend show. Watercolor by Pat Dispenziere. It’s of handing out the ribbons, and one of the riders is in rust. Sometimes even a local high schooler would paint the winning poster. The show was a total community event. Now shows seem to be just a sort of glass bowl of only competitors.
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