[QUOTE=goodhors;8804153]
This may sound rude, but why does everyone pay for coaching/trainer to come watch them at a show? Does it actually improve your riding THAT day? I only see a couple replies saying they don’t have a trainer at their shows to add to expenses.
This is a while back, but I did my lessons jumping under trainer supervision each week. On the weekends I went and showed by myself. It was “believed” that if you were doing pretty well in lessons, then you were capable of riding and showing what you had learned in the classes. There really were no trainers around supervising or observing warm up rides. I braided my horses myself, did the trailering, all the grooming, mucking, got horse and myself prepared and showed. We did pretty well, didn’t win everything, but won and placed well in strong competition. I had confidence in myself, my skills, a really nice couple horses, so we went “horse showing” a lot. I am not reading “rider confidence” in folks showing and needing trainer presence at their show.
I realize that trainers have to earn a living, but are you folks not learning enough in your weekly lessons? Don’t they teach you how to walk a course, prepare horse for the jump, do a proper warm-up before the class, in those lesson sessions? Seems like you should learn enough to be able to have the needed skills to show by yourself after a while. I never would have gotten to show if waiting for my trainer to come to my shows! They had more important things to do, going to upper level or National shows, riding for paying owners to earn money.
When is it ever going to be safe to let you go show without supervision? Trainer fees listed above, add significantly to expenses. Again, does having trainer watching you warm up, compete, actually make a difference in your success in placings or being a better rider in the ring?
Is trainer being there “just how things are done” or really a crutch to feel confident as a good rider because trainer tells you that you are, or got robbed by the Judge?
Back to being “old school” in not expecting trainer to attend my shows, not feeling the need for their presence. I AM PREPARED or not prepared in my skills when I go to the show or competition. Trainer presence is NOT going to miraculously make me that much better now with pointing out faults or good things I do. I can do a lot with that $50 or more dollars a day that trainer is getting. We are not part of a “show stable”, so never have paid those extra costs of being part of the group that needs to look nice at a show. THAT bill would be a nasty surprise![/QUOTE]
I feel like you can’t have thought about this question for longer than a few moments before posting. So, despite the fact that other people have answered you, I’m also going to give you my perspective.
I think showing without a trainer is a great skill. If it works for you, that is super. If money is an issue, it can also be a good option. But I would rather show less, and have a trainer access at shows. Have you ever been in a lesson and thought - I had that rail because I came in to the fence under powered, only to be corrected by your trainer who tells you that actually it was an appropriate pace but your horse was crooked, or you opened up your jumping position too early and affected the hind end?
In essence, your trainer can certainly teach you lots of skills at home, but whether you are correctly implementing them in a more high pressure situation, is a separate question. Having the trainer on the ground can help correct the issues before going in the show ring, or between rounds. It will also help the trainer determine what homework needs to be done between shows rather than relying on the rider’s potentially quite faulty recollection of what happened at the show, and what might have been the cause.
I showed in the hunters for the first time last year and I would NEVER have come home from those shows saying that we were going too slow. The pace felt just fine to me, and typically we have a good pace at home as well. I get backed off at shows/clinics and tend to go slower while I process things. Total rider issue. Its not a conscious decision, and it sure feels that I’m going at a reasonable pace. My trainer, however, is the expert eye on the ground who can tell me what is actually happening. I can assure you that her value is not in patting me on the head and telling me I was robbed. I’m pretty sure I was told that I was lucky more often than good last year!
As for the OPs question, much will depend on what and where you show. I live in a region with an active provincial “B” circuit with end of year championships. I can show approximately 10 times a year between May and August. The shows are two days but division are organized to generally allow horse/riders to only compete one of the days. Those outings typically costs $300 or so with entries (one division), trailering and coaching. A shows, as others have mentioned, will run closer to $1000-2000 per week depending on all the extras.
