My horses can not read a clock so they could care less that there are or not ride times.
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I don’t understand this statement. I ride across multiple disciplines and having a ride time generally helps people who want to watch and is easier in a lot of other ways but it is still an all day event. Very few people just zip in for the class and leave (ironically some hunter riders do when they have trainers, again- that’s the business model).
I’m still there all day taking care of my horse, cheering for friends, watching other rides, as are most others w ride times.
Don’t like no ride times- hunter/jumper is the wrong discipline. Also- most of the Hj shows run the divisions pretty spot on when they start and are within a window. No- it isn’t like other disciplines so don’t do it.
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This statement is just bizarre. It’s the non-Americans who are here criticizing the way American H/J shows work and telling us all that we ought to be doing things your way. By what leap of logic do you conclude that the American hunter riders are the ones criticizing what you’re doing?
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Yes. I have found this to be true in the local circuit where I show. I stop by the ringside announcers table for whatever ring I’m riding in and they tell me about what time my division will start based on the number of entries in the preceding classes. Over a show season, I have found that my division almost always starts within a fairly narrow time window.
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Totally agree with this. I now do LLE and dressage (meaning I’m not one of the “american hunter people”, I suppose) and those shows are definitely still all day events, for both me and the families that I ride with. If you need a sport where you can zip in and zip out, horses is not it. Although, @Pennywell_Bay, I agree with you - the places that could best accommodate the zipping would be highend h/j barns!
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Agreed. At the really big shows, the ingate people are professionals, with a good system that keeps the show running on schedule. Occasionally, something will happen, like a crash requiring the medics to come take a look. This will slow things down. But generally, the good gate people keep it moving…
At the smaller shows, especially the non rated ones, you will see rings being held up by people who don’t seem to care, or don’t have the experience to get organized and on time. This makes me crazy; get help if you need it so you don’t make others wait on you!
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Not to sound like PETA or anything, but at the last horse show, they were running an hour behind, and my horse was tacked up, warming up, waiting, jumping, etc for over two hours in the middle of a very hot day. No, it didn’t kill him, but not ideal. That’s all I meant.
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That is unfortunate. I would not have stayed warming up, jumping etc for 2 hours on a very hot day.
That happened to my daughter’s pony at a Pony Club jumping rally and I told the DC and took the pony home. No way was he standing around tacked up in the heat (as in the PC rule not to put them away).
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Once you realized they were running behind I am confused why you continued to warm up for two hours?
You are right, very not ideal.
My experience is that someone keeps track of where the rings are running and you tack up/warm up accordingly. If for some reason even this fails you, when you get to warm up and see there is a two hour wait, at minimum the rider gets off, girth is loosened, horse naps. With two hours more likely the horse would go back to its stall to wait. Certainly did not warm it up jumping things for two hours.
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That isn’t what I have seen in my area at schooling or rated shows. Working parents switch to dressage so they can zip in and out of shows? We must just be around very different competitions and competitors.
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You seem determined to misread my post. Perhaps you’ve never been to a horse show or shown in a division with two jumping rounds and a flat class where, because of delays, the division takes two hours to run. There weren’t 35 entered in the class, there were under ten. It shouldn’t have taken that long, but it did. There’s no time to go back to the stall if you have 20 minutes between rounds and because of various delays, adds, fractious horses, ring watering and dragging, etc. it ends up being much longer.
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@Bristol_Bay, sorry you feel I am intentionally reading your posts wrong.
I understand that type of show. To me that is not what you described in your post, but now I understand. What people I know typically do at those types of shows is still get off and loosen their girth. Remount and warm up when the delays are over.
I am sorry your experience(s) at a hunter type show have been so miserable.
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I haven’t even showed hunter/jumper terribly much, but the same thing happened to me on the hottest day of the year at one popular venue in my area. Warming up for far longer than expected in the broiling sun. Told that it’s almost time. Wait and wait. Finally get off, loosen girth, stand in shade. “Hurry up and wait!” Get on again. Nope, another delay.
I also recall a similar thing happening on a cold day, nearly waiting an hour, having to stop and start (keeping horse warm, and horse getting progressively annoyed). Finally getting off, removing bridle so he could graze. Again, “hurry up,” again followed by more waiting on a crabby, fussy horse.
Most people are volunteers or are young and overwhelmed at local shows, in my experience. It’s a great deal to coordinate, and quite often large barns bringing the bulk of the revenue get priority, and within the barn, students showing multiple horses in the more prestigious classes get trainer priority. It can be a logistical nightmare.
Dressage shows are a dream. Even if you’re doing Training 1 and Intro C, you just get in, get out, and base your warmup on the ride time.
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Sound like a management issue. Shows I have been to that run into that issue they let them do their rounds “back to back” then there is time to put the horses away, get them a drink- before the hack. .
Not much you can do in the moment but give feedback (or walk away) that you won’t be attending any more shows. The smaller shows here do listen because they are trying to stay alive.
Sorry that a management issue caused distress. I’m probably in the minority that has no issue walking away and going home - especially if I feel it’s not good for my horse.
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Yes, very poor management. Also see the EHV at Thermal for other repercussions from that show.
I’ve been to Rolex KY (now Land Rover), Fairhill and even the last Chesterland, as well as some of the major horse shows in the east, including Devon and the Hampton Classic, and the difference between eventer and hunter warmups is night and day. Eventers are far more independent than hunter riders and don’t hesitate to jump down and reset a fence, I don’t think I have ever seen that at a horse show.
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I am not as worldly as you are, the largest show I have attended in a capacity to notice such things is AECs, but I have never seen an eventer jump off to fix their own warm up fence. Like has been mentioned in this thread, they typically just ride over to someone on the ground and ask them to fix it for them (in my experience).
I have also had some not beginner eventers tell me that they are not going to warm up until their trainer gets there.
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Well I have seen it on more than one occasion. I can’t help what you have experienced. And I stand by my statement that eventers are much more independent than hunters and I grew up in the H/J world.
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I was not commenting on that part of your statement.
Though I find your wording to sound negative. I think the sports are VERY different and for that reason they require a different type of trainer/rider interaction/support.
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The entry point for H/J and eventing is typically vastly different. How many events offer competition opportunities for true beginner riders? Your W/T kids, your W/T/C one at a time kids (and old ladies), or other beginners? H/J is much more accessible, especially to the urban/suburban dwelling kid. So, most H/J shows are heavily weighted toward the lower-level rider, the ones that don’t have the experience and skill to be independent yet.
How many eventers started out in eventing as beginners, with no previous riding experience? Damn few. How many eventers, who started out in eventing as beginners, went to their first competitions as beginners and were “independent?” Damn few.
You’re not doing an honest comparison.
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