I did a search, and found some suggestions from 2011, but am hoping I can get some updated info. Recently, my mother discovered a rubbermaid bin of old prize coolers, saddle pads, plates and ribbons. Naturally, since I am an adult that lives on my own (and she is a retiree purging her storage spaces), she has given it to me to display, throw out, etc. I am limited in wall space in my current place (as well as storage space). Any suggestions on what you’ve done with old prizes? Displayed in your home? Given away? Left at the barn? They had enough meaning that I meticulously folded the coolers, wrapped the plates in the saddle pads and folded the ribbons, though I had forgotten about them being tucked away. Advice as usual would be greatly appreciated!
I save particular prizes that hold a lot of meaning to me…trophy won on a particularly special horse. First Lawson trophy, belt buckle won at a large show etc. the rest of the things get used. Coolers go into the trailer to be used at shows… old coolers are put into rotation at the barn. Belt buckles are worn. One particular buckle I won on a horse my grandpa just adored so for Christmas that year I had a hand tooled belt made for him and gifted it and the buckle.
ribbons can be sent out to be made into a pillow or blanket.
I have an (unused on a horse) square fleece cooler on my bed. It makes me think of the horse I won it with every time I see it. If you have a bunch you’ll never use, the embroidered parts of coolers and pads can be made into quilts or pillows too. Orb of course sold or donated.
A lot of people make quilts out of their old ribbons - they can be displayed, and you just have the rosettes left to deal with.
All of mine are still in storage (along with most of my furniture; tiny house + kitties = no antiques!), but they still have a lot of memories of the horses who won them, so they can stay in storage indefinitely. There are, however, these huge, hideous, garish plastic trophies that I won in my last year in the dressage club that I really need to toss. But the good ones, the ones I got when I was a teen - those are staying. 
I kept the things I could actually use and pitched the rest.
Old Ribbons were used as prizes during summer camp ‘shows’. Plates and random kitchen things were all sent to goodwill, or the like. Coolers/blankets are used. I have one Cooler(National Award) that was couch decor during college but has sense retired to a room as I still haven’t totally gotten over losing the horse who won it…and it being out was prior to the cat coming home. It’s also Wool, so a little less easy to take care of then the current fleece coolers if it were to get nasty. Tack gets used. Our circuit didn’t do saddle pads, but if I had an excess of those, I’m sure Therapy facilities or any lesson facility wouldn’t mind having nice donations. Or they turn into dog/cat beds. I’ve thought about Shadow Boxing some important things…but it’s never gotten past the thought process. haha.
Think about donating old trophies to local horse clubs or your County 4-H program. They can put on new plates and award them to kids showing locally. Our 4-H program was so broke after previous people spent the treasury. We got a couple paper barrels full of various trophies and were able to use them to get our shows going and make money for the treasury. The kids loved the fancy plastic horse trophies!
I sent a box full of ribbons - nice ones too, to a non-profit group that was putting on a fun show for kids. Made me feel good and they got a second life. The prize saddle pads and coolers get used.
I decorate with all of my stuff; it may have been cheap, but it was expensive! :winkgrin:
Award jackets, coolers, etc I’ve turned into pillows that are on my office chairs. Rosettes from my local shows went into shadow boxes; my World Champion ribbons and trophies were professionally matted with win photos. Buckles are in buckle displays, and I have an entire bookshelf in my office that displays some of the more unique awards I’ve won next to my professional certifications (college diplomas, etc). My office pencil holder is a Circuit Champion Winter Series mug I won like twenty years ago.
I’m a self proclaimed prize whore though, so your mileage may vary. :lol:
What some people I know have done with trophies and plaques the donate is take the plates off and mount them on one piece of finished wood.
I don’t have many ribbons and only a couple of little prizes from my own occasional pathetic forays into the show ring, but my kid has some nice coolers, ribbons, and trophies collected over the years and I like having them around even now after the kid’s grown up and gone from the house. I have a few extra-special ribbons and prizes displayed in a little case upstairs and draped over a chair in an upstairs room out of the way, and it still makes me smile to look at them. There are bins full of ribbons and coolers in storage in the garage. I only recently was able to part with a very few of the less meaningful ribbons to cut down on a bin or two, but it really caused a pang to get rid of even those. I have thought about it, but it would sting even to have any cut up for quilts or pillows. It’s too warm where I live to get much use out of coolers, so they’re in a box as well. Each ribbon has writing on the back, the name of the horse and class and often the judge. Each one brings back floods of memories of well-loved horses, my kid’s excitement, the learning, great judges who are sadly no longer with us, even shows with names that were different before they became more corporate/commercial names. I so enjoyed the journey, watching my child grow up riding and showing, loving and learning from the horses and making friends with great people.
I suppose it seems eye-rolly to some people to keep old ribbons and prizes in bins in a garage, but they’re such fun reminders of good times, so I guess that’s not a terrible thing to do with them. They say we have memories so that we might have roses in December. Especially during these dispiriting lockdowns, etc., it’s kind of nice to have something tangible that you look at that makes you smile and remember happy times when your child was young and happiest being around horses from dawn to dusk.
I donated most of my ribbons to the local 4-H. They re-use them for their fun shows.
I kept all the “hardware”-trophies and the like. They all fit in one plastic tote so no storage issues.
I see no problem with keeping every single thing won at shows as long as you have room. Or keeping very little of it, to each his own!
But I’ll part with my trophy from nationals when you pry it from my cold, dead hands, lol!
I have a coffee table that has is meant to be filled with things and has a glass lid that I have for my important ribbons and the halters from my show horses. It makes a cool conversation piece. I also have a glass lantern-looking thing that I stuffed full of ribbons from my heart mare, along with a picture of us at a show.
I never won much as far as “stuff” like coolers, so that’s never been a problem with me…the one I have currently lives in storage but it has done duty as a throw blanket in the past.
thank you everyone! I think the more I think about getting rid of them, the more I am attached to them, so I will likely keep these ribbons and prizes. Most of the smaller ribbons were already donated, so the items kept were the “special ones”. I definitely like the idea of the coffee table! I am going to jump over to the spinoff horse decorating thread for sure to read about decorating with these items
It’s all up in my office, where I also have a number of photos on display. I have trophies on a bookshelf, ribbons hanging on the walls, and so on. One prize was a portrait of my horse hand-painted on an ostrich egg- that’s on the bookcase too. The horse clothing gets worn, although the 84" wool cooler he won is in a tupperware somewhere, on account of how he wears a 76"… I stopped picking up most ribbons unless they were meaningful (gave them back to the show at the end of the day.) For instance, I do have what I think will probably be the last tricolor I will win with him as he’s semi-retired, and the division ribbons that went into that, but I don’t think I kept anything from the two show seasons previous. I make jokes about being an adult amateur with a senior schoolmaster, “we don’t come out of the barn unless the ribbon cost more than $2.” It might be more true than I care to admit… :uhoh:
On the other hand, my mom now shows a little bit and she gave back her second place ribbon from an over fences class at a home show. I went right back and picked it up again for her and put it on my horse’s stall. I’ll be proud of that one for her.
My husband and I made a feature wall in the guest bedroom with my ribbons. We used some old 2x4s with chicken wire stretched between them to hang up the ribbons. I stained the wood, and it actually looks pretty cool! Since the ribbons are just hanging on the wire, I can change it up every once and awhile when I get sick of it always looking the same.
I saw a good idea in one of those flea market stores with booths - someone had jewelry displayed using old 4H trophies to hang it on.
