@Manni01, results “disappear”? You do know that USDF offers a schooling show awards program (I have mentioned it here many times over the last two years)… and of course many schooling show organizations offer year end awards… so they mantain the scores at least for that year.
of course you only need a GMO membership to show, and if you show Intro-TL, there are opportunity classes with no membership requirements.
thats H/J shows. The dressage shows were not scheduled on top of already scheduled shows, and they are USEF/USDF sanctioned.
Our GMO gives vouchers to volunteers good for anything we do that costs money… like membership or show fees. FUll day voucher is worth $20. (We still have trouble getting volunteers, so we have begun requiring it for our year end awards).
My big take away from this thread? Too many people on this thread have not been paying attention over the eyars. VOlunteering has been discussed many times, and the same complaints and the same suggestions from those who run successful volunteering programs at their shows (vouchers, etc). The USDF Schooling SHow awards were mentioned I KNOW.
@meupatdoes had the right answer up thread. Get out and DO SOMETHING.
And we never get answers from a certain critic.
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You are assuming that you would have to volunteer for four hours. Have you ever asked? Have you ever let someone know you could be available for an hour or two?
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Right, but as I said I was listing the memberships the average competitor is going to have. Many/most want scores to count towards awards/regionals/etc.
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I’ve heard that around here they mandate stalls (i think at some of the shows they are just panels under a tent). But they charge you 100 for that. Even if you trailer out for the night and trailer back in the next morning you still pay 100/day *i think it’s per day. You have to tackup in that ‘stall’ so you have to move everything from your trailer over to the stall. (because sometimes horses break away from trailers and run amok).
As I’ve stated, I am not in the US. SolarFlare and I were not speaking of the USEF, but of Equestrian Canada. I’m sure the rules are slightly different in the US.
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sure have. And I’ve been told that they’d “really rather” have someone for the whole day, or they find scheduling too difficult with small windows of time, or they don’t have enough people for someone to only do an hour because it takes too long to get everyone up to speed.
Or you can do only an hour, but you can’t do it if you aren’t at the 7am volunteer’s briefing even though your ride time is 3:15.
that was just 2019, 2020 was a disaster for other reasons.
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And as much as the people who are insisting every person should volunteer on the same day they are showing do not want to agree with this - all this is true and those are very valid reasons to need your volunteers for bigger blocks of time.
Add in the problem with depending on someone to be on time to come replace you. What do you (general) do if you are scheduled to do the gate until noon and no one shows up to replace you? I realize the same thing can happen with bigger blocks of time but most people doing the bigger blocks of time do not have Dobbin waiting in the trailer and with only two time slots to schedule around for the day this is less likely to happen.
Vouchers are great if they are given out fairly/evenly and, the biggest point, they are useful to the person volunteering. They do not do much for those who do not ride.
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Does the hunter/jumper world depend on riders/horse owners to volunteer like the dressage world does or try to enlist competitors to volunteer at shows, just curious. When I was showing (eons ago) the last thing on my mind was to volunteer, I was busy enough and likely stressed already.
This is ridiculous hyperbole. No one is “insisting” that anyone do anything, simply disabusing people of the notion that it’s impossible. Pull yourself together.
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So locally, getting an EMT is likely to be done through Lifeguard. I’m still working on approximate pricing.
An individual off duty EMT could be independently hired for @$25 per hour, maybe a bit higher for weekends, but the individual would not have any equipment or insurance so I’m not sure that would really work.
Having an ambulance on site, staffed, is going to run $500 - $1000 per hour!!!
I do not have anything to pull together really.
I do not show (enough to count) and I do volunteer. I have spent many-a-full day volunteering (typically at events, not straight dressage shows).
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Ok it’s not impossible. Quite frankly I’d rather pay than try to work a 4 hr shift at the show. Some people feel the same presumably, and others understandably don’t.
I think we can agree that labor costs do contribute significantly to the cost of running a show. We need scribes, runners, gate people, parking lot people, office people etc.
I have a (probably unhelpfully small) data point on this. I’ve been looking into volunteering at shows as a way to learn more about the local riding scene (and also, help) during Covid, because spectators aren’t allowed. There’s a website to sign up to volunteer at events and dressage shows that makes the process painless and streamlined. I emailed one of our local h/j show circuits, and they responded that they don’t use volunteers - just paid staff.
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The shows where I’ve volunteered won’t accept less than a full-day commitment. Some used to but don’t anymore. I think it makes the logistics too complicated, but also prevents people who are already attending the show from volunteering for a few hours. So, this option is not universally available.
Interestingly, one showground in my area has changed its rules for this year, in ways that make volunteering less appealing. You used to get lunch, a nice T-shirt, and a XC schooling pass that was good for a few months and was worth $50-75 depending on whether you used it for the schooling or competition course (this place hosts horse trials as well as some straight dressage shows). Now only people who are in the top 50 volunteers every 6 months will get a schooling pass and it will only be worth $30. The justification was reduced show attendance, and presumably revenues, during the pandemic, but I’m wondering if this will backfire by reducing volunteer participation. Hiring people at minimum wage would cost more than the original $50-75 for 8 hours of work, and is a guaranteed outlay whereas a lot of people never end up using their schooling passes…I know I’ve only ever managed to use about half of mine before they expire.
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You complained that there are never solutions from a certain critic 
. I assume that’s me…I admit it is very very hard to offer any solution if a certain expert on shows who is also supposed to represent members at the yearly convention is so good in destroying every single potential solution…
And I assume costs are also going up because certain representatives of the members who go to the yearly convention go there and vote for raising fees…
It is what it is and I care a lot less then I used to . I pay 11 Euro per class which includes drug testing and maybe 2 Euro office fee. and my judges are working a regular job during the week and get paid only for the day they are judging, which fine with me… I don’t really need a judge who makes a living from judging… I don’t think he will be more qualified…
and most probable I will not get a ribbon, but if I do I will get my entry fee back with price money…
So I am very pleased with my current show situation
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Our local jumping and eventing shows require you to volunteer (or designate someone else to volunteer on your behalf) to even enter a competition. I don’t compete in these disciplines so I don’t know for sure if they follow through, but they threaten to refuse entries if people don’t volunteer. The dressage shows don’t do this, but they don’t need as many people and many riders are happy to help in between their classes.
This does mean a lot of “piecemeal” volunteering. Our dressage scribes are all volunteers so we will end up with people doing half a class. It’s understandable that some riders would not want to volunteer, and some show organisers would not want the hassle of so many rotating volunteers, but that significantly raises costs.
It is possible to reduce showing costs, but you will sacrifice something.
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no. The major H/J shows are run by companies with paid staff who work the shows that company or facility puts on, generally. Smaller ones tend to be staffed by people from the facility hosting who might be volunteers. However, those shows also don’t provide score sheets with comments to each rider with scores that must be individually verified - the judge doesn’t need a scribe, runners, etc. They don’t have rules that say two cute pigtailed kids must open and close the arena for every rider, etc.
That being said, I don’t even see a volunteers page on the Global Dressage Festival site, and that show has as many as 6 rings running at one time. It’s not that all shows absolutely depend on volunteers to exist. Rather, I think the ones that are most dependent on them are the shows that are huge and have to offer every single class, like regional championships, versus the number of people required to run your average 1-day, 1 ring show.
