I was at a dressage schooling show with my mare, it was quite cold and windy. As I was riding my test two dogs went running through the ring in front of us - my mare took exception to this and bucked/crowhopped down the long side while we were supposed to be lengthening the canter. I came out of the ring and my mom asked me “was she supposed to levitate like that?”
[QUOTE=JustABay;3556639]
At a local show I noticed a very large grey that was noticeably lame during the hacks-I was sitting next to the trainer (who was sitting chatting with her BF having a smoke not really paying much attention) one of the other boarders walks up and asks if the horse is lame. Trainer says “oh probably” other boarder asks “does the rider know?” trainer replies “I don’t think so, and I’m not going to be the one to tell her” and turns away and continues to talk to the BF.[/QUOTE]
Hmmm sounds familiar, I witnessed something similar many many moons ago. Large pony, noticeably lame, trainer does nothing, kid doesn’t notice, many spectators suggesting they pull pony out of his divisions. Trainer still does nothing, pony enters ring, judge DQ’s pony and states that if he enters any other ring the farm in which he resides will be kicked off the show grounds. Trainer is shocked, but finally decided to listen.
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Another good one, though not in a horse show setting…
A mother decides she wants her child to start riding, sure no problem. She comes out, takes a tour of the farm, meets the schoolies, then signs her daughter up. From then on out she continued to send her daughter to the farm wearing dresses/skirts and sandals (this is a 5 year old mind you)… Some how we couldn’t get through to her that the child needed a different outfit to ride, the mother seemed dumbfounded. Needless to say, the mother stopped signing the daughter up for lessons lol!
Not neccessarily a quote but still an interesting horse show… I went in to a class, the jumps were 2’3" and I had already shown 3 horses. My body was exhausted and I knew the course very well because I had already done it 3 times. For some reason I got preoccupied and lost track of where I was and just started picking lines to finish that seemed right. Well I finished with a closing circle and knew that I had gone off course and exited the ring. My trainer looked at me with a smile and said, “Wow what did you do just design an entire new course in your head at the last minute.” I thought for sure I got last or disqualified. Turns out I got first place, go figure. Shows how much some judges actually do pay attention. It was a great course just not the right one.
Here’s one from a judge…a USEF judge at a recognized dressage show. :eek:
Comment on trot across the diagonal in an old Training Level test: “No lengthening shown,” score of 4.
Yeah, that’s because they don’t ask for lengthenings in TL. I wonder what test she THOUGHT she was judging, what with all the posting and circles… 
To be fair, here’s one I committed. I was probably 11 or 12, at a local open show, in the “Pairs over Fences” class. In this class, Horse A was supposed to lead for the first half of the class; Horse B was supposed to lead for the second half of the class; final jump to be jumped together, side-by-side.
Well, my TB was a little more, ahem, forward than my friend’s QH, and I had trouble keeping behind in the second half of the round. Afraid we were going to overtake them before the final fence, I popped in a nice little 10-meter circle before the second-to-last fence. LOLOL I still haven’t lived that one down.
Shortly after I returned to riding several years ago, I signed up for a small show at my (now former) barn. The barn owner had invited one of her former students–she was now attending an equestrian college and was supposedly the second coming of George and we heard about her ad nauseum.
The college student and I both rode in the adult eq class, and I took the blue. Afterward, the barn owner came up to me and said “If Miss Second Coming hadn’t ridden the trot on the wrong diagonal the whole time, she would have won.” Ummm…okay. I told her I felt so honored to have won in such lovely company. I don’t think she got my sarcasm. I left shortly after that; I realized she had a different idea of quality than I did.
Fast forward to an AA show not too long ago. I’m standing ringside next to a junior mom–her kid has just finished an okay but not stellar classic round. We watch while the next rider comes in and lays down an absolutely beautiful trip and the score reflects it. Mom turns to me and sniffs “well, that’s what happens when you ride a babysitter–that girl is obviously just a passenger.”
The “passenger” was Lillie Keenan. :lol:
[QUOTE=hiddenlake;6093259]
Fast forward to an AA show not too long ago. I’m standing ringside next to a junior mom–her kid has just finished an okay but not stellar classic round. We watch while the next rider comes in and lays down an absolutely beautiful trip and the score reflects it. Mom turns to me and sniffs “well, that’s what happens when you ride a babysitter–that girl is obviously just a passenger.”
The “passenger” was Lillie Keenan. :lol:[/QUOTE]
That is hysterical!!!
My daughters normally show in the Pony Hunters, but we did a little 4H fun show near our house last Fall, because they had a costume class and the girls were dying to dress up their ponies. The judge was a local “trainer”. My younger daughter showed her small pony in a Hunter Hack class, flat with two little fences. Well the judge put her last and then proceeded to tell her that she couldn’t put her higher, because she added a stride in the line. I nearly laughed my butt off.
She did manage to win the command class and the keyhole race later in the day though. 
The whole show cost $20.00 for the day and the girls had a blast, so I can’t complain.
[QUOTE=hiddenlake;6093259]
Shortly after I returned to riding several years ago, I signed up for a small show at my (now former) barn. The barn owner had invited one of her former students–she was now attending an equestrian college and was supposedly the second coming of George and we heard about her ad nauseum.
The college student and I both rode in the adult eq class, and I took the blue. Afterward, the barn owner came up to me and said “If Miss Second Coming hadn’t ridden the trot on the wrong diagonal the whole time, she would have won.” Ummm…okay. I told her I felt so honored to have won in such lovely company. I don’t think she got my sarcasm. I left shortly after that; I realized she had a different idea of quality than I did.
Fast forward to an AA show not too long ago. I’m standing ringside next to a junior mom–her kid has just finished an okay but not stellar classic round. We watch while the next rider comes in and lays down an absolutely beautiful trip and the score reflects it. Mom turns to me and sniffs “well, that’s what happens when you ride a babysitter–that girl is obviously just a passenger.”
The “passenger” was Lillie Keenan. :lol:[/QUOTE]
Bahahahahaha!
[QUOTE=hiddenlake;6093259]
the second coming of George [/QUOTE]
:lol: Love this!
When I was a junior on a large pony, we went to this county fair style show (western classes, cows, chickens, etc). Entries were super cheap and prize money was super good, so why not! The classes were divided between pony and horse (or junior and senior, I cant remember), but either way, I was in the correct group. I won a few ‘hunter’ classes, and must have pissed off one of the local regulars, because they protested my pony’s height. Fine. Some official had told me they were going to measure my pony. I said no, I would get my EC passport and show them that my pony has already been measured (by a real official:winkgrin:). They said I would have to ask the judge if that is ok. I asked if I would be allowed to just ‘approach’ the judge, which of course, I was. So, I ask the judge, and she has no idea what a passport (think permanent card) was. But says ok, pony is a pony. I go back to the barn and ‘official’ is in my pony’s stall trying to measure it (not tied, on bedding, on a dirt floor of an old cow barn - not really flat level ground!). I flip out, took the pony home that day, and have never gone back.
This was the same show that had a crossrail division, which in the prize list, read “jumps shall not exceed 3’ in height”… WHAT!! So, when I raise concern that my 26 year old pony was supposed to show in it with her kid, they tell me that they measure crossrails from the cup, yikes!
Another show (B rated) really cool venue (actually in the middle of the city, barn is used for police horses). So, if non-horsey friend is going to come to any show, thats the one to bring him to. We were watching a few horses go and having a snack, and a nasty horse is in the ring, and starts stopping. This is when rules allowed 3 stops before being asked to leave. Every time the horse stopped, the rider would give him 3-4 hard smacks on the rump before circling (horse was being a real pain). Rider comes to a fence, horse stops for the third time. The announcer says “entry is excused, with the judges thanks”, and rider leaves the ring. My non-horsey friend turns to me and says “does that happen a lot, isn’t that like animal abuse?”. When I gave him a blank look, he says “that rider was just excused for excessive spanks”. 
Back to a local, hillbilly schooling show. Some nutcase has a stallion there that he can hardly handle (looked like a Morgan or something, not that big). Our trailer was parked along the schooling ring, and we were all sitting around having a beverage and chatting, watching the warmups. We all noticed that this guy was having a really hard time with the stallion (who was really ‘showing’ himself, and the man kept hitting his ‘man parts’ with a crop:confused:) Anyway, he finally gives up and takes the horse back to his stall. At this point, there must have been a walk trot-walk trot canter kids class coming up, because there were a lot of cute kids on little ponies in the schooling ring. All of a sudden, the crazy stallion is back, sans handler, and starts trying to mount the ponies in the ring!!! Little girls screaming and hitting the stallion with sparkly pink crops everywhere!! The FUNNIEST thing I have ever seen, horse show or not! No one was hurt, and I have no idea what they did with the stallion because I didn’t see him again all day!
When I was a junior on a large pony, we went to this county fair style show (western classes, cows, chickens, etc). Entries were super cheap and prize money was super good, so why not! The classes were divided between pony and horse (or junior and senior, I cant remember), but either way, I was in the correct group. I won a few ‘hunter’ classes, and must have pissed off one of the local regulars, because they protested my pony’s height. Fine. Some official had told me they were going to measure my pony. I said no, I would get my EC passport and show them that my pony has already been measured (by a real official). They said I would have to ask the judge if that is ok. I asked if I would be allowed to just ‘approach’ the judge, which of course, I was. So, I ask the judge, and she has no idea what a passport (think permanent card) was. But says ok, pony is a pony. I go back to the barn and ‘official’ is in my pony’s stall trying to measure it (not tied, on bedding, on a dirt floor of an old cow barn - not really flat level ground!). I flip out, took the pony home that day, and have never gone back.
This was the same show that had a crossrail division, which in the prize list, read “jumps shall not exceed 3’ in height”… WHAT!! So, when I raise concern that my 26 year old pony was supposed to show in it with her kid, they tell me that they measure crossrails from the cup, yikes!
Another show (B rated) really cool venue (actually in the middle of the city, barn is used for police horses). So, if non-horsey friend is going to come to any show, thats the one to bring him to. We were watching a few horses go and having a snack, and a nasty horse is in the ring, and starts stopping. This is when rules allowed 3 stops before being asked to leave. Every time the horse stopped, the rider would give him 3-4 hard smacks on the rump before circling (horse was being a real pain). Rider comes to a fence, horse stops for the third time. The announcer says “entry is excused, with the judges thanks”, and rider leaves the ring. My non-horsey friend turns to me and says “does that happen a lot, isn’t that like animal abuse?”. When I gave him a blank look, he says “that rider was just excused for excessive spanks”.
Back to a local, hillbilly schooling show. Some nutcase has a stallion there that he can hardly handle (looked like a Morgan or something, not that big). Our trailer was parked along the schooling ring, and we were all sitting around having a beverage and chatting, watching the warmups. We all noticed that this guy was having a really hard time with the stallion (who was really ‘showing’ himself, and the man kept hitting his ‘man parts’ with a crop) Anyway, he finally gives up and takes the horse back to his stall. At this point, there must have been a walk trot-walk trot canter kids class coming up, because there were a lot of cute kids on little ponies in the schooling ring. All of a sudden, the crazy stallion is back, sans handler, and starts trying to mount the ponies in the ring!!! Little girls screaming and hitting the stallion with sparkly pink crops everywhere!! The FUNNIEST thing I have ever seen, horse show or not! No one was hurt, and I have no idea what they did with the stallion because I didn’t see him again all day!
[QUOTE=Strikeapose;6094562]
Little girls screaming and hitting the stallion with sparkly pink crops everywhere!!![/QUOTE]
Snort! Will never see another sparkly crop again without looking over m shoulder.
