Most of my volunteering experiences have been positive, albeit a lot of long days. The one thing that has pissed me off the most in 20+ years of volunteering was jump judging when the organizer did not provide water to the jump judges - in mid- July! It’s been 10 years or so and I’m still mad about that.
There was a period of a few years that the eventers walking their course all said thank you for volunteering. That has faded away. Now they mostly ignore us.
well, I got to shadow scribe Saturday at our local event. I still suck! But at least I got to try again, and it didn’t count which was even better.
As far as water, I NEVER go anywhere near a xc course, (or anywhere else,) without my own water.
Wow - so many great comments and I hope the COTH article writer takes a peek and maybe does as round #3 for this topic.
I grew up eventing/Pony Club and am a current professional instructor but sway over to H/J for teaching these days. I’ve managed many a horse show and I also judge unrated horse shows in my area - both local unrated h/j specific shows and also open and 4-H shows that run multiple disciplines. I also have been an IEA coach and and IHSA coach and have some experience with the AEL organization as well.
I volunteer at events when I can and whomever said that the morning jump judge briefing meeting is cliquey is spot on! Geesh! I know a good amount of people usually at these events and yet I am blown away by the brush off and non-welcome of the people in charge of the briefing as they chat with their cronies and acknowledge no one outside their circle. Definitely a turn off. I think I will offer myself to be a greeter at some point! Mind you - this is not at many events but certainly some.
Here is a wrinkle for you…what I see in my travels is a phenomenon of sexes. Each type of horse competition that I brush with has it’s own feel and characteristics/demographics/ energy. This is a disclaimer to please not turn this into a thing…it is just an interesting piece to what I have noticed in my area and across the different “crowds”. I encourage you to take a look at your crowds just for the sake of an interesting phenomenon. A few musings of mine…
Hunter seat IHSA, hunt seat IEA and AEL - pretty much exclusively women and girls. Women are coaching, running the shows (organizing, doing the programs, sec’y, prizes/ribbons. point keeping, announcing and etc) as well as helping, doing the jobs, parenting their kids/helping their kids get ready, driving their kids. Girls are volunteering to be helpers - horse holders, in gate, runners, groom/tackers - most of them are competitors in these competitions or siblings or barn rats/lesson kids of the host farm. And of course there are the exceptions - we have a man who co-coaches an IEA team in our region and we do have boys/young men who are on the teams competing and doing the required jobs as show hosts but it is female heavy for sure.
Rated Dressage show - we run one at our facility and I have not been to off site ones in a good 10 years so my experience here is limited. ALL show personal are women/girls except our hired announcer and hired EMT (and some years we hire a male judge). We are getting more and more desperate for volunteers as the years go by. The less volunteers we have, the more “jobs” they have to do for their shift and them more burnout they feel and then they don’t return. I understand this completely. Heck, I get paid as a partial - manager and I feel burnt out with this particular show. We are always scrambling for scribes, scorers, runners and for ring stewards. Thankfully, our loyal exhibitors are quite excellent in giving a few hours of time in and around their own rides. Scribes are tough though even when we partner with the L program. We are at a point that we have to pay some people just to have bodies in the required positions.
Unrated h/j exclusive horse shows at various farms and local venues. Mostly women and girls doing it all. A couple of farms I judge at have a man each. Literally! One farm has a (wonderful) man serve as announcer/ring master and another farm I judge at is the ring dragger and helps move jumps. There are dads there but they are not helping with their kids braids and back numbers, nor doing the ingate, nor holding horses, nor handing out ribbons. They are mostly sitting on the bleachers or are at the family car back at the trailers. This sounds like man bashing and I don’t mean it to be at all. It is just an observation for these types of shows that I have judged this past year at these certain farms. It is the moms doing the heavy lifting for the most part.
Rated low level events (S- P) and Pony Club activities that I have volunteered at over the last several years - some men for sure - usually jump judges or controllers or xc starters/timers or scorers or hired TD’s/course builders/designers or farm owners doing tractor/equipment/logistics type jobs.
Rated high level events like Maryland 5 star - lots of men - both hired officials and volunteers.
Here is where it gets interesting,…open type and/or 4-H shows with multidisciplines both one day and multi day (campers/rv type crowd) - WOW - many more men and boys present, doing the jobs - ingate, announcing, sec’y, points, handing out ribbons, ring master, driving the rigs and helping their kids with their horses and…setting up camp complete with grills, beer (multi day after hours) and amazing support in all ways. One dad type walked over and gave me his raincoat out of the blue to use for the rainy morning session and then cooked me up a hotdog for a late afternoon snack. The men here ride often too and it is really a family affair and dare I say it…it seems to be the Western discipline and/or the 4-H crowd where I see this the most. These shows are absolutely thriving. The entries are ridiculously reasonable - usually $12- $15 per class and the camaraderie is evident. It is…welcoming. They need volunteers too and they get them.
Like I stated- different types of shows have interesting demographics and different energies. I don’t know how to solve the volunteer crisis and it is at crisis level for events (and…I would say dressage shows too.) Maybe USEA/USDF/USEF membership and/or being admitted as a competitor to any given competition comes with a requirement for volunteer hours/days. Heck if the USHJA did that their might even be a mitigation of the INSANE entry fees. The H/J managers learned long ago that they have to hire pretty much every position and the price for that is evident.
Late to the party but also pushing it above the fold: the sport of vaulting has a volunteer requirement, but it’s understood that the competitor/club needs to provide X number of bodies … usually moms, dads, siblings, friends, etc. It’s pretty rare for competitors to volunteer until they’re older and traveling alone. There are always some “over-doers” and some who do the bare minimum. But it’s also key to have 1/2 day jobs in order to make it work. (Except for a few skilled positions such as scribing, which need to stay outside the scope of “volun-drafted.”)
I’ve volunteered at an event (this past autumn, just took a wild hair after reading this thread and wanting to support eventing.) Being a glutton for punishment, I decided to put myself at the start box since it seems that it would be a fairly (potentially) stressful position that might have a learning curve. The coordinator set me to shadowing the experienced starter (and then I was able to move into “lead” starter for lower level/end-of-day just to confirm what I had observed).
I’m planning to continue to volunteer as I’m able, just because so far I’m enjoying it and in the demographic of no-longer-riding empty nester.
Anyway, the roundabout point I’m trying to make is that coaches and trainers could/should set expectations that parental units have the responsibility for ensuring a successful competition. Which, admittedly, is far more successful when dealing with people having a mindset of “if we don’t put it on, we won’t have a competition” vs. “I pay good money so shouldn’t need to be bothered or inconvenienced.”
I think encouraging competitors to bring a friend (if they’re not already grooming) to volunteer would go a long way ** as long as shifts can be no longer than 1/2 day (if you want longer, sign up for multiple shifts) and conditions are humane re: bathrooms and water/snacks.
I’ve stopped volunteering for these reasons (in order of how they affect me)
I want to be assigned a job and if I need training for it, give it.
Being left out for potty breaks, snack and lunch breaks, and no water offered.
I will not put up with bitchy competitors. You don’t have to thank me (you should) but I am here trying to make your day a good one, so keep your snark up your sleeve.
Don’t overface me with a task. I’ve been ring steward at dog shows but only once at a dressage show. Measuring whips, checking bits, and making sure the next rider was close was too much for me and several riders became quite impatient and rude because I was slow. I normally scribe but the person that had volunteered to be a steward never showed up, lucky them.
I had a horrible and a wonderful experience at a driving event. The woman I was acting as gator for wasn’t driving cones until the next day so I volunteered as an obstacle judge. Instead they asked if I could help the vet as the horses finished the course because her tech had an emergency and there was no one to help her. We had a godawful time keeping up. It takes a bit to check P & R on four horse teams one right after another. No water, no toilet, of course no food or a chance to get out of the sun. I don’t know how we did it. That was the terrible part, the good part was the vet hugging me and saying I can be on her team anytime. 
Oh, and the only competitors that thanked us where the VSE drivers and everyone of them was kind. The event manager didn’t thank me either. I left that day and never volunteered with them again.
I’m not looking for your undying gratitude or your first born. I don’t care about gifts either. But I expect to be treated with respect and to have time to eat, drink, and piddle.
I’m a groom, and I volunteer at events where I have only one or two horses to care for. My rider usually does too.
Here are my recommendations:
I personally don’t care about swag or XC schooling vouchers or anything like that because we travel so far to shows. Only thing I would want is a voucher to a food vendor or a meal from the VIP tent.
The last time I volunteered I spent the whole day alone as the sole jump crew person at the far end of the stadium course. I watched lunches being distributed by the organizer herself but she forgot about me. I have not volunteered since then. The Pine Top volunteer ball cap did nothing to offset being without food, drink, or a bathroom break for the day.
I would be nice to have an either/or - selection - like do you want a t-shirt? a cross country schooling voucher? or a food truck voucher?
While I got both a t-shirt and a free cross country schooling from Fairhill, the t-shirts sit in a box and I will “eventually” use them for a quilting project, but the schooling vouchers came in handy so given the choice, I would pick that.
Some horseless sibling or parent or friend may like a t-shirt
Someone like you, the food
Someone like me, cross country schooling.
Personally, I don’t think the equality of cost would matter - if someone cared, they will pick the one with the perceived highest value but I feel lik @CatchMeIfUCan would just go for the food and someone else the swag.
I think they just give out T-shirts around here. However, they do provide us with lunches and drinks. Lots of water! A very charming couiple with a competing daughter drive around all day in a golf cart filled with sammies, chips cookies, bananas, all kinds of goodies. They also relieve for bathroom breaks. I haven’t had a horse for 20 years, so swag is useless.
They give me a lot of praise, and I guess I am shallow enough that it means something to me. Even the competitors sometimes yell out ‘thanks for volunteering!’ while I am thinking Watch your jump!
The two competitions are 20 and 40 miles from home. It is really the only thing I do horse related these days and I comsider them very accomodating.
I’ve been horseless for almost two years. Never thought I’d ever be without a horse. But it’s nice to have a few coins in my pocket for treats for me vs my horse! I get my horsey fix by volunteering at shows and with a local rescue.
I boarded for 29 years, and the first month she was gone, I expected a bit of relief. Not a bit. The money just disappeared and has never come back.
That’s a bummer, have you done a monthly spreadsheet to see where your money is spent? I took my board money and put it towards a travel trailer. It’s nice not to stay in a hotel so much. And no vet bills is a relief! Though I do miss having my own horse.
no, she has been gone for 20 years. I have always lived on the margins. But it was $250 a month, and I expected a bit of relief. It just disappeared. It worked out OK. But no more horses for me. $$$$ 
My local eventing organization down here in Australia (Eventing Queensland) just posted this - they’re encouraging local clubs to charge a volunteer levy ($30 AUD, or about $19 USD). People are up in arms.
Just for comparison, a Training level equivalent (EvA 95) entry here in USD is $91, the “course and development fee” is $12.50, and medical levy is $19. Stabling (to be fair, is usually outdoor pens as our weather is mild) is $22/night. Most events are held over two days, so if you stable, it’s a grand total of $123 USD.
I don’t compete anymore, but I think the last local entry fee I saw was around $400. I hope I saw that wrong. That would go over like a fart in a sauna.
I quoted to them how much a typical entry costs here in the U.S.(in Australian dollars), and they were flabbergasted. They also get REFUNDS if a competition is cancelled! Crazy!
That’s still pennies compared to what we pay in the US. My last entry cost me $375, no stabling.
I’d support a volunteer levy. It is SO hard to get volunteers sometimes.
I would guess that most people would rather pay $20 than take the time to volunteer, so a volunteer levy would likely increase the amount of volunteers an event would get.
My local organization does this already.
I’m generally in favor of something like this but would prefer to see it handled by the governing body over the course of a season instead of by individual events. I volunteer regularly in my area but usually on weekends that I’m not competing. I’d be annoyed to be charged an extra fee when I’m already contributing plenty of my time to the area, just not on that particular weekend. I’d rather see an increase in annual membership fees that could be offset by X number of hours per season, with the excess going to help events that need it.
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