Happy to clarify; the horse was competing 2 of the 3 days that the show ran. They charged me something like $40 extra for the day he wasn’t entered in a class.
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This is insane. Our Regionals runs over four days, and I’m a big fan of having a fresh horse when it counts. There were many years where a horse had a Thursday ride and a Sunday ride, and you’d find me hacking around and not showing in between.
I haven’t seen overt badgering at shows, although I have seen aggressive riding and big forward horses intimidate lower level AAs and juniors. Almost always unintentionally, but just not considering their impact on riders around them.
I have also seen/heard railbirds gossiping at shows and clinics, talking judgmentally about what they are seeing or think they are seeing. Sometimes it seems they INTEND to be overheard. This always makes me think less of the gossiper(s), not the rider being gossiped about especially since it often reveals the ignorance or pettiness of the person’s opinion. Everything from observing “busy hands” if someone’s hands moved at all but “dead hands” if they didn’t to “her coat is SO tight, she must have put on weight over the winter”. Usually these are not pros or knowledgeable AAs but rather people who don’t ride much and never in public and are allegedly there to “support” friends.
Another example: a woman who frequently volunteered to scribe mostly so she could tell everyone afterwards what the judge had said about her least favorite riders. She was prone to exaggeration. Eventually, but not soon enough, she was no longer welcome as a scribe.
Having been there this week and bought said priority parking…never again! I was assigned spot right along my barn and the darn spot was literally shorter than my truck by almost a foot. I measured!
And when I dared to complain, I was told “the hunter jumper folks fit”, which, yeah, cars might. Trucks don’t.
There was a whole line of us having to park with our noses out into the road because none of those spaces were big enough. So I’ll be saving the money and not risking my rig’s nose being hit by bringing a bike with me for the championships. Complete money grab is what it is!
yikes!! That’s awful…I am usually the am feed person so need a spot!
We were there this week too. Perhaps we got lucky. All of our assigned spots were very close to our stalls, and only one was a small/parallel parking spot. We just traded amongst ourselves to make sure we didn’t have to put a truck there.
I just looked at the starting list for the USEF Festival of Champions. There are 4 riders in the Grand Prix Championship of our country! There are 6 in the Small Tour championship! The Developing classes are full, with 15 each. What is going on here??? Last time I competed in the Festival, all of the classes were full, with waitlists. Even counting out the top riders who were in Europe, we have plenty of horses at that level to fill those classes. I wonder if more people (like me) have decided that showing in July and August is no longer in their horses’ best interests. It also cost me about $10K to do that show, which made me rethink the entire endeavor…
From what I have heard from a few people who decided not to attend - you nailed it. Too hot, too far, too expensive, too much hassle, too much stress.
And where did you find the start list?
On a related note, I just got an updated rate card from the barn owner. The increases are like a punch in the gut. There will be no showing for me unless I sell my house and live out of my car. It’s just all too expensive.
Also, and unfortunately, the USEF has shown it has no interest in creating 2 Young Horse Dressage Championships - one on each side of the country. As central as Lamplight is, it’s still 2,000 miles from the west coat. A long haul for any horse, never mind a 4 year old.
Imagine the number of young and developing horses that could participate if they hosted 2 competitions?! Use the same judging panel if the focus needs to remain on crowning an ultimate champion. There are breeders and trainers from CA, OR, and ID that should be commended for sending horses year after year, knowing the cost and the time away from the home farm is immense.
Yeah, I’d say that type of number would be… discouraging for a lot of people!
The start list is up on Fox Village Dressage
Yikes on the $10k…
At the moment, dressage competition has lost its luster so that is a lot of money to spend for extra added pressure.
Not sure where you are located, I know someone who paid well over $5k just for transporting the horse from the west coast.
YES, This is also my experience.
Mine as well!
Same. I’ve scribed for many “S” judges, and they all would love to give 10s like they were M&Ms. The judges I know want to see good tests, whether it’s a Gypsy Vanner or a purpose-bred warmblood.
I don’t subscribe to the global warming thing, but fully agree that the “show season” in the Southwest between May and September can be brutal. As a youngster, the heat didn’t bother me, but as I aged, I quit showing in late June and all of July and August, unless the show was in Estes Park. Too darn hot! That left me 7- 8 weeks, providing there were available shows, to qualify for Year-ends, medals, etc.
Anyone recall the thunderstorms or snowstorms at Colorado Horse Park (late September) for Championships? That was fuuun. 
Now I live in Florida and I will show (IF I show) in the winter – and not at WEC. At my age, the thrill of showing is definitely gone.
I was once at a show where a horse had pooped right at X. My horse would have been square but moved a bit to avoid standing in the poop. The judge commented that the score would have been a X but because my horse avoided the poop due to being a (insert breed here) and they couldn’t give that to me. They said that ever since the horse pooped there no other horses (different breeds by my observation) had halted directly at X and scores reflected it and they had considered kicking the poop off to the side but hadn’t.
I have on two other occasions had a judge comment on my breed and difficulty of doing dressage on that breed due to…reasons.
Yet when my horse that looks like a warmblood (but is not) reared at X, spun in circles like an idiot and was in general poorly behaved nobody made a comment on that horse’s breed being a cause for their behavior.
It is no secret that the horse industry is supported throughout with taxpayer money in Germany. Failing that it would be very expensive and probably not available to regular folks.
Can you expand on how does Germany support “the horse industry?” How can a breeder be able to breed, care for a mare & foal, break and train the horse to allow prices to be less than in the US? Most countries in western Europe in general are not cheap places to live, so I’m wondering how the Germans manage to do this.
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