GR1306 applies across disciplines. Amateurs can win prize money in any discipline. I won $60 in an over fences stake last weekend. Still an ammy. There are regularly paybacks Ammy Owner classes over fences.
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Here, at least, our last rated show ended at 2:00 pm each day and the late fee was waived. The CDI before that had only maybe 7 or 8 horses entered (for the entire CDI) and the national show that accompanied it only ran two rings, ended early. In the old days, we had four to five rings going at this facility. The scary part is that these shows were all qualifiers for different national championships as well (Young Horse, Pony, Young Riders, etc) and, in the past, because of the fact that they were qualifiers, they would fill. Now, not at all.
Not correct.
You can only accept prize money in any other discipline if you are an owner of the horse in question. In dressage, you do not have to be an owner.
ād. Accept prize money as the owner of a horse in any class other than equitation or showmanship classes.
e. Accept prize money in Dressageā
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that sounds perfect 
So maybe that would be a solution to make rated shows more attractive I remember when I was a teen it was very rewarding to go to a show and to break even with the costs because of prize moneyā¦ (and I am talking about amounts like 40 or 60 Euro (at that time it was still Mark)
Not sure why right now nobody has the chance to get one penny backā¦ I think it would be very encouragingā¦
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I guess I donāt think itās all that encouraging to the average person when only one person wins the prize money. Unless youāre already winning regularly and thus incentivized to showanyway, itās not going to incentivize the average person who finishes middle of the pack on an average horse to go show.
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Wo was talking about one person?? I think everybody who gets a ribbon should also get moneyā¦ Ok that way nobody gets a lot of money, but IMO thats not the pointā¦
I believe Colorado has been hosting CDIās in Estes Park that were poorly attended as well for the last 2-3 years. Location, timing and prize money are big factors in a CDI. Also this show was held early in the year, for Colorado, just coming out of winter. That could be a reason for poor attendance.
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For those who are wondering about the bedding cost. You can buy that bag of shavings for $5 or $6 at the feed store. But you also pay tax. Then the show has to pay for delivery - that adds another $1 or $2/bag. Then they have to pay one of their staff to go around and deliver the bags of shavings each day in equipment they had to buy and maintain. So by now, the show management has paid $8 for the bag of shavings. So their profit isnāt quite as much as you might think. And some people will come in and want to pay cash for those 2 bags of shavings that they ordered - and the show office doesnāt want to keep several stacks of $1s on hand to make change, so it is easier to just round it up to $10.
Stabling is a much bigger source of income then shavings.
Reality is - it is super expensive to put on shows, and USEF and USDF have made it more so with all their complex rules and paperwork. :no:
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This is also my impression of the atmosphere at our trailer in dressage shows.
Also it seems to me that teens and young adults are more likely to be jumping in some form, show or event or hunter. Our dressage crowd is over 30, iād say probably mostly well over 40. So there isnt necessarily the incoming new riders.
I would also say dressage is very attractive here to middle aged re riders who donāt feel up to jumping, or riding trails outside the arena, or cantering much. But how much fun is it to get stuck permanently showing training, schooling first?
Dressage didnāt exist locally as a discipline here even 30 years ago. People who had pretty horses they wanted to show off and have fun out and about used to go to flat rail classes. It is possible dressage has peaked in popularity and also that it may not be the best match for an average horse and average older ammie.
We also have a very small local population of FEI level riders, mostly coaches, but often they are also in the lower levels with younger horses.
Almost the whole order of go at shows is w/t, training and Level One.
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But Amateurs can also accept money for legitimate expenses, explicitly mentioning entries. How it works in H/J land is that āprize moneyā is applied against entries. So when I won $60, I didnāt get a check for $60, itās applied against the balance of my show bill. Even if youāre not riding your own horse, unless youāre winning every class or something big like a Derby, youāre not going to win more than your show balance (and maybe not even then), so any prize āwinningsā essentially end up under the expenses clause. That works because at H/J shows, you close out a check after youāre finished showing.
Iām not sure how that would work with Dressage, where you have everything pre-paid. But since youāre allowed prize winnings either way in Dressage, perhaps offering special classes with some potential prize money to offset expenses is one way of enticing entries. I know Iām looking at one show here at the end of the month with a $$$ prize for a musical freestyle class.
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The CDI in Parker was in early June, not just coming out of winter (although sometimes it can feel that way). I donāt suspect weather was a factor. I think it has a lot more to do with cowgirlās earlier post on the shortage of good boarding opportunities. The pool of competitors has dried up considerably.
I just counted the number of shows for Region 6 (that is, individually licensed shows, so some may be weekend shows licensed as two separate shows). We had 64 shows in 2016, 63 this year - that does not include shows with breed restrictions such as Arab and Morgan competitions or DHSB only shows. Maybe some other Region 6āers can correct me if Iām wrongā¦ But this seems like more shows than we used to have years ago?
Personally I feel like we have a pretty strong dressage scene here. We have a pretty good number of accomplished pros and a decent population of serious ammys with nice horses. Weāre no CA or FL but weāve got a respectable scene. I do NOT however, think that we have the number of riders to fill that many shows. My feeling is that we used to have fewer shows but they were bigger and a bigger deal. Maybe my memory is failing me and we have always had this many options and our scene has dwindled a bit but it really seems like A LOT of shows for the number of riders we have. This might be an unpopular opinion but Iād actually like to see some of these shows cease so that we can have bigger, higher profile competitions. (But not Meadowwood because they have fantastic show management in my experiences and I reeeaaally want to see that place built out in the way they were/are planningā¦ And itās close enough that I can sleep in my own bed at night :lol:)
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I used to show h/j way back when, and compared to that, dressage seemed cheap! In h/j, it is the rare person who would go it aloneā¦you just donāt do that. And you donāt just do one class, you do a division. And your trainer does a division on your horse on the pro days. And maybe you do two divisionsā¦ the mortified as a warm up, and then the adults. Oh, and thereās the day fee paid to the trainer, and stabling, and tipping the grooms, and all the federation and extra fees. And unless you have really nimble fingers and are an excellent braider, you pay for braiding. And since you want your braids to look good, you do it every day. And and andā¦
For a dressage show you can go it alone for your 1-2 classes per day if you feel independent enough to show without your trainer. And braids are easier to do yourself. And you wonāt get laughed out of the ring for not having the horse breed du jour. And you know what time you ride! And you get feedback from the judge!
All of this makes dressage shows more appealing to me. What I do miss is the barn support / hangout / happy hour time and the end-of-aisle lounging area. But, I also very much appreciate knowing when Iām going to ride, having a plan for the day, and being able to be in and out so I can go home and tend to my daily farm life if it is a one-day show.
I am sometimes tempted by the idea of working toward getting medals and moving up the levels. At the same time, it is not hugely important to me in the grand scheme of things.
I think all of the various associations and memberships and paperwork for possible awards is a roadblock for some. Also the seeming need to have the fancy horse and trainer, just like in the h/j world (although there does seem to be more acceptance and enjoyment of seeing different types of horses do well), makes it all seem not worth it or too out of touch or reach.
We have local āleague showsā here that seem to fill up very quickly with a waiting list and a long day for a show. I donāt know how the recognized shows here do as Iām not interested in them yet. I do think the h/j barns and shows make for a more fun experience. Dressage is more serious and the hush-hush atmosphere at barns and shows reflects that.
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YES. And what that facility did (and I donāt even want to guess how much money they lost) is host three weeks worth of events with an attractive stabling package to entice riders from other states to come because our ability to fill shows has dwindled. The facility wants to become a regional center for dressage, but Colorado can no longer sustain it, unless about 8 new barns open. The first week was a symposium with top level clinicians (Lars Peterson, Steffan Peters, Scott Hassler, Jane Weatherwax, Michael Klimke, Jane Savoie, Axel Steiner). The following week was a national show that had qualifiers. The week after was the CDI, with a national show with qualifiers. The facility is very nice, the stabling is nice, the hotels are reasonable (and there is ample camper hookup there). NONE of the three events completely filled. The two FEI competitors from the CDI came from out of state; and there were maybe five junior and young riders who rode in the CDI. It is correct that the Estes Park CDI was never successful EXCEPT for when it was a qualifying year for a big event. We did, for many years, have a successful CDI at the Colorado Horse Park in the 90s. But the show I am talking about that ended at 2pm each day and waived late fees was the END of june, and a recognized show here. If was vastly undersubscribed. I hope this is not a trend for us locally, but I expect it will be and that we will lose dressage from the horse park lineup because they will lose too much money. There are simply not the barns to grow and sustain the sport here locally, and not much within an easy drive of Denver. There is still some dressage up near Boulder, a couple of barns near the horse park, but they all require a full training package. I myself am boarding at a tiny multi use facility with no regulation size arena (our indoor is not much bigger than a longing pen) and have to haul out to a friendās to work on dressage movements and I am trying to show grand prix. Because of this, I am planning for this horse to be my last horseāeven though I would have liked to continue. It is just too hard here. I know that Colorado is not the only state to experience this. Land became cheap during the economic collapse and then the boom here brought more people requiring subdivisions. It seems that the hunter/jumper people are holding steady, but dressage is just not surviving this, except for those who can afford full training and are happy with the limited options for it, or who have their horses at home with a private indoor arena. I am not sure this reality is reflected in memberships. Some people will stay members of organizations even if they are not riding or showing. I think it is more reflected in the show participation. We have been struggling with this boarding barn downsizing for at least 10 years and many people just got frustrated and got out of it. I have been at 4 barns where I had to leave because the barn was sold and all three of those barns were sold to wealthy people of different disciplines (eventing, morgan breeding, western) who made them private and the other one was torn down to make way for a subdivision. The rehab facility that I had my horse at last year is on the market; the barn I was at for the two years prior is on the market; a barn that used to hose two shows a year up north is on the market. For us here, the reality is that dressage itself is dwindling and the ability to revitalize it is severely limited by the lack of anywhere to actually DO it and do it reasonably economically. I pay $1,045 for my multi use boarding facility with tiny arenas and no bathroom. I pay $250 for shoeing and I buy my own grain and maintain my grand prix horse on supplements to deal with low quality hay (another probably $200 per month). I pay $260 a month for weekly coaching and $90 a month to clinic with a judge. I have a truck and trailer to maintain because I haul out and buy bedding every weekend to stay overnight at a friendās place so I can use her regulation size indoor with mirrors (add another $150 per month for fuel, bedding and maintenance). I just paid around $780 in show fees. So, not counting vet bills to maintain a 17 year old grand prix horse and show fees, I am around $2k a month in expenses and somewhere around $2,500 with all expenses realistically. I could probably afford another thousand a month if I had to. But the amount of HASSLE that comes with all of this since I cannot really train at the same place I board and I have to do a lot of self care while having a 60 hour per week job does impact whether I want to show much or continue with the sport. If you layer on top of that inconsistent judging, rude comments (or no comments at all) on your tests and scores that make no sense, showing is very unattractive. When I first started the sport, we were rich for options and cost options, we had CDIs that were oversubscribed (our Dressage in the Rockies CDI was so subscribed that they did a freestyle evening fundraiser without having to fill in with demo riding). Hay was cheap and boarding was reasonable. Judging was stuck in the 5-6-7 range, but far more consistentā¦
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It sounds petty, but I need more incentives to spend my $$ other than ribbons. I tend to spend my show dollars on clinics now.
Years ago, shows put more thought into the little things, like good prizes!
In the old daysā¦entry fees got you a small gift bag. What happened to getting a saddle pad, treats, brushes, gift certificates, halters & maybe a cooler? Those days are pretty much over.
I get jealous when I hear about the loot given at AQHA shows. Those days for us dressage peeps, seem to be a thing of the past.
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This is true! I won money at shows in the early 2000s. I won: gym bags, helmet bags, coolers, halters, scarves, boot polish kits, sets of wine glasses, saddle padsā¦etcā¦at shows. Now you donāt get anything, or maybe a coffee mug if there are at least so many in your class (which is never at my level). For high point, you get a ribbon. I understand that the shows are struggling just to do this, which is not a good sign but may be the sign of the times. The loot is not my motivation, but it is very nice to win something other than a $.50 ribbon.
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This is SO true.
I am 31 and a dedicated, quintessential AA with a 6-mover non-WB horse (6.5 on a good day, 7 if the judge is feeling generous.) I show rated shows because I can. Iām fortunate in that I am not married and I have a very well-paying job with a lot of flexibility, and I go with my coach and a bunch of jrās and older ladies from the barn and we have a great time together. Shows are typically the only vacations I take in a year. I also do it because I want to get my bronze before I start a family. I have the freedom and resources to do it now, so I go.
BUT
There are VERY few AAās in the 25-40 age range at the rated shows (or heck, even at the schooling shows) in my area. With student debt and getting their feet under them in their career, plus family obligations etc, they just donāt have the resources to do it. I have the time and resources to do it. But Iām definitely in the minority for my demographic at this point.
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I agree!!! And I think one reason for not awarding money as a price is that show venues are run commercially. So they donāt really care for the riders. They make their money with stabling, haul in fees, and office fees and thats it. They assume riders will come anyhow and spend their moneyā¦
Thats why I like our GMO showsā¦ They are run by us and its a lot more personal
OMG reading this made me feel like I have no right at all to complainā¦ I am so impressed with your dedication!!! And really I think people like you should somehow be recognized!! It does not only sound expensive but also like a lot of work and traveling around!! I have a friend who rides GP with her horse and who just moved into a barn next door. And I sometimes feel sorry for her because she left the perfect boarding training situation and is now still trying to figure out how to do everything. All the best for you and your horse!!!
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Here in Scottsdale/Phoenix AZ I think most of the 4-5 shows hosted by the local GMO are well subscribed. The exception is the 2 one day shows held in a mountain town north of here that some prefer not to attend due to the condition of the show grounds, distance, or unpredictable summer thunder storms. At one time CDIs were held here but no longer. This area has a healthy, but some what concentrated dressage scene. Its no surprise that there are lots of us Gen X or Baby Boomer AAs and trainers. The median age of the town I live in is 65! We have a big retiree and snowbird population with disposable incomes for full training, showing etc. The main show facility is excellent, within 30 minutes from the top dressage barns and the GMO runs very well organized shows. There really is very little to complain about and the fees are reasonable given the quality. I think all of those factors combined contribute to well subscribed shows.
As far as looking towards the future, similar to Cowgirl in Denver there has been a gradual decrease over the years in quality dressage only boarding/training facilities. Due to extreme summer heat a covered arena is a necessity particularly for trainers with a large client base. Over the last 20 years I have seen some of those properties sold, are currently for sale or have been developed. I hope dressage can continue on in this area and not be swallowed up by the reining crowd or more homes.
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