I’ve been riding since 1963 and showing since the 70’s. I guess I’m waxing poetic, but why don’t we have small town horse shows anymore? Is it the liability, the lack of interest. Growing up every town had at least 1 small show a year and the facility didnt have to be fancy. It was just a fun day for the kids on the weekends. What happen to pony races and the things that got us into this crazy hobby?
8 Likes
As someone who organized annual local shows for years in my community with the help of family and friends, I guess it is the lack of someone ELSE stepping forward and organizing a show. When our family stopped organizing a small annual show, no one else took it on. I heard a lot of , “Why don’t you …” and my response was, “Why don’t YOU?” To make our little show happen, I needed 14 weekend volunteers. My family was half that number and friend were the other half. And I will tell u that there is little upside to being a show organizer. One only hears complaints and how it SHOULD be done. All our profits went to a local handicapped riding program. After paying the judge and buying ribbons and trophies there was about $1K to donate each year.
My point is, if YOU want a local show, YOU should organize one.
Reminds me of a neighbor who complained often that our school did not offer rugby as a sport. She had been a success player in college and now had a daughter who wanted to play. I asked her why SHE didn’t start a program. Her answer: I don’t want to do that much work, I just want to watch my daughter play rugby! Seems that attitude pervades.
41 Likes
Because everyone wants perfect footing, beautifully presented jumps and arenas, big prizes, multiple rings to run even more specialist classes (poles on ground for over 85 years old on horses with a sale value greater than six figures) and the full range of supporting services such as vets on call or shopping opportunities. Oh, and don’t forget reliable weather. If there was demand from riders I suspect the “old fashioned” show would still be happening, if the organising committee could ever find sufficient volunteers.
25 Likes
At least here all the former small show venues the grounds are now million dollar housing developments or huge commercial retail sites
The one we attended often is now where the professional golf association (PGA) headquarters is, that ranch had been in the prior owners family since the 1860s until “the city” just overran them
4 Likes
If your discipline is WP or Drafts, my area is lousy with small, local shows.
Often with odd judging, but WTH, they’re well attended.
I’m out of the loop for Dressage, but there’s still at least 1 Fall schooling show with a carded judge & a Driving show at the same venue in July.
ETA:
Pony racing about an hour away.
You can race your pony there as well as spectate.
3 Likes
having been part of running local HJ in the 80s . Sport became a business for the trainers and they knew they could earn more at shows run under a different type management format. The local show you could hack to, or trailer to , simply didnt earn the extra fees for the pros… It takes a long time to build something people want and when it is ripped apart, it takes a lot of work to build it back. On the shoulders, usually , of the same core volunteers
13 Likes
As Foxglove said, few to no volunteers. This is even 4-H level shows. The fairgrounds are there, free to the Clubs or Equine Committee, but no one to announce, open and shut gates, be Ringmaster. I put in my 9 years while DD was a 4H member, on the ground and on the Equine Comittee planning and running local shows to fund the horse program. Same time span with son in Pony Club, doing various jobs at Rallies. I liked PC BECAUSE the kids had to do their own preparations as Teams, no parents allowed to help. DD was mostly on her own after she could saddle her horse alone. She was dressed, warmed up, gave horse breaktimes for drinks, hay, relaxing between classes. She competed in everything she could, so showing was teaching her organization skills, being on time, properly dressed, tacked up. I was the “mean” Mom, just usually looking her over before her classes started. I was very proud of both kids knowing how to be ready to compete and win by their own efforts!
I still do volunteer work for my Driving Clubs, on the ground doing physical jobs, planning activities.
In both activities the volunteers are aging out with VERY few replacement people showing up to help. One or two people can’t run shows. Parents of kids “are not available” when help is requested in 4H, even though you see them standing around AT the show all day! If you call on them for help, it is given grudgingly or for only a few minutes. “I have to go help Sissy for her next class.” Driving folks do try to help, but many come as “a one-man show” doing everything to compete by themselves. No time to lend a hand between grooming, hitching and driving in classes.
If you want local shows, get up and organize them with other people who want local shows too!! Take turns running things so you each get competition time with your young horses.
5 Likes
This. I was on the organizing committee of a local show and some trainers said they wouldn’t come until the grass rings were replaced with fancy geotextile footing.
I don’t know if it’s because of social media that riders and trainers have more exposure to the big fancy venues and expect it to be the norm everywhere, or because in recent years there have been several large investments in big facilities that didn’t exist before, but the small local shows can’t afford to make those investments.
5 Likes
Years ago in my area the local hunter shows were run by the owners/trainers of beginner barns. There were scores of these beginner barns and there was a show almost every weekend somewhere locally.
They did this partly so the kids would have opportunities to take home lots of ribbons, which pleased the parents, who were convinced by these ribbon displays that their little Barbies and Kens were Olympic rider shoe-ins. So of course the kids needed their own horses, usually purchased through the local beginner rider teacher.
Now my area has only two beginner barns. The kids have plenty of options for other weekend activities, especially since soccer has become so popular.
3 Likes
You can get all of that at a local show. The show organizers need to see the value of the local show. They can be profitable (the Alpharetta, GA local shows sell out all the time, and some weekends there are two local shows within an hour of each other).
It takes community, however, to support the show and venue. Here in GA, so many equestrians and local businesses support the fundraising efforts to improve and expand the local equestrian park. The shows are well attended by competitors and spectators. The jumps from the show organizer are nice and full so you get a nice rated experience at a more affordable price point. The courses are thoughtful and challenging. And the various circuits have their own awards banquets in addition to the GHJA one.
COVID and then the economy changed so much, and we’re at peak timing for affordable local options as a result.
4 Likes
My area (south central/south east PA) still has a lot of smaller local show series across various disciplines, held both at barns and at dedicated show grounds. I think many of these survive because they are run by larger committees and it’s not just one or two people/families who get burned out and decide to quit. Most seem well supported - though I’ve also seen a few making Facebook pleas for entries or they’d be unable to run. (I think - with the costs of everything going up - in some cases it’s no longer profitable to hold a smaller show.)
3 Likes
All of this. It’s also why the entire sport has become prohibitively expensive. It’s not the braiding, it’s not the office fees or membership fees. It’s this notion that unless the footing is space-age and the facilities pristine the horses will just fall over and die.
Barn I’m at used to run schooling shows up until about… a decade ago? It’s thankless and rarely profitable. Aside from completely disrupting the training and schedule of the barns day-to-day inhabitants for (at least) the week leading up to the event, very few places have the space to welcome 20+ horse trailers for the day. I think one of the final straws for our barn was trailer parking and how it utterly destroys the grass/landscaping/gravel drives/designated dirt patch, especially if any rain shows up.
12 Likes
And no one wants to pay enough to counteract the wear and tear on a barn property for “just” a schooling show.
The unrated stuff that seems to have survived is the C type 2-3 day schooling shows run at bigger venues. More expensive than your 1 day haul-in, but nothing like a week long rated show. I also love the GHJA stuff, I wish we had something similar here (NCHJA is getting there).
4 Likes
My 2¢ says @Foxglove & @goodhors nailed the main reason.
The local shows here may be rinkydink, but there’s a solid core of involved parents (mostly Moms) that put them together.
With good number of kids doing The Work.
There are the clueless too, whose kids do well if family pockets are deep. Otherwise the parents as a support system does not exist. And the kids aren’t willing to put in the effort to prep for even a schooling show. They want it handed to them.
Some 4H clubs are jokes, others are doing what the organization intended.
The culture has changed so any sports involving horses has been priced out of a lot of parents’ budgets.
That, and kids involved in other activities, leaving no time for the intense participation both posters described.
Driving especially suffers, as adding the cost of harness & vehicles makes it out of reach to a great percentage of kids interested in horses.
I think outside of the Uber-Rich & the very small core of ruralish families I’ve met, equine sports in general & local shows in particular will go the way of the dinosaurs.
2 Likes
This is an interesting thread for me to read due to what seems like a decent amount of shows local to me. Once we hit spring, there’s usually one at least every two weeks, whether it’s dressage, combined training, or a h/j show. I think it’s probably because of my area surrounding a big equestrian center that also sometimes hosts things that are locally rated, although a bit more expensive than the other local shows at smaller facilities. The only discipline I almost never see is driving but I think it’s due to lack of interest in the area. I’m sure this isn’t the case in most areas though, especially since the equestrian community here is pretty involved and supportive.
Lake Washington Saddle Club has a whole season full of local shows. From H/J to dressage to western games. They’re all very well attended and no shortage of volunteers.
2 Likes
Seeing it on a local level here, I agree with @Foxglove that the driving factor is no one wanting to step up into the volunteer role of show org, and competitor entitlement. These two factors in Area 1 have driven many an event to close their doors. 
I’m totally burned out on staying overnight in hotel rooms for a horse show, so I’d love to have some more local one-day shows. There is one unrated series 2 hours away, but it’s attended by mostly kids and walk-trot riders. In my divisions, I end up competing against myself and one other woman on a lovely Appaloosa. We trade red and blue ribbons all day. So I’ve stopped going.
There are two little shows in town, sponsored by the ag dept. of the community college. But here’s the problem: The show manager asks the nearby trainers and the more experienced show riders for input. We give it to them, making suggestions on classes, how to best arrange the schedule, enforcing general safety rules and what amenities they need to offer, like a designated longeing area. Yet. Nothing. Ever. Changes. And we don’t want to risk our safety and that of our horses to attend. So it barely survives, which is sad.
2 Likes
@atl_hunter you may or may not know, but how much of the Cheryl/HJ Fox/Elite shows are run with volunteers? I was under the impression that most of their staff are paid.
I think that would be another reason why some shows survive and others don’t, it’s easier to put up with Horse People if you’re getting paid for it.
2 Likes
Yes they are proper shows run by a show management company, not volunteers. And that is the point. This wouldn’t be happening if they were not profitable. So why are they profitable? Because the economy has created demand for affordable showing alternatives.
Other show management companies are missing an opportunity. I know Jay presented on the GA local show program at the USHJA conference due to its enormous success. Did anyone take notice or will everyone just sit back and watch their local market further erode?
Also, it takes a community to support the shows. It takes trainers building programs and supporting the shows. Many of the AA trainers attend the locals here in GA in a show of support, for example. They also have beginner/academy programs to build the pipeline. It’s the ecosystem that makes this successful - not just the show itself.
4 Likes
