The HITS AZ show (in Tucson) is a great show, well run, great footing, nice people (even the office staff!), and good stabling. It is never as crowded as the other HITS shows, and is great for getting a chance to do bigger shows with greenies.
I’m happy with the HITS shows. I like all the changes at the nearest ones to me in Culpeper and I also like Saugerties and Ocala. Almost made it to Thermal but decided to switch back to being an east coaster again.
This will be my first year going to the Vermont shows to watch my young hunter go round. Are you saying there are no real bathrooms? 
I never understand why people slam Tom or HITS. I’ve always enjoyed the shows. He’s put a lot of money into our sport and seems to always try to accommodate the changing times with lower heights or TB hunter divisions, etc. I say go Tom go!
They are not unique, old fashioned style shows like Upperville and Devon, etc but they have their place.
My trainer is a big fan of the barn going to HITS Thermal (I haven’t gone yet). She likes the experiences the venue brings, multiple rings, the efficiency of the rings, different competitors, new judges, and bonding with your horse over a long few weeks. I’d like to try Thermal in 2015 or 2016, but it is expensive and thunderbird is closer…and less hot. Not sure about the real bathrooms 
equisan, Vermont does not have real bathrooms, but they have a nice setup near the 2 jumper rings that includes sinks with nice smelling soaps and lotions, fans, etc. It’s the nicest port-a-john setup I’ve ever seen.
I don’t miss real bathrooms terribly at Vermont - as supershorty said, there is a good “fake” bathroom set-up. The last two week long shows I attended in New England though… blech. I can’t even.
[QUOTE=BITSA;7655983]
My trainer is a big fan of the barn going to HITS Thermal (I haven’t gone yet). She likes the experiences the venue brings, multiple rings, the efficiency of the rings, different competitors, new judges, and bonding with your horse over a long few weeks. I’d like to try Thermal in 2015 or 2016, but it is expensive and thunderbird is closer…and less hot. Not sure about the real bathrooms :)[/QUOTE]
Thermal definitely has real bathrooms. Its a bit of an ugly show ground (I mean, its the desert) kind of in the middle of a ghetto area but the rings themselves are very nice. Plus…The Million. That in itself is something worth going for, at the very least as a spectator.
Yeah…I absolutely was using “fake” bathroom in Ocala, but way off in no-man’s land. I may have been the only one
HITS are fun, a wide variety of classes and competitors, I found very welcoming for a broad range of riders and horses. In addition to show horses, we brought a number pf recently started three year olds this spring, it was a great experience for them. Same thing at Culpeper.
Not sure I could make myself go to an A show that does not have real bathrooms! I would have to get a camper or a horse trailer with LQ so I had my own bathroom!
Anybody else remember doing HITS back in the old days in Poughkeepsie, at Roseview? What a long way it’s come!
While I have not been in several years, these are the reasons i went to HITS Culpeper.
They are within an hour (so I can easily ship in).
I can park my trailer conveniently to the jumper ring (not sure if this is still true since the updating)
They have jumper classes at the heights I am interested in.
They have jumper classes at my heights ON THE WEEKEND, so I can show without taking a day off from work (and I can get an extra class if I DO take a day off) (As opposed to Upperville, where I pretty much HAVE to take off multiple days.)
The courses are well designed.
The rings are reasonably efficiently run, given that it IS an H/J show.
While I know other people have had problems with the office/management, they have always being very accomodating to me.
The number of people in the class is very low in my selection criteria,a nd there are just as many people, if not more, at Upperville.
[QUOTE=Timex;7656699]
Anybody else remember doing HITS back in the old days in Poughkeepsie, at Roseview? [/QUOTE]
I remember it.
[QUOTE=SnicklefritzG;7653958]
Someone was telling me today about showing in the jumpers at HITS Saugerties where there were NINETY, yes, NINETY horses in their class.
What is the attraction of showing at HITS with the divisions as packed as they are? Why not do some higher level A shows closer to home? I can’t imagine that the folks going to HITS don’t have anything nearby that they can do.
This isn’t meant to be snarky in any way, I’m genuinely curious.[/QUOTE]
Wow, people really complaining about packed classes? :eek: As an Appaloosa member, we struggle to reach anywhere near those numbers for classes, especially National and World shows - I would much rather be 2nd out of 50 or more instead of 2nd out of 7 people at a world show.
That being said, as someone who grew up in capital region of NY, went to college and worked out in CNY, and now lives in WNY… no, there are not a lot of places to show outside of smaller local shows and HITS is a huge attraction for people all over the state. Local shows just don’t compare, and not all bigger shows run at the same time.
I know for people back at home, it always seemed to be a ‘Rite of Passage’ type thing to be able to go and show at HITS. It’s a nice place and I can’t blame people for wanting to pack it in there, especially if it’s the one, or one of the few, big shows near them… They do smaller local shows all spring/summer, and then save up to be able to do HITS and/or VSF.
[QUOTE=supershorty628;7656067]
equisan, Vermont does not have real bathrooms, but they have a nice setup near the 2 jumper rings that includes sinks with nice smelling soaps and lotions, fans, etc. It’s the nicest port-a-john setup I’ve ever seen.[/QUOTE]
Thanks SuperShorty… The horses ship up today. My trainer usually goes but this is my first time.
[QUOTE=Janet;7656710]
While I have not been in several years, these are the reasons i went to HITS Culpeper.
They are within an hour (so I can easily ship in).
I can park my trailer conveniently to the jumper ring (not sure if this is still true since the updating)
They have jumper classes at the heights I am interested in.
They have jumper classes at my heights ON THE WEEKEND, so I can show without taking a day off from work (and I can get an extra class if I DO take a day off) (As opposed to Upperville, where I pretty much HAVE to take off multiple days.)
The courses are well designed.
The rings are reasonably efficiently run, given that it IS an H/J show.
While I know other people have had problems with the office/management, they have always being very accomodating to me.
The number of people in the class is very low in my selection criteria,a nd there are just as many people, if not more, at Upperville.[/QUOTE]
I hope you get a chance to go to the revamped facility Janet. They did a pretty good job. The permanent barns are wonderful and even with a pissing pouring rain storm this week, the whole place (except Hunter 2) drained very quickly. I’m not a big fan of the foot sucking light footing they’ve added to a few of the rings. I hope they can attract more people back to give it a try so we can have more vendors. Ahhhh shopping hopefully lots in Vermont.
[QUOTE=horsegal301;7658029]
Wow, people really complaining about packed classes? :eek: As an Appaloosa member, we struggle to reach anywhere near those numbers for classes, especially National and World shows - I would much rather be 2nd out of 50 or more instead of 2nd out of 7 people at a world show.
.[/QUOTE]
I think people are misconstruing what I meant about “packed classes”. It isn’t about the ribbons. It’s about how the scheduling is handled. I’ve seen local shows where they have to organize 75 trips in a division and it’s been handled so badly that some people bail partway through and others never go back. Hence my question about how things are organized at HITS.
This show wound up with 99 trips for the judge in one ring (33 exhibitors 3 times each). I don’t know how the judge actually kept them all straight over 4 hours of competition. Lol.
My only beefs are things like cross entry restrictions, but that has been a beef of mine at a lot of horse shows. (For instance, the modified child/adults should be for those not ready to step up to the children’s or adult hunters. But many people from that group used the modifieds for a warm up round the day before. There are 15 other 2 foot 6 classes that the experienced 3’ people could show in instead, I feel the modifieds should be restricted. However I also feel that HITS should break that modified child/adult class into separate cards. They do it in the jumpers with that many entries, why not in the hunters? The same as they run the child hunter horse classic ($500 measly dollars) as one class with the child hunter ponies. So you have a 5 year old in bows on a small children’s pony to be judged against a 17 year old on a big horse? How can you honestly do that? The rated junior hunters have their own $1000 classic, the rated ponies have their own $1000 classic. I think it is dumb and cheap. However you know what they say about opinions, so that and a bowl of cereal will get me exactly where? I will keep hoping less people will decide to send their 3’ riders into the 2’6" that is intended for those not ready for the 3’. Instead maybe they will use the hits hunter class intended for that purpose. One day maybe I will get my wish, but I’m not banking on it nor losing any sleep over it.
[QUOTE=MHM;7657429]
I remember it.[/QUOTE]
I remember the old Roseview. I boarded there for awhile.
Most rated shows around here (Zone 7) don’t allow rider/horse combinations to show in the modified adults if they are showing in any 3’ class.
Hits thermal has really improved, still the occasional dust storm but good footing and pretty atmosphere!
It depends on whether you want to be a little fish in a big pond or a big fish in a little pond.
