I would feel comfortable with day showing - just working out of my trailer - but I am only doing it for the year end shows which are away shows so I am not sure I will bother. I have to worry about family members and keeping them safe so showing is non-essential.
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I think it all depends on what is going on in the area and for me, familiarity with the competition venue. I’ve also been going to work every day so my POV is going to be different from those who haven’t left their property. I’m pretty much in agreement with blondewithchrome. At this point no week-long shows with stabling and hotel rooms. Local 1 or 2 day shows where I didn’t have to stay over night would be OK depending on the venue. There would be some that would be a hard no, others yes. The yes venues would be those that had more than adequate trailer parking and my knowledge of how the rings and schooling areas are set up. I’d also plan to tailgate vs rely on a foodstand for drinks/snacks or food
For the more seasoned competitors I think it’d be a good idea to be less dependence on trainers to watch every class - have them walk/review courses, help warm-up and watch if they have time but no ring hold up for trainer conflicts
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No way. We live in a place with very little non-rated showing, so everything is a multi-day, expensive deal, and given that there’s still no school, no childcare, issues with staying in hotels, etc etc, I can’t see even beginning to make the logistics work. Most barns in our area are still operating under very strictly limited protocols with limited windows for riding, no jumping, few or no lessons, no access to barn buildings, etc., and I can’t imagine being willing to pay thousands of dollars to go to a horse show anytime soon when I can’t currently get into my tack trunk to feed my horse a cookie after I ride. I would love for the world to open up enough that I can be back to riding on a regular schedule and feeling like my training is going somewhere, but I can’t imagine showing until at least 2021.
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Ammy here. I’m in oregon and so far we’ve been lucky on COVID. If shows happen this summer I’d be willing to do the local ones where I can stay in my own house, but no travelling. Our barn was closed for 6 weeks so we are all behind right now anyhow (although my horse got ridden by a pro for 6 weeks and feels amazing!). I’ll see if things are open here in July and then assess.
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I really doubt Canada is going to let us in…
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I run a local show series in VA that is sanctioned by the VHSA as an associate show. We are waiting to hear from VHSA about requirements for the associate show program. There are some restrictions that we will simply not be able to comply with, and we are prepared to cancel the series if necessary.
Our staff is too small and our profit margin is tiny already, so if we have to limit competitors or pay more staff to make it work, it just won’t be worth it.
The logistics required for me to get ten short stirrup kids into the ring is already like coordinating an army to go into battle. I can’t imagine having to also police the wearing of masks and the “no spectator” rule, I’d go insane.
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I’m a pro. I run a show series. All issues of the morality of showing right now aside, I have no interest in horse showing the way we need to right now to keep the pandemic under control. I horse show not for the trip in the ring but the community and the fun and the environment. I run shows for the community and the fun and the environment. If we aren’t able to have those things, aren’t able to socialize safely and congregate and cheer our teammates on, it’s not worth it to me. Our show grounds is not intending to open until the end of summer for groups of 50+, so it’s a moot point anyways on if we will host shows.
My whole barn is committed to taking this year to clinic, go on trail rides and camping, go cross country, and try new things with their horses, be it trying a new discipline or learning tricks at liberty.
In many ways I love this as it stops the rat race and keeping up with the Jones’s feeling that can embody horse shows. All my junior riders have pivoted and realized that there is more than a ribbon and are seeing joy in their horses every day instead of just their show ring accomplishments.
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I will have 0 issues showing. I believe in supporting the community and that the best way to move forward is to keep living. Since there will probably never be an end to covid-19 or any new virus that comes out, I will continue to live as normal. I have no issue with social distancing since I believe in personal space to begin with. I’m also an essential worker and really horse showing can’t be any worse then the nonsense already going on. Fresh air, staying active, sunshine, and exposure to life are the best things for the immune system
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I for one hope that even if horse showing goes forth (If… I’m on the bandwagon that I think we will have a second spike), they keep offering virtual showing. I think that is such a cool concept.
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I like the idea of virtual showing as well. I am an amateur and don’t have a trailer. Traveling to a show with someone from my barn would be tricky.
Love love this.
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I hope nothing more than that this actually happens in some widespread way. If the current all mega-show, mega-money, mega-whatever ethos of the H/J world went in for a major restructuring, I would be…not sad. (Which is not to say that I wouldn’t be individually concerned about the impact on people’s livelihoods, but I think we’re due for some self-examination and I hope it happens.)
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So
you would not be sad for the breeders and trainers who have made this their livelihood on a big level? Or for those of us who have invested time and money into youngsters at 2018-2019 boarding and training prices and would like to recoup at least some of our investment? I don’t get that. Who wants to watch an industry they care about collapse?
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You’ll note that I said I am concerned about the impact on people’s livelihoods, and I don’t want an “industry I care about” to collapse, and indeed, I have my own youngster I’ve invested in that I would like to someday recoup money on, but I also think that there are some serious downsides to the current model as it prices out more people seemingly by the hour (a point which has been belabored extensively here there and everywhere), and if one of the side effects of disruption were that people started innovating and thinking about how to make developing and showing horses more accessible and affordable in this country, I would think that was probably a positive glass of lemonade in all this mess. The sport cannot sustain itself forever on a shrinking population of people who can afford to be involved.
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Well, I don’t think that a 2020 show season is going to be a thing based on likelihood that the shows will be a money losing proposition, for the most part.
As for the indusry collapsing, if something better rises out of the ashes of what is currently in existence (and IMHO not sustainable in its current form for much longer), I would be content.
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Ammy here. I only show on the local, unrated circuit. Rarely overnight, and certainly possible to show off the trailer. The first shows I had planned to go to aren’t until mid-July. The stay-at-home order for the region of NY where I’m located expires this Friday. That gives us roughly eight weeks to see how things unfold. If we see a second spike in cases (as we very well might), I’ll skip the shows. If cases continue to decline and venues are able to adhere to social distancing and hygiene practices, I plan to go.
I’m going to use the next couple of months to get my horse legged back up and both of us ready to show. If it happens, great. If not, he’s fit and well-schooled.
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Our barn was closed for 6 weeks with no jumping. Horses got flatted by pros and trail rides; my trainer swears she’d love to do something similar next year (only with clients riding). Let the horses rest and have more turnout trials and no jumping for a month.
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I think this is spot-on.
https://heelsdownmag.com/horse-shows-are-going-to-suck/
"“The camaraderie is a part of what makes this sport and horse showing specifically so awesome. We pick each other up after bad rounds and celebrate the good rounds as a tribe. Having a bunch of barn mates walk up to the ring to cheer you on and doing the same in return for them is just as much a part of showing for me as bathing the horse or putting on my show coat.”
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There is so much hostility about all of these posts with regard to shows these days. I think everyone just needs to chill out and let this virus calm down and stop worrying about showing for a hot second. I am sure it will be back and available at some point but maybe not as quickly as we’d all like in a perfect world - I am just as disappointed as everyone else that I can’t show right now but I just feel like until we know more I would rather call it safe. I just think it’s pretty narrow-minded for everyone when we have the highest unemployment rate since the Great Depression to complain about not being able to do horse shows. As many have mentioned, horse shows are not the only thing that are affected and most people who work the horse shows could go do other things to make a living in the meantime. That’s what other people have to do right now - a local bartender I know took an interim job as a Instacart delivery person. In-gate people, braiders and the list goes on could go get jobs at grocery stores, Amazon, Instacart. Where there is a will there is a way to find a job if you really want one.
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