See now, at least that’s something actually useful at shows & elsewhere.
County Fair here is sooooooooooo Western oriented the High Point, Champion & Reserve awards for all divisions are honking big belt buckles & assorted cowhide-patterned crap.
Why bother having English & Driving divisions & not recognize the Cowboy themed stuff might not be appreciated?
Many years ago, my EOY award was an Irish knit cooler.
Nice, except everyone got an 82.
Never used it on my 78 TB
30yrs later I cut off the embroidered patch with the Assn name, Reserve & year & framed that.
Also got a Champion small electroplated silver tray. I did use that, still do, but the silver has worn off.
What about director’s chairs (with or without embroidery)
And I like drink/food/camping coolers. You gain points and win EOY awards by going to shows… Chairs, coolers, maybe an E-Z up canopy/ tent would be useful. Portable, battery operated fan???
Shows are all about hanging out with friends and fellow horsepeople trailer/barn side as much as it is to be in the ring.
Leather halter/lead with nameplate are always welcomed.
And I love the gift card to the show photographer idea. And even better if they can get access to this passed show season photos and not have to wait for the 2025 season.
I did some championship prizes for a few shows and I despised anything sized.
C4 Belts - they do custom designs and are mostly 1 size. They gave us 4 variations based on our color scheme and logo. So if someone won multiple divisions they had variety. So great to work with.
I have a couple of 3-piece buckles I won years ago. One was for an adult eq. medal, the other was a daily high point for the English horse. I know they wouldn’t be popular with h/j riders today, but I still wear mine… even when I show ranch!
The coolers (for food and beverage) I just never use. I keep them just because the have the brass championship plates on them.
So I guess this just goes to prove that it’s tough to please everyone. Maybe an extra fancy ribbon and a gift certificate is the easiest choice.
Honestly, the prize that I use pretty much every single day is a small brush. I use it when I clean my tack. The wood handle has the award name carved onto it. It was an after thought by the award committee because they had a little money left over in the budget. I do not even remember the “better” part of the prize.
Another options is “horse show cash” to be redeemed next season to reduce the cost of entries.
Please, for all that’s holy, not a backpack or bag. Please. Our association gave them for medal finals and year end awards. I now have three ring backpacks. And two large satchels from a previous year.
I love soft shell jackets or vests. But make sure to use ladies sized garments. Or give folks a decent size chart.
Halters are great if you don’t have a horse with a “special” head. Like mine!
Meanwhile. I’d much rather have a bag than the halters everyone else seems to want. My horse already has two good Quillen’s halters, one for turnout and one for shows. I don’t need another. I used the nice tote bag I got from the local series for years as my commuter bag, and I’ve been using a TIP bag as my barn clothes bag for years now.
Last year I won a boot/leather cleaning kit, the little Effax-in-a-box one, for a mid-placing Year End award. It’s super useful to toss in the trailer dressing room and have whatever cleaning/polishing supply I need.
Not criticizing your great post @Calvincrowe, but I will use it as yet another example of the fact that it is impossible to get prizes that make everyone happy.
If time allows, maybe it is worth asking the people who have won these year end prizes to pick from a short list of things, so each person can pick something they hopefully actually want.
I would love a backpack or a bag.
This is where this gets hard too. I bet there are kids riding the year after they gave those awards so excited to get their backpack for being year end champion.
Mr. Trub belongs to an organization that gives year end awards. The person picking the awards has been participating for lots more years than Mr. Trub has been. The person picking the awards already has several year end award jackets/coats/hoodies, so for the last several years the organization has been giving wall plaques to the winners of this year end award. Sure, a wall plaque is great but I do know that Mr. Trub would really like one of those jackets/hoodies that they are not ordering anymore.
This is a great point, when asking sizing be sure to let the people know what you are ordering, mens sizing versus womens sizing. Do not assume a different size than the person ordered.
More than once I have been asked my size and have had the ordering people change it for me. “We know you asked for a large, but when we ordered men’s sizing we downsized you to a medium.”
So I now own a shirt that is way too small for me.
I am not sure. It was lots of years ago. Hopefully someone who is better with Google can help you find it.
To be fair, what I meant in all that was varied prizes are not a bad thing. While I appreciated the prizes and was honored to have ended up champion, it would be fun to have one prize for hunters and another for equitation and jumpers, too. That way, there’s a variety.
And yeah, no matter what prizes are offered, someone is not going to ‘love’ what they get. That’s human nature. So, get useful, practical prizes and offer a choice or variety seems to be the takeaway.
I can tell you what I’d hate, because got it last year .
It was my first time to ever win a year end championship and I was PSYCHED! The ‘prize’ was a $100 giftcard to this website that, get this, uses your horse’s ashes and/or hair to make picture frames/jewelry. I KID YOU NOT! Yes, that’s exactly what I wanted to win to celebrate a great show year with my 6 yr old gelding .
They couldn’t have given out halters or coolers or something?! Sigh…
It’s a tough balance - budgets are tight, so there have been several shows I’ve been to recently where the circuit prizes were donated/sponsored items. Love spending hundreds of dollars, weeks of prep, to win Champion and then get a small bottle of a supplement I don’t use as a prize.
However, I promise not to do that - especially for year end awards!
Thanks to all who have replied - loving the feedback!
Georgia Hunter Jumper Association just had its finals show. The champions received a grooming box and leather halter and champion ribbon. Medal and Mini Prix winners won coolers, but they were the more versatile old school coolers with neck covers, which is great because somewhere along the line cooler changed and we lost fabric to cover the neck when cooling! Also they fit a variety of horses. My horse was the grand hunter champion, so we received a gorgeous champion pillow, a lap blanket (it’s folded on the grooming box) and a perpetual trophy to keep for a year. my horse won 2 division champions which is great because as an avid gardener I can use the extra grooming box for my gardening supplies, or to keep silverware and condiments at parties and picnics, or use as a planer. They are so gorgeous and were hand crafted by one of the board member’s fathers
For year end awards when I was a kid, we were allowed to put in a wish list. Last show was end of October, awards banquet was in January, There was a budget for each placing and they would combine prizes to get you a single nice item from your list instead of a bunch of little things, and then salt in some donated items.
Now, this was a very stable club membership. Doubt this would work for shorter circuits etc., but was great for the state club end of year prizes. I definitely won a couple of really nice items I couldn’t have afforded myself.
So true - GHJA and the Georgia show managers have it going on!!
I’m just sad I missed the year with the ridiculously gorgeous ribbon frames! I have a beautiful Reserve Champion tote from last year which has gone to the pool in Vegas and to the beach at Kiawah - it’s the perfect size! I loved the year of the embroidered rain coat and the year of the puffer vests as well.
For the Wills Park Benefit they had the old school silver trays for Champion. I nearly cried when I got when as I missed out as a kid on winning one - it was so special to bring home such a gorgeous classic award.
And even Cheryl and Co has nice year end circuit awards. The blue glass trays from last year were gorgeous and I use mine all the time.
We also have great sponsors and such an engaged community here that definitely contributes to all the amazingness! We are so lucky to live here!
Love the classy wooden tote and the embroidered lap blanket. Very cool. For awards, you can get a quality blanket throw (twin bed size) and then have it personalized with the show logo and title.
That pillow is very unique. It looks like someone more talented than me sewed a tri colored ribbon into/onto the pillow. I haven’t seen that before.
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