Posts Tagged ‘showing’
Best of FHOTD: Putting on a good show, even your first show!
A good time for a repost of this one with show season in full swing! Also, I’ve been asked to blog about this topic, so I’m guessing it was missed.
Almost every time I go to a horseshow, particularly local open shows, I see one or more exhibitors who skipped Show Prep 101. Their horse isn’t clipped and sometimes isn’t even clean. They aren’t sure what classes they are in and they’re not too sure about what lead they’re on, either. 99 times out of 100, these people will then scream bloody murder when they don’t get a ribbon, complain that shows are all political, that only the rich people/kids win, blah blah blah. (I’ve been dying to make this point about horse show politics: If your horse who usually gets excellent ribbons comes home empty-handed despite having good rides, that might be politics. When your horse goes to five shows in a row and doesn’t do squat, it is time to accept that nothing unfair has taken place, you’re just not competitive. Might be because of your horse’s quality, might be because of lack of training, might be because the two of you just aren’t clicking as a team yet. But it’s not politics.) Check out the picture below:
In other classes, the more you look like everybody else out there, the better – particularly when you are learning. Off the wall or unusual clothing or tack just draws attention to your mistakes.
4. If your horse is new to showing also, plan to take him to a show that you may not show at. Just ride around the warm up ring and get him used to the sights and sounds. Make sure he will not kick or otherwise misbehave in a crowd. If you know kicking may be an issue, a red ribbon tied into his tail is a warning to other exhibitors to give you your space (and is often useful on horses that do not kick but are explosive to ride when someone rushes them from behind!)
5. Be courteous to other exhibitors. If your horse is higher than a kite, try to find a place to longe where you are not in others’ way – ask to see where it is okay to longe on that particular show grounds. Longeing a bronc in the warm up ring will not make you popular. Always give the right of way to beginners, small children, and driving horses pulling carts. It is your job to stay out of their way. At many shows, the warm up ring is required to go in one direction only, with riders asking for the whole ring to reverse when needed. If you see everybody going counter-clockwise, don’t just start going the other way. And for heaven’s sake, be aware of who is around you. It is the height of bad manners to slam on the brakes and start backing up without looking to ensure no one is following you. Come OFF the rail to “school.” If you are jumping, always call your lines out – tell the rest of the arena what you are going to jump so they know to avoid you.
6. Even if you don’t normally ride full-time with a trainer, it is well worth it to have one help you at your first shows. You will feel so much better with a pro that you can ask for help, and they will help you learn the ropes. Many trainers will be your trainer for the day for a price. If you know that you are gonna freak out and forget how to tell your leads, it’s awesome to have someone on the rail giving you the nod that you got it right. Well worth the $50 or so it will cost you.
7. Don’t over-do it at your first show. Yes, I know a lot of open shows have that special where you pay X price and can go in as many classes as you want. That’s not for you if you or your horse is green to showing, and it’s not true that if you go in enough classes, eventually you’ll win a ribbon. More likely you’ll fry your horse’s brain and you’ll be super frustrated as well. Go in one or two classes, the ones where you are matched against your peers in terms of ability and experience. Most shows have classes specifically for beginner teams - in particular, look for “maiden” classes at an open show, which are for horse/rider teams that have never won a first place ribbon.
In general, be under-zealous – if you’re jumping 3′ at home, the 2’3 division is just fine for your first show. You want to have a successful experience. It’s fine to make it “too easy” at first – you can and will work your way up!
8. Keep it fun! I particularly hate seeing kids stressed out about showing…at, like, age eight. One way you can avoid that is to go to shows that offer some fun classes like egg & spoon, costume or musical sacks, and let the kid do something fun after the “work” of pleasure and equitation is over. I’ve seen many a distraught child who didn’t get a ribbon earlier in the day win big in one of the fun games and wind up super excited and thrilled about showing. The same goes for you, Mom – if your horse wouldn’t slow down in pleasure, maybe today’s the day you win the trotting barrels. Have some fun, for heaven’s sake – remember, this is an expensive hobby that you do for fun!
(I LOVE shows that have trotting speed classes. You can take your pleasure horses in them with no fear of “ruining” them and you don’t have to be a great rider to have fun in those classes!)
9. Good sportsmanship is important and it’s your job if you’re the parent or trainer to set the example. We had a previous blog where the trainer who owned a skinny horse that did not place because it was skinny told off the judge and all her lesson kids cheered her. I was appalled. Good lord, grow the hell up and stop being a bad example. First of all, the judge is well within his/her rights to knock you for condition. Second of all, even if you think the judge has made a horrible decision, they’re the judge. This is not our legal system and you do not get an appeal! Will you meet judges you think are idiots? OF COURSE. So what you do is you write down the name and you do not go show under them again. Say nothing but vote with your checkbook, and by all means, get involved in the show association yourself so that you get a vote when it comes to judge choices. It is in much better taste to say “I think X, Y and Z are terrific judges and I hope we have them again next year,” than to say “My God, J was a freakin’ idiot. How dare s/he place that lame fugly sack of shit over my horse? Is s/he blind?”
You can think it. But as I have told people at work, not everything you think needs to come out of your mouth – at least not until you are in the truck on the way home!
Something I always hear is that open show judges only place stock type horses with level head sets. Well, there is some truth to that – merely because a lot of open show judges are QH or Paint people. Some can judge all breeds fairly - some can’t. Either look for open shows that are judged by someone who personally owns or trains your breed of horse, or investigate moving into the breed shows with your horse. One circuit that is beginner friendly and friendly to Saddleseat horses, Arab crosses, etc. is Pinto and you can register darn near anything Pinto breeding stock (seriously! look it up!). They do NOT have to be spotted.
10. It is completely appropriate to ask the judge if s/he has any notes about your performance and how you can improve. Just be courteous about when/how you ask. Some judges will come up to you in the line-up and tell you about your performance – others will have to be sought out during breaks.
What other advice would you offer to first time exhibitors? Share your knowledge and help them make a good impression right from the start!
Threats will get you everywhere, starting with the Fugly Blog!
Dude, seriously…I see this stuff all the time, your particular shitty, abusive riding is nothing special, but it’s your mouthing off to the Epona TV person that makes this must-see TV. You gonna sue me, too? Go for it, sunshine. I will make your life the living hell that you have made that poor mare’s. Craig, no one needs to try to “damage your reputation.” You are doing an AWESOME job of it yourself riding like that! What, you gonna allege it’s all CGI and that’s not you? P.S. Sorry to hear about your penis… P.P.S. Epona TV, you guys are officially #WINNING for the line “Mr. Schmersal is not Mickey Mouse.”
Craigs’ web site. Obviously, do not send this man a horse if you don’t agree with having their mouth ripped off as a training method.
C’mon Craig and your little lawyers…come get me. Can’t wait to send MY vet over to examine that poor little mare, and you do realize that I get to do that if you sue me, right? ‘Cause I’m saying on the record that I think you’re an abusive asshat and no one in their right mind should EVER let you on their horse.
(Big picture question: SERIOUSLY, when did reining horses get so fricken’ behind the bit? It’s ugly and it looks awful and it’s NOT reining. Reining horses are supposed to be relaxed on a loose rein, for fuck’s sake!)
And he gets a silver medal? For shame, judges. For shame.
CHEATERS: Arabian Edition!
A friend of mine posted this to Facebook and I immediately wanted to buy her a margarita. I have little doubt that 99.9% of my readership will have the same reaction, so here you go – enjoy! I will update if she tells me that I can ID her; what I will tell you is that she has a very nice horse who is exactly the sort of Arabian we should make more of (great conformation, shows and trail rides anywhere), except that won’t be happening because she got fed up with the showing bullshit and gelded him. Now, while I don’t think ALL showing is politics, as I noted before, the A circuit Arabian horse world has been more than a little out of control lately in terms of placing the Big Name Trainers no matter what they are doing or how lame their horse is or, you know, two club feet in a halter class. So the frustration of a typical do-it-yourself exhibitor is very understandable. (FYI, if you’re not familiar with ginger, what they do is put it up the horse’s anus so that it burns and itches and the horse carries its tail higher as a result of the irritation. Lovely, huh?)
I might be very unpopular for what Im about to post, but KUDOS to USEF. I am sick to death of competing with LIARS, CHEATS and THIEVES. It’s about time people are held accountable for their actions. Some of us are friends with these people, the CHEATING MUST STOP.
This is official notice of actions taken by the United States Equestrian Federation, Inc. Hearing Committee on January 31, 2011.
SANDRO PINHA of Cave Creek, AZ, violated Rule AR101.5 of this Federation, in connection with the Scottsdale Arabian Horse Show held on February 11-21, 2010, in that SANDRO PINHA, as trainer, exhibited the horse BINT CHALL CE after it had been administered and/or contained on its body 6-gingerol. For this violation of the rules, the Hearing Committee members present directed that SANDRO PINHA be censured pursuant to Chapter 7, GR703.1a and fined $2,000 pursuant to Chapter 7, GR703.1j. It was further directed that CHARLES and ERIN HANSEN of Mantorville, MN, as owners, must return for redistribution all trophies, prizes, ribbons, and monies, if any, won by BINT CHALL CE at said competition and must pay a $300 fee to the competition in connection with this penalty pursuant to Chapter 7, GR703.1g.
DAVID BOGGS of Elk River, MN, violated Rule AR101.5 of this Federation, in connection with the Scottsdale Arabian Horse Show held on February 11-21, 2010, in that DAVID BOGGS, as trainer, exhibited the horse LD PISTAL after it had been administered and/or contained on its body 6-gingerol. For this violation of the rule, the Hearing Committee members present directed that DAVID BOGGS be censured pursuant to Chapter 7, GR703.1a and fined $2,000 pursuant to Chapter 7, GR703.1j. It was further directed that FELIX CANTU of Scottsdale, AZ and Rogers, MN, as owner, must return for redistribution all trophies, prizes, ribbons, and monies, if any, won by LD PISTAL at said competition and must pay a $300 fee to the competition in connection with this penalty pursuant to Chapter 7, GR703.1g.
(FHOTD in: If that name sounds familiar, re-read this blog entry. Folks, as I often say, I do not make this shit up!)
SILVIO MORAES of Boerne, TX, violated Rule AR101.5 of this Federation, in connection with the Scottsdale Arabian Horse Show held on February 11-21, 2010, in that SILVIO MORAES, as trainer, exhibited the horse PSABER after it had been administered and/or contained on its body 6-gingerol. For this violation of the rules, the Hearing Committee members present directed that SILVIO MORAES be censured pursuant to Chapter 7, GR703.1a and fined $2,000 pursuant to Chapter 7, GR703.1j. It was further directed that STEFANIE POOLE of Shingle Springs, CA, as owner, must return for redistribution all trophies, prizes, ribbons, and monies, if any, won by PSABER at said competition and must pay a $300 fee to the competition in connection with this penalty pursuant to Chapter 7, GR703.1g.
This is official notice of actions taken by the United States Equestrian Federation, Inc. Hearing Committee on February 1, 2011
You three exhibitors ought to be ASHAMED of yourselves having to CHEAT to try to win. Good grief it’s just a goddam ribbon. Have some class. Get there on the horses’ merits, not by CHEATING. CHEATERS.
You CHEATERS CHEATED owners and trainers who paid the SAME amount as your clients, who likely did it LEGITIMATE, you guys are assholes for cheating someone out of THEIR moment.
Can I just get a big AMEN from the choir? You know, when I was a horse crazy teenager, I really liked Arabians. As a young woman, I took a little time off from polo and decided to go work at an Arabian show barn. Basically, I was horrified. Here are some of the things I saw:
1) Horses wearing padded shoes with holes in them so that you could string surgical tubing through them as an action enhancing device. The pads were pulled just before the classes, in a covered stall at the horseshow by the assistant trainer.
2) Horses always getting this shot, that shot, tails gingered, etc. I see nothing has changed in over twenty years since I did this.
3) Nothing EVER got turned out until it was part of the broodmare band.
4) Horses longed half to death in extreme heat with neck sweats.
5) No matter what was really going on, major smoke blown up the owners’ asses about how perfect their horse was. Owners were never informed about any problem or concern, not ever.
Needless to say, this was not my cup of tea and I was quite horrified at all of the violations of the rules. I never have been good at shutting the fuck up, either, and I quit after a few weeks.
I am sort of thinking we need to just give my friend a camera and make a TV show out of it. She can run around the shows catching these fucktards gingering tails, giving shot after shot of god only knows what to their poor horses, etc. Put THAT on RFD-TV instead of the bad trainers giving worse advice that it usually features!
More Youtube WIN for your Tuesday morning!
I don’t know who is making these videos, but they are brilliant! When I got to the part about the half-chaps and the velvet collar, I almost died laughing. Who has not met this person? They show up at a show with a horse they can’t ride, turned out in a manner that wouldn’t pass muster at 4-H. They are not in control; in fact, they are a hazard to other riders. They scoff at the idea that their horse needs professional training and instead brag that they are doing it all themselves because they have such a wonderful bond with their horse (who is running around on the wrong lead, bucking). Or they have exactly the trainer described in the video. And then, when they do not get a ribbon for exactly the reasons described in the video, they run around saying it’s all politics. I’ve made this point before on the blog: Very rarely is it truly politics. Sure, I’ve seen politics in action (big name barn getting a ribbon when the kid DID have refusals — and honestly, I’m not even sure if that was politics or just human error with numbers), but most of the time, if you’re at the bottom of the class, most of us watching saw exactly why. Showing doesn’t exist to make you feel good about yourself and your horse. It exists to reward those who work hard to achieve an excellent ride, and at the higher levels, the quality of the horse becomes a factor. At your local levels, the fact is that you can win an awful lot with an unspectacular horse if you work your butt off making sure you are an awesome, consistent team. I have had under-$1000 rescue horses beat very pricy horses at the unrated shows and I’m sure many other people have had that experience. But that takes work…they didn’t go to the show in the condition I got them, either physically or behaviorally. One thing the video missed mentioning is equine condition. Doesn’t it seem like at every local show, there is at least one horse that looks hideous? Either they are way too thin, to the point where you want to call animal control on them, or they are grossly obese, to the point where you are afraid they will not make it around the arena at a jog. Some folks really need to read this particular blog:
Conditioning: It’s not just for your hair!
Whoever made the video is absolutely spot on – when you show up unprepared, untrained, out of control and looking like the equine edition of People of Walmart, you are not going to get a ribbon, and it is not the judge’s fault. The judge is a horse professional and it’s true that not all judges are equally talented (duh!) and it may also be true that the judge may have some preferences that are not your trainer’s preferences or last week judge’s preferences. But this is the nature of the game you have freely chosen to participate in. If you do talk to the judge to get input on your ride, please be polite and respectful and don’t argue or try to defend yourself. You just paid this person to critique you — don’t make them sorry for doing their job. If your horse wins under every other judge, and this particular judge hated him, and you had the same ride you always do, and the same horses were in the class, hey, that sucks but sometimes those are the breaks. More likely, your horse or you truly weren’t as good today as the horses who took home the ribbons. If that is happening every time, and you truly don’t know why (and your trainer cannot tell you why except to cry “politics!”), it’s time to haul out discreetly for a lesson with another trainer or two and see if perhaps the flawed opinion stalling your show career is your trainer’s and not the judge’s. Sometimes even a very talented trainer can just plain miss something, or fail to find a way to explain something to you in a way that allows you to correct it. So don’t be the person in the video — be a grown-up, accept the criticism you paid for, save your bitching for the truck on the way home if you must vent, and come on back and do it again and again. That’s the only way you ultimately start papering your wall with ribbons!
WTF, is it hunting for truffles?
Allan Schmidt and Julie Thomas of Dare To Dream Performance Training have not apparently gotten the memo that peanut-rolling and crab-cantering are “out.” They actually put this video up on the Internet and appear to be proud of it.
Good lord, you two have done a GREAT job fucking up a three year old filly. She looks like she is having an epileptic seizure. Her ass is tracking a foot to the inside of her front end, her head is bobbing like she’s shit-faced drunk and her neck has stopped functioning, and her head is at her knees, if not lower. What part of COMPLETELY WRONG is eluding you two? Did you get locked in a room around 1990 and no one has let you out since?
(And while we are at it, OMG, the “nest” on that palomino paint shown here is especially hideous. Do not EVER breed that critter. Yuck.)
Allan, Julie, do you know how I saw this video? It’s because half of my friends’ list on Facebook is sharing it around as an example of everything that is wrong in the Western Pleasure world. And honestly, I don’t even think that’s fair because almost no one is still doing this ridiculous shit to horses. It’s just a handful of you that really cannot ride your way out of a paper bag and can’t even come close to training a horse properly that turn out horses that go like this. This filly’s way of going says EVERY GIMMICK, TRAINING AID AND SHORTCUT ON EARTH HAS BEEN USED ON ME. It’s obvious.
I know I’m preaching to the choir here, but if I showed a bunch of non-horsepeople a video of jumping or an endurance ride or polo or barrel racing, they would get it and think it might look like fun, but if I showed them this video, I guarantee you that the common reaction would be “OMG, what is wrong with that horse?” AQHA has actually been trying to get away from this weird and wrong way of going and this truly is NOT what is winning anymore at the big shows, but I guess Allan and Julie (and sadly, plenty more) have not gotten the memo. All I can think about when I watch this is the text from the main page of Stop Making that Duckface! – “Stop doing it. You look stupid. Really, REALLY stupid.”
Amen. Poor filly. Don’t you just want to steal her and send her to a nice normal trainer? I know I do!
