Do you help at your riding club shows?

I'm not even a member at the moment, but I still help out, as I love doing it. x I dont think it's a fault if you dont, you are entitled as a member to participate without helping, but I enjoy it, so I do it.
 
My RC has someone in charge of helpers. They have a thankless task of trying to persuade people to come and help.
Those who do come to help are always welcomed and thanked,fed and watered, the task explained if needed and full support given.
We still can't get enough help
 
I can't quote as on my phone. But usually its a condition of membership to help at events so it's not an entitlement to compete ect and not help. If everybody in the clubs had that attitude they would exist as usually the people running them aren't paid they are also just helping!!!
 
I have to say our Rc obviously have all the good helpers this year as well as our regular Sj and dressage evenings, we have run a trec, and 2 area qualifiers and I have had to turn help away from our own club, but struggled to get the other clubs to provide there helpers for the area qualifiers. I'm not sure how we do it, we generally do it via email and although u always get the same faces offering first we estimate that about 50% at least have helped at least once this year!

They do get training voucher of £5 each time they help after the first. And I always aim to look after then well and make sure they leave when they need too, we are very luck it seems.
 
My RC has someone in charge of helpers. They have a thankless task of trying to persuade people to come and help.

The other problem here is that people dont realise there is no reimbursement of money spent on phone calls doing this, emails and texts simply dont have the same effect as asking someone directly.
 
I became a member of a RC about 2 years ago when i had my last pony after being in PC for many years. I helped at a sj event shortly after I joined and competed at a little SJ event a few months after. I found it really difficult to help at events as they were at weekends and I always worked at weekends and the odd one I didn't work I just wanted a day to myself or had booked it os specially to compete. Not very long after we found otu my poyn had a tumour behind her eye and underwent months of treatment and I never got round to helping out. I rejoined while she was havign treatment in the hope that she would be able to compete again but then I lost her a while after. After that i just didnt feel like going to events as I was very emotional!! And I don't lnow anyone in the club so feel like a bot of a loner!

Had I been competing I would most definitely helped, the time I did was really fun and everyone was great
 
I have helped at my own RC 3 times officially & just mucked in a couple of times when son was competing. Own RC (same as H_A_C ) are very good at looking after volunteers & I would probably carry on helping even if I didn't have a horse. However, I also helped out (with someone else) at another RC's Hunter Trial as they didn't have enough helpers of their own, despite having a lot of members who compete. They did provide a packed lunch but the only person who checked that we were ok all day (we were control/commentary) or who thanked me was the owner of the venue where it was held. I won't be helping them out again.
 
The other problem here is that people dont realise there is no reimbursement of money spent on phone calls doing this, emails and texts simply dont have the same effect as asking someone directly.

Our RC does reimburse for out of pocket expenses such as phone calls etc. This raises another point in that it all adds to the costs of running competitions which a lot of competitors do not consider when they are complaining about the cost of entry fees.
If only they would realise that if they (the competitor) called the Club and offered help it would save them in entry fees in the long run as expenses would be less.
 
I help at almost every dressage and sj comp at my riding club. I am a committee member and do a lot through the week too. My riding club is based at a large livery yard which I am a livery at so it does make it easier. We usually have the same faces helping out who are also liveries. The outside members don't help so much but we are never normally stuck for help. We ran the Area qualifiers for dressage last year and had a great amount of help from most members!
 
I'm not even a member at the moment, but I still help out, as I love doing it. x I dont think it's a fault if you dont, you are entitled as a member to participate without helping, but I enjoy it, so I do it.

If everyone believed that they are entitled to participate without helping, then there would be nothing to compete at! The RC's have volunteer committees, who give up plenty of their time, without the shows etc. It is the attitude of I have paid my memberiship, so I am entitled to enter and not do anything, which means that we loose good helpers as they get fed up of always being the ones who do the work!
 
Which RC is yours?

I have helped in the past (sure its not yours) but honestly some of the club committee people are less than welcoming and can actually make people feel uncomfortable. Not just me that thinks that way either.

I think it would be worth putting someone nice in charge of organising helpers and make sure they didn't feel like spare parts.
Will PM you. We do have one lady from Leeds who helps as a non-rider but we know her in another capacity, so I know she's not you! We do try to be friendly to any-one who comes along to help and to feed them at our bigger shows.
 
I'm not even a member at the moment, but I still help out, as I love doing it. x I dont think it's a fault if you dont, you are entitled as a member to participate without helping, but I enjoy it, so I do it.
If every-one thought like that, either no-one would help, so no classes would be able to be held, or the Club would have to pay every-one who helped both behind the scenes and on the day, so entry fees would be astronomical.
 
Used to years ago and pony club as well - it is always the same ones that help and lots that get the benefits of the money raised by a few! mind you the way that the pony club DC spoke to people its surprising she ever gets anyone to do anything
 
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