DRESSAGE/SJ/SHOWING/ODE PRIZES

FREESTYLER

FREESTYLER

Well-Known Member
Joined
16 January 2007
Messages
1,897
Location
Stafford
Visit site
Hi,
Well really carrying on from PG's post about her sash, who else thinks that dressage is quite "stingy" with their prize money/rossettes/sashes/cups/plaques etc???? What do other events get... affilliated or unaffilliated???
grin.gif
 
I agree, at BE events if you get placed then you get a rosette and another prize of some sort depending on where you are and what sponsers they have.

SJ depends on the centre but they will normally give out rosettes to 6th place and at some centres the top 3 will also get some sort or other prize, whether it be money/cup/medal/voucher

Dressage I do think is the tightest in my experience when it comes to rosettes and other prizes, I have been placed in top 3 and numerous occassions including several 1sts and have rarely got more than a rosette. At BD its even harder to win money as they will give money to top 3 out of everybody and not separate Open/restricted, at least give the winner of both O and R prize money.
 
dressage is very stingey your lucky to win your entry back if you win!

Eventing stingey at lower levels. A numnah/bucket/grooming kit for 1st place in an intro when you paid about £70 to enter in total is just a bit sickening! Most places sound more generous though with vouchers from sounds but still.

SJ good if you get a place you get your entry fee back.

Unaffiliated is generally stingey but thats because if under £10 first prize then affiliated partnerships can enter which will attract more entries. Because how ever much we hate them there are pothunters about. But on the plus side at unaffiliated entry fees generally lower.

Not a clue about showing!

Come to Jersey for the BSJA though trophies for almost every class with semi decent prize money (not as high as english levels but almost garunteed to be placed) and sashes for leading riders/derbies/GPs. I really miss home for that, though don't think my mum misses the engraving bill, my last year on ponies I had over 20 trophies for the year, i think she started wishing I would come 2nd instead!! LOL
 
Well only done showing and dressage: showing the money can be really good but generally the placing rosettes at county shows can be pretty lame (only 2 tiers!!!) but I suppose you sometimes get a prize card... Dressage: the rosettes can be lame too, I think when you're spending at least £12.00 on an entry you deserve more than a 70p rosette especially as there's little chance of prize money for the vast majority of competitors! I am lucky enough to have won a trophy at dressage though but must say I like sashes more!
grin.gif
I find the actual rosettes/sashes/trophies are far better at unaffiliated.
 
So, I beg to ask the question... why cant they give a little more? what is the cost of a sash/trophy/plaque (wooden of course that stands on its own!!)/more than 2 tiers in rossettes?? If you win a class at BD say, and there are 6-8 classes, surely 6-8 sashes/trophy etc... would not be toooo expensive?? Come on BD, can we not be rewarded a wee bit more??? I know winning is great etc... but to have a trophy of some sort would surely not go amiss? Also why do BD classes, apart from Regionals and up, not have prize giving? Just out of interest??
 
I wish BD gave a little more, if unaffliated competitions can give trophies etc then surely affliated competitions should be able to provide good prizes. A rosette is not expensive and we don't want a 3ft cup just a small cup would be suffice. After all we pay £100 in membership for horse and rider and then about £16 per class.
 
i love it when they give you a free photo from the photographer at the event... dont know why just seems like a bit more special if you've won the photo lol
smile.gif
 
The thing is I don't think that it's anything to do with BD, the venues themselves order the rosettes and decide on the prizes (unless its a sponsored class in which case I don't know how it works!), however it certainly doesn't look as though BD give any minimum requirements...

As for prizegivings - I love them if they're mounted and so does the Little Mare - she loves a lap of honour! But there are quite a few people who either don't want to wait around until the end/dress up again/face taking their horse into that environment (personally I think it would be a good thing to get them used to it at smaller shows rather than throw them in at the deep end when they get to champs!). I hate unmounted ones though - it feels like a school assembly and I feel a right prat, I like to hide behind the pony, afterall we did it together!
grin.gif
 
Well as far as I know the BSJA is the only one of the mainstream disciplines governing bodies that imposes a minimum prize structure. They are very strict on minimum levels of prize money offered at each level and also minimum numbers of places paid based on the numberof startes. This does cost the show centres money though and the downside is that you will find classes cancelled if there aren't enough starters to make it cost effective.

To the poster who asked about prize giving ceremonies in BD....at a guess i'd say people doing BD aren't used to hanging about and so don't want to wait for a prize giving
crazy.gif
You get start times for your tests don't you ?

In SJ'ing, waiting around is a way of life lol!
 
I have organised some unaffiliated comps so perhaps can provide some costs which may help... assuming there is a single class of 30 competitors and rosettes are to 6th place. Here goes:

Rosettes 6 x £1.50 £ 9.00
Judge expenses £25.00
Dressage sheets 30 x .20p £ 6.00
School hire (3.5 hours @ £20ph) £70.00
Warm up (3.5 hours @ £15ph) £52.50
Refreshments for judge/helpers £12.00
TOTAL £174.50

Entries 30 @ £10 £300.00

Profit £125.50

Bearing in mind we ran the final championship at a loss because of the prizes the £125.50 will be further reduced. Our sashes were £12 each!

It doesnt really bring in that much money.
 
I personally think showing prize money is the worst, as unless you get placed at a County Show or a Championship they don't give out prize money at all and even then you just about get your entry fee back if you're lucky. I would like it if both Restricted and Open sections of BD were given prize money but can understand why they don't. I don't have any experience of BSJA or BE so can't comment.
 
[ QUOTE ]
I have organised some unaffiliated comps so perhaps can provide some costs which may help... assuming there is a single class of 30 competitors and rosettes are to 6th place. Here goes:

Rosettes 6 x £1.50 £ 9.00
Judge expenses £25.00
Dressage sheets 30 x .20p £ 6.00
School hire (3.5 hours @ £20ph) £70.00
Warm up (3.5 hours @ £15ph) £52.50
Refreshments for judge/helpers £12.00
TOTAL £174.50

Entries 30 @ £10 £300.00

Profit £125.50

Bearing in mind we ran the final championship at a loss because of the prizes the £125.50 will be further reduced. Our sashes were £12 each!

It doesnt really bring in that much money.

[/ QUOTE ]

If it's an affiliated show you will have affiliation fees of around £100 on top of that too...and if BSJA a coursebuilder to pay and prize money to fund as well.

You can see why some places charge a lot for medical now can't you
tongue.gif
 
Showjumping definitely has the best prize money in UK and Ireland and it is even better in Switzerland too.

Here 30% are placed and the minimum prize money is 2 x entry fee. This is for affiliated equivalent. For unaffiliated, money prizes are not allowed but prizes in kind are usually equivalent to 2 x entry but in vouchers.

This is achievable because all classes are sponsored.

I am not sure if the BD folks would prefer the showjumping prizegiving. In Switzerland you have to be in the prizegiving, correctly dressed or you risk losing your prize money & rosette. I like this as it shows respect to the organisers, sponsors and audience.
 
Might have something to do with the amount of money per minute that the oranisers receive DR vs SJ
Based on £15 entry fee its
Dressage = £2.14 per minute
SJ = £7.50 per minute

Eventing is £7 per minute but that is offset by the huge cost of running an event.
 
With showing people tend not to want prize money for smaller shows though because they don't want to be de-noviced at a small event!
grin.gif


I suppose with dressage you always come away with feedback...
 
Having not done BD I cant comment on their prizes.

BE I think is crap. Prize money in novices Ive done, barely go down far (yes, I know its dependent on how many are in it but then Ive still paid max entry fees!). And prize-wise for PN / novice classes is again pretty cruddy. Ive had a bag of Alfalfa, a leadrope and a bag of horse treats.....(on seperate occassions) wow..... That's even if they give prizes at all (of course it depends on sponsors). A rossette simply isnt enough in my eyes, not when entry fees arent exactly cheap and you have to put in quite a bit of effort in ODE's to get placed. Trophy-wise, its odd as its just luck if there happens to be a trophy for the class your in so some will get one, other class winners wont.

BSJA is ok. Prize money is alright, although it does pee me off when centres choose not to pay out due to not enough entries. I just think it's unfair as we've all paid the full entry fee, it's not our fault there's not enough other entries! Prize-wise though they're crap. I've never had anything and the best thing Ive seen offered at a summer BSJA show was a bridle for a 1.25m Grand Prix. You can win trophies but in my area, its only for winning a league.

Showing is pants. Well unaffiliated (dont do affiliated) anyway. For country shows in my area, a 1st prize is all of about £10 and often really cheap-ass rossettes!
 
[ QUOTE ]
I have organised some unaffiliated comps so perhaps can provide some costs which may help... assuming there is a single class of 30 competitors and rosettes are to 6th place. Here goes:

Rosettes 6 x £1.50 £ 9.00
Judge expenses £25.00
Dressage sheets 30 x .20p £ 6.00
School hire (3.5 hours @ £20ph) £70.00
Warm up (3.5 hours @ £15ph) £52.50
Refreshments for judge/helpers £12.00
TOTAL £174.50

Entries 30 @ £10 £300.00

Profit £125.50

Bearing in mind we ran the final championship at a loss because of the prizes the £125.50 will be further reduced. Our sashes were £12 each!

It doesnt really bring in that much money.

[/ QUOTE ]

At affiliated comps are usually run on the organisers land so no school hire is needed. Thats over £100 pound saved there. The judges give up their spare time for nothing and the entry fees are higher so thats more money saved.

I only compete BD so can only comment on that, but I think some venues are very tight when it comes to prize money and rosettes. I have known venues not give out rosettes or prize money because there wasnt enough entries.

Organizers wouldnt do it if they didnt make a profit. Rosettes mean a lot to some competitors and recieving one might just mean the difference between the competitor coming back or going elsewhere.
 
Yes affiliated are different so cant really comment on those.

I must admit that I do wonder sometimes in affil how they make any money running comps. The entries fees are higher but entries tend to be lower and all the various sections seem to be rosetted separately and with the prize money on top there cant be much left even without the arena hire.

All judges give their spare time for nothing but all claim expenses for travel and in affil that often means shipping someone in from much further away. When we ran our unaffil champ we decided to get listed judges for the actual championship so there would be some neutrality and the expenses ran to £40 to £50 per judge and we got the nearest ones available.
 
Agree with Sparklet about expenses for judges - I helped organise an affiliated competition once and once you get up to about Medium level there are fewer local judges to choose from and you end up paying high travel expenses to bring in judges from further afield. Plus you have to make sure the judges and other volunteers get a decent lunch to make it worth their while.

Also not all affiliated shows are held on the organisers own premises - ours weren't. (And presumably even if they are, the venue is losing out on potential school hire fees whilst the competition is going on.)

Whilst I agree that decent rosettes are very nice to receive and I'm sure there are a few stingy organisers around, it is still important for competitions to make a profit - whether they are run by a Riding Club or a commercial venue. If they don't generate enough revenue then people are going to stop running them.

I do think sponsorship is the answer to getting more rewarding prizes for competitiors though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top