Have the days of the have a go fun show disappeared?

[Pippity]

Me too during the year before Mum and Dad bought me a trailer! It used to take me about 50 mins to hack to the show and then I'd spend all day there before hacking back. We used to do daft things like that years ago.

I did it last year and planning on doing it again this year! Then again, the showground is about a twenty minute hack away, so I absolutely do not see the point in paying a fortune to hire transport.

 

[The Bouncing Bog Trotter]

They do exist - I am on the organising Committee for just such a show in East Sussex, a much loved village show that will be running its 67th Annual show this year. We ran it last year after a few years off and were overwhelmed by entries - so much so that we had to close entries early. Yes, we do offer Sunshine Tour qualifiers but we encourage entries from grassroots competitors and offer classes for them.

 

[Tarragon]

I would love to see the resurrection of the old fashioned Gymkhanas, where there used to be something like a fancy dress class, clear round jumping and various gymkhana games. I once had a retired ex-Prince Philip Cup pony on loan for a summer, and boy did we have fun! I went to every Gymkhana within hacking distance.
Sadly, I think that it is a combination of increased costs (mostly insurance and H&S related), people's expectations (want more for less just generally) and a shortage of volunteers (more families where both partners work full time), and I am not sure that this will change.

 

[Bobthecob15]

We live in a very rural part of the world and the next village has a gymkhana in the summer...I literally can't remember when I last saw one of those advertised! Very excited about taking my daughter and her new pony!

 

[RachelFerd]

Those shows have some awful memories attached to them for me of very stressed ponies, kids and mothers. I love the new world of pre-entries and progressive structured levels.

Round here there are actually two regular 'riding clubs' (not really riding clubs at all as far as I can work out) which put on regular local shows of the old nature. They're still very popular, just not for me!

 

[Pippity]

Those shows have some awful memories attached to them for me of very stressed ponies, kids and mothers. I love the new world of pre-entries and progressive structured levels.

Round here there are actually two regular 'riding clubs' (not really riding clubs at all as far as I can work out) which put on regular local shows of the old nature. They're still very popular, just not for me!

Which is the one I hack to! I wouldn't say they're really of the old nature - there are a lot of qualifiers for STARS, TOYS, etc., and not much in the way of silly classes - but I appreciate them being there so pop along to take part and steward occasionally.

 

[RachelFerd]

Which is the one I hack to! I wouldn't say they're really of the old nature - there are a lot of qualifiers for STARS, TOYS, etc., and not much in the way of silly classes - but I appreciate them being there so pop along to take part and steward occasionally.

One (I suspect not the one you hack to) has the following novelty classes:

Class 10 ± Young Handler **STARS QUALIFIER**
Class 11 ± Bonny Pony
Class 12 - Pony Judge would most like to take home
Class 13 - Nicest Tail
Class 14 ± Prettiest Face
Class 15 ± Best combination

Why you'd pay money to be judged on how nice your tail is, i'm not sure

 

[teddypops]

Think how many Jill went to in the Ruby Ferguson books, I dreamed of hacking to a show and tying my pony up under a tree?

That’s exactly what I did! If the show was a bit far to hack to in one go, I would find someone with a field that I could put my pony in overnight!

 

[teddypops]

One of my small local riding clubs still has ‘fun’ shows with a bit of everything including novelty classes.

 

[Snowfilly]

One (I suspect not the one you hack to) has the following novelty classes:

Class 10 ± Young Handler **STARS QUALIFIER**
Class 11 ± Bonny Pony
Class 12 - Pony Judge would most like to take home
Class 13 - Nicest Tail
Class 14 ± Prettiest Face
Class 15 ± Best combination

Why you'd pay money to be judged on how nice your tail is, i'm not sure

Because if you’re 5 and have a hairy little Shetland type with no papers you can still have fun dressing up in the nice shiny show clothes and having a day out. There might be a rosette even.

And in amongst all that, you slowly start to learn ringcraft and how shows work, and what do on the day. Maybe a few years down the line you progress to stuff like best combination and family pony. Then when you’re 13 and have an actually registered pony, you’ve got a bit of a clue and aren’t choking with nerves because you’ve done something similar before.

I know you don’t like people doing unaffiliated stuff but really, it’s these type Of shows that introduce a lot of people to it. We don’t all have 12.2 show ponies to start with!

 

[Pippity]

One (I suspect not the one you hack to) has the following novelty classes:

Class 10 ± Young Handler **STARS QUALIFIER**
Class 11 ± Bonny Pony
Class 12 - Pony Judge would most like to take home
Class 13 - Nicest Tail
Class 14 ± Prettiest Face
Class 15 ± Best combination

Why you'd pay money to be judged on how nice your tail is, i'm not sure

Because you're a 8yo kid with a common-as-muck hairy pony that you love, and you want the fun of getting them looking their best and going out and maybe getting a rosette?

I was thinking more gymkhana-type stuff, really. The shows I went to as a kid had the bending races, egg and spoon, handy pony, etc.

 

[Annagain]

I'm on the committee of my local riding club. We really struggle to do shows or competitions as so many of the venues around us run their own - by the time we've hired a venue and paid for a paramedic (our insurance means we have to have one for anything involving jumping) we just can't compete with their prices so we don't get the support. A lot of the venues aren't bound by the same insurance requirements as we so they can put a course up and run a competition just with their normal staff. We do have quite a few catering to the grassroots end of the market in our area but it's mostly show jumping rather than showing shows.

We focus on offering really good quality training now instead and try to run a BRC Area Qualifier once a year to keep the bank balance healthy. We might run a little dressage now and again as there is less of that in the area and we only need a first aider for that, not a paramedic.

 

[I'm Dun]

Round here there are actually two regular 'riding clubs' (not really riding clubs at all as far as I can work out) which put on regular local shows of the old nature. They're still very popular, just not for me!

Same round here in the mid midlands. They are run by individuals who run them as a small business and they seem to do well enough. Theyve been going for years anyway. They have introduced qualifiers for some things as well.

 

[humblepie]

I had my 14.2 pony until I was probably aorund 20 so we did things like best combination, best turned out, as well as Chase me Charlie and other things. He was quite a posh pony (7/8ths TB bought to show jump) and if I had known anything about such things then probably could have been a show hack. We had great fun round the local shows - he even did a bending class with a very famous jump jockey once. He was a star at CMC but I had to play the game to make sure when it was down to the final 2 that I went second, so he could see the other horse the other end of the ring. Definitely learned a lot doing the rounds.