Highland show entries post on FB

abbijay

abbijay

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I've seen a post on Facebook this afternoon and, I think I'm getting increasingly grumpy as I age, but it seems really sad. The basic gist is that unless you are in with a shot of qualifying for HOYS you shouldn't enter the Highland Show. Now I know that showing is a very serious sport and anyone not part of the club is looked down on but for some of us just entering a HOYS qualifier is a lifelong dream come true.
I think the post is almost coming from a considerate point of view; it will not be an easy environment so it is important you and your horse are prepped to deal with that and I think that is a good reminder. However having the "wrong colour of tweed" and "being in with a shot, not just making up the numbers" are not reasons to stay at home to a bumbling amateur like me! Someone always has to stand bottom of the line up, why not someone having a nice day out with a much loved horse who is just glad to be in the ring and getting a photo that will go on the wall forever?! So many shows are cutting classes because entries are falling and now there are tens of people agreeing that it's not a place for you to enjoy your horse.
Showing already has a reputation of being cliquey and your face having to fit, posts like this telling anyone who isn't an expert to stay at home because they might take up precious ring space is just sad.
If the organisers were concerned I'm sure they could put qualification requirements in place but surely they want strong entries for the money.
And just to brighten the post; here are the 2 times I have entered HOYS qualifiers, both of which were just lovely moments to be a part of even if we didn't make the placings with either horse! And apologies that I'm in a GP saddle in one and a jumping saddle in the other, and if my tweed is the wrong colour I couldn't give a flying fig!

Squalfle.jpgace face.jpg
 
Honestly, it's showing - what do you expect? It's not a sport, it's a beauty pageant, with equally skewy rules as the human ones.

Sorry, that's possibly not the response you're looking for!


eta - seeing ester's screenshots of the posts, I think that's not wildly unreasonable. You wouldn't go out to a BE grassroots qualifier as your first ever event, so you probably shouldn't dip your toe into showing at a higher profile show either.
 
JFTDWS said:
Honestly, it's showing - what do you expect? It's not a sport, it's a beauty pageant, with equally skewy rules as the human ones.

Sorry, that's possibly not the response you're looking for!


eta - seeing ester's screenshots of the posts, I think that's not wildly unreasonable. You wouldn't go out to a BE grassroots qualifier as your first ever event, so you probably shouldn't dip your toe into showing at a higher profile show either.
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But the comments are very much going further than the post!
I actually don't think entering a BE grassroots qualifier is unreasonable as long as you've done your homework, not doing an unaff first isn't the be all and end all.
And that comment at the end "don't enter just to make up the numbers" why the bl00dy heck not?!
 
I think the post is reasonable as although I don’t know that particular show any county show wouldn’t be an ideal first outing and not because of who else is in the class and how you might be judged but just down to the pure amount that is going on for a horse to have to cope. It does sound like the comments might be a bit silly though. Having the wrong colour tweed definitely isn’t staying at home reason though.
 
I think some shows you go for the experience, its not just what colour rosette you get. From the money point of view the entries are not cheap and even if you are at the bottom end of the line you are helping balance the show books, because you may rent a stable, buy food and other stuff from the trade stands. I have helped organise shows and its as much work for six or twenty six in the ring.
I used to show Highlands and NF, as well as steward at county shows, and really most of the time inhand you can spot the top six from the walk round unless it has a unseen conformation fault, but having a a range of types in the breed and seeing what the judge picks is interesting. A lot of judges are breeders and so unless they are open minded they can be biased. I am that sad person who goes through the breeding and if there is a danger that the same breed lines are over represented, by a fashionable stallion.
Then you have the chance to put your pony under a certain judge, because at local level you may not get a knowledgable opinion. The year our native show had Jenny Laurenson Clarke judged the NF ponies their much have been thirty entries in the ridden.
I always think you learn from the best, there is no point being at the top of mediocre, if you are in the first two every time out you need to go up a level. if you are starting out if you are in the ring for perhaps forty five minutes its actually if you watch carefully a fairly cheap lesson, because being outside the ring does not give you the time to look closely. As a steward I loved looking closely at the ponies and kit.
I unless you unsafe, I think its fair to give it a go. If you take it logically everyone is wasting their money unless they breed or sell on results, because its a lot of money for a rosette that costs if you are lucky £3.
 
I stewarded a HOYS working hunter pony class at a county show where there was someone who had never shown before.
They regularly did pony club and went hunting then the child asked to have a go at whp.

As the show was local the mum agreed. They were turned out correctly but perhaps not as neatly as some of the others.

They jumped a fabulous clear round, both looked like they were having great fun and got decent confirmation marks as well. They took the HOYS qualifier.

That families reaction will stay with me forever. It was so nice that it went to someone who truly appreciated it and I hope they had a fantastic HOYS experience.
 
I think if it's the ponies first outing it's a bit unfair on them, but if they're used to busy atmospheres there's no reason not to enter- you're helping to support the show and it doesn't matter if you're not competitive as long as your pony is well mannered and calm in the ring.
 
I think it does also depend a bit on the class. If you’re handing your horse over to a ride judge you need to have the horse prepared and experienced enough to cope. I think showing is doing a lot to encourage through the rising star classes and the longer running Search for a Star.

P.s. @abbijay your horse looks very smart.
 
I think the atmosphere is the key, it seems a shame to put people off on the basis of their jacket or saddle. I had a stand there last year for the first time (I'm not doing it thiss year, footfall was lousy, it was very expensive and logistically an utter nightmare to do on my own with 13 hour days onsite) and there were a lot of moans about various noisy activities in rings next to warm ups and show rings. It's a VERY busy show.
 
Memorable things going on in adjacent rings at county shows - the human cannonball including the main arena crowd doing a countdown, the Kangaroo Kid with pyrotechnics, a man in a para gilder with birds flying next to him, motorbike display teams, marching bands, drum bands, etc. And they say showing is all about having a pretty pony - having your ex racehorse well enough trained to hand over to a complete stranger to ride whilst all that is going on takes some doing, it isn't just polishing their manes and tails.
 
Showing is by its very nature exclusive. It is about having the right horse for the right class and the ability to demonstrate this.

The Royal Highland isn’t the place to cut your teeth, which I think is what the fb post was somewhat clumsily alluding to; top level showing is about a lot more than having a horse that can walk/trot/canter around a ring.

Absolutely, if you’ve got out at local shows had a good time and want to have a special day out, go for it, enter! No one should ever be accused of making up numbers, but it’s not a bad idea to go to a clinic and have an idea of what is needed before spending hundreds of pounds on membership and entry fees.
 
humblepie said:
Memorable things going on in adjacent rings at county shows - the human cannonball including the main arena crowd doing a countdown, the Kangaroo Kid with pyrotechnics, a man in a para gilder with birds flying next to him, motorbike display teams, marching bands, drum bands, etc. And they say showing is all about having a pretty pony - having your ex racehorse well enough trained to hand over to a complete stranger to ride whilst all that is going on takes some doing, it isn't just polishing their manes and tails.
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I still remember a show i was at many, many years ago where they had helicopter rides next to the pony club games. 😮
 
Gloi said:
I still remember a show i was at many, many years ago where they had helicopter rides next to the pony club games. 😮
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Priceless😁. Good pony club ponies. . I’d just realised I’d forgotten the parachutists landing coming in over our ring. They were just doing the rosettes and it was like bung us the prizes we need to leave 😂
 
Gloi said:
I still remember a show i was at many, many years ago where they had helicopter rides next to the pony club games. 😮
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My friend used to pray for the helicopter to land near the ring to get her irish draught excited in ridden hunter 🤣 also a bouncey castle nearby. Whilst others were praying they wouldn't be. Don't think that would happen nowadays.
 
Gloi said:
I still remember a show i was at many, many years ago where they had helicopter rides next to the pony club games. 😮
Click to expand...
My old boy has seen it all: shared the ring with a condor, monster trucks, motorcycle display teams, stunt planes... He just took it all in his stride. One year there was a display in the main ring at Cheshire and they let off daytime fireworks during the go-round for the ridden heavy class - that was a test of who had their horse ready for a big show! Weirdly the only thing I could never acclimatise him to was the private driving stuff (who shared a ring and the lorry park with the heavies) but the heavy horse turnouts were fine!
My younger one was not allowed to join us at the big shows until I knew he wouldn't be unduly concerned by the various goings on at big show. We did lots of work at home featuring umbrellas, balls, music, flags. That wasn't to prep him for showing really, just to prep him for life with humans around.
From that point of view I completely agree with the FB post but the final comment irks me; neither of those boys is HOYS perfection "quality" but they could enjoy a day out making up the numbers!
 
Gloi said:
I still remember a show i was at many, many years ago where they had helicopter rides next to the pony club games. 😮
Click to expand...
They used to have this at Dunster Country Fair...luckily my pony quite liked helicopters!

I went to Devon County Show once, it was so incredibly noisy. One of the pony rings had a salsa band with dancers, right next to it, and all the ponies were frightened of their headdresses, and there was a giant robot thing walking around. The whole place was just loud and a sensory overload.
 
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