Local riding club show needs a shake-up. All ideas welcome.

If you do decide to do jumping, it can be worth doing a clear round over the sane course as some will go round a couple of times for schooling so the course earns its money. But do timetable it in say, allocating 30 minutes at the end so people at the later classes know what time to get there and aren't hanging round for hours.
 
Thank you so much to you all for replying. Some very good suggestions here and I see we're not the only club which is struggling to stay relevant in today's horsey world.

To answer a few questions .... events are open to members and non-members, but we do run a championship type points system for members (to encourage them to join) with a presentation evening at the end of the season - trophies, big frillies, a nice buffet type thing. Like the idea of more young rider/handler type things as the kids do seem to love to have a go. We do a Young Handler class already, but the age limit is up to 16, so maybe class for younger ones only might work.

The club has a good social media presence and a small web site (managed by me!) but I think we could do more to publicise the events ahead of time, so that's something to think about. I also do the event photography, as it is my other passion in life and I'm lucky to have decent camera gear and editing software to get professional results. Pics are posted on the club's FB page and seem very popular: I try to get a couple of decent images of everyone who turns up - whether they win or not - and they are widely shared.

We also have a good food vendor at the showing events (very good bacon butties) so have that aspect covered.

I like the idea of dress down dressage and racehorse classes, but would have to think about things like working hunter or handy pony, if that involved setting up jumps etc.

So, thank you again to everyone for your thoughts and ideas. Lots to think about and maybe a long chat with "Mary" about how we move forward next season.
 
My friend runs a train and test event where you have a half hour lesson in the morning then have the option of doing a few dressage tests in the afternoon.

They are really popular and within days the event is fully booked she mainly just does intro and prelim, but has now started to do novice as well I think alot of people have improved by doing these so they have gone up a level.
 
Send out an email to all riding club members asking what they want. You could suggest a few things like quiz nights down the pub for example. Ask if people have young children or grandchildren who would be interested in things especially for them. You need to get a profile of members and their wants. There's no point in arranging eventing or show-jumping if most wanted to hack out on picnic rides.
 
Parksmum3 said:
I think it's worth trying to target the kids. Fun shows, prettiest mare, most handsome gelding, pony the judge would most like to take home etc gymkhana games, I used to love little shows like these when I was a child. Nothing serious just fun where kids can have a go and show off their ponies. A mix of in hand and ridden always works well with kids as if the pony is being a bit naughty on the day they may not want to ride but can still take part.
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I like this, sounds fun and it should keep the professional types away. Our local fun village show cancelled all horse classes as for several years in a row a local professional brought his youngsters and novices for experience and won everything totally disallusioning the local kid and their average scruffy but much loved ponies.
 
Horse agility is gaining in popularity maybe running this event which can be ridden or inhand would attract new people.
 
A lot of RC near me don’t really cater for kids because they assume I guess that kids are all doing PC. However there often are kids who would be interested in junior classes at various RC events so if you don’t offer that as option I definitely would suggest it!

Also camps, or at least day camps with instructors etc, those go down very well! Perhaps Junior/senior…not everyone does pony club!

Agree clinics are a good idea for regular income, demos with speakers etc too.

Showing shows definitely aren’t as popular as they used to be so I agree perhaps try some other options
 
For me I'd say try to offer a variety of classes that can be entered by lots of horses. If I'm going to the effort of cleaning my horse I want to enter at least 3 classes.
For me don't have all the separate traditional classes that would appear at bigger shows - hack, riding horse, etc. Lump them together and then put on more varied classes which can gain more entries such as one class covering cob (hogged and hairy) and heavy horse. Definitely worth doing an open ridden/in hand class - just a catch all extra that anyone can enter.
Also, try to have classes with few restrictions on height, age, etc. We have clydesdales and my kids have not been able to do much at most shows because lead rein tops out at 12.2, first ridden tops out at age 10, etc. they weren't ready to do first ridden until they were at least 11 because the horses are so big but they still want to join in for a bit of fun and a rosette. Even some young handler classes top out at 14.2! Our local riding club put on a kids ring las year and it was great because the classes included the "traditional" ones as well as fun ones (best gelding, nicest tail, etc) but the restrictions were not the same as the main ring so first ridden and novice showing allowed young teenagers to enter on 14.2s or kids at their first show who weren't ready to go into the big ring up against those who were born in the saddle.
 
Walk and trot ridden classes are super popular round here, both for novice riders and those who have lost their nerve.

Adult best handler class for the in hand ring is a nice one.

If you want a giggle, do the ‘champagne challenge class’ from the American gaited horse world - get some plastic cups, fill them with water to a marked line and give one to each rider to carry. Whole ride move out to the outside track, walk, trot, change the rein, halt etc while carrying them and winner is whoever has the most water left in the cup after a few minutes. (Make it before lunch is the last class because people will be soaked!)
 
Snowfilly said:
Walk and trot ridden classes are super popular round here, both for novice riders and those who have lost their nerve.

Adult best handler class for the in hand ring is a nice one.

If you want a giggle, do the ‘champagne challenge class’ from the American gaited horse world - get some plastic cups, fill them with water to a marked line and give one to each rider to carry. Whole ride move out to the outside track, walk, trot, change the rein, halt etc while carrying them and winner is whoever has the most water left in the cup after a few minutes. (Make it before lunch is the last class because people will be soaked!)
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I so want to do a champagne class.
 
We have two well-established local unaffiliated shows near me in Cambs - Over & District RC in August and Rampton Horse Show in September.

Both feature 2 showrings and a showjumping ring. Rampton also has a dressage arena. Both shows on grass on big fields marked out with electric tape. So there are unaffiliated low-level showjumping classes, including horse and hound (rider rides horse round, then hands horse to helper and runs round with dog) and for Rampton, an intro, prelim and novice unaffiliated test. These usually include qualifiers (eg ROR, Equifest, Sunshine Tour type national leagues).

The show classes include inhand youngstock, inhand coloured, inhand m&m, ridden ditto, prettiest mare, handsomest gelding, best veteran inhand and ridden, riding horse, riding pony, cob, etc.

Outside catering van (hot and cold drinks, burgers) is brought in, Rampton has an ice cream van, there is usually a stall or two for a local charity at Rampton (eg air ambulance).

Good grassy parking area for trailers and horseboxes, separate parking for non-horse vehicles. Excellent commentary.

Both shows put on by a group of hard-working volunteers with planning beginning very early on (probably soon after each show ends).

Both are renowned for their welcoming, friendliness, and attract a mixture of people new to showing, or with young/novice horses, younger riders, older riders, as well as some good riders looking to give their good horses a less-pressurised outing.

Both are sucessful and well-attended and supported. Local tack shops carry their show schedules. Both committees make full use of social media to advertise. And there are also ROR and other (possibly Sunshine Tour and other qualifiers) classes in the schedule each year.

Rampton's proceeds are well-publicised that they are split between a couple of local charities each year (air ambulance, children's hospice and local bridleway group have all been grateful recipients in recent years).
 
I agree with others in having some of the classes qualifiers for something. Doesn’t need to be the whole show, but we went to a RC showing show as the Cobs (hogged and Hairy) was a qualifier class for TGCA. While we were there we entered other classes.
On the dressage side could you add a bittless class, one of our UA centres has started doing one and seems to be well supported.
 
Our club is in a similar position. We stopped s j due to the work involved for just two or three entries per class. Showing has died out also. Our most popular events are walk and trot dressage tests and fun rides.
 
Tell you the other thing that helps: casual turnout shows.

Saw a local club do a ‘come as you are’ show and they got loads of first timers who didn’t own a showing jacket or leather tack. Opened it up to a whole new lot of potential customers.

Although you have to be super strict on the judges for this; they mustn’t mention turnout out or dress at all unless it’s safety related otherwise you’re defeating the object.

You’d be surprised how many happy hackers don’t actually own a pair of pale coloured jodhs and long boots, let alone a jacket and stock.
 
I have only been to one event with my current horse, and that was because I could just about hack to it.
I would love to go to lots of shows, but I don't have transport. Not everyone has.
The answer for me would be if there was some way to help with local transport or co-ordinate with a commercial transporter.
 
The popular ones around us are the "intro" I saw one club do showing but they used social media to help people so they would do a post on how best to turn out for working hunter, what elements for your show etc etc and then they get feedback on how to improve.
Intro is all well and good but if you have no idea what you need to include in your show, what class to enter how to turn yourself out etc and include tips and tricks

Also different ones like a simple intro to trec , if you have hacking could do a scavenger hunt type in pairs etc.
 
Suechoccy said:
We have two well-established local unaffiliated shows near me in Cambs - Over & District RC in August and Rampton Horse Show in September.

Both feature 2 showrings and a showjumping ring. Rampton also has a dressage arena. Both shows on grass on big fields marked out with electric tape. So there are unaffiliated low-level showjumping classes, including horse and hound (rider rides horse round, then hands horse to helper and runs round with dog) and for Rampton, an intro, prelim and novice unaffiliated test. These usually include qualifiers (eg ROR, Equifest, Sunshine Tour type national leagues).

The show classes include inhand youngstock, inhand coloured, inhand m&m, ridden ditto, prettiest mare, handsomest gelding, best veteran inhand and ridden, riding horse, riding pony, cob, etc.

Outside catering van (hot and cold drinks, burgers) is brought in, Rampton has an ice cream van, there is usually a stall or two for a local charity at Rampton (eg air ambulance).

Good grassy parking area for trailers and horseboxes, separate parking for non-horse vehicles. Excellent commentary.

Both shows put on by a group of hard-working volunteers with planning beginning very early on (probably soon after each show ends).

Both are renowned for their welcoming, friendliness, and attract a mixture of people new to showing, or with young/novice horses, younger riders, older riders, as well as some good riders looking to give their good horses a less-pressurised outing.

Both are sucessful and well-attended and supported. Local tack shops carry their show schedules. Both committees make full use of social media to advertise. And there are also ROR and other (possibly Sunshine Tour and other qualifiers) classes in the schedule each year.

Rampton's proceeds are well-publicised that they are split between a couple of local charities each year (air ambulance, children's hospice and local bridleway group have all been grateful recipients in recent years).
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We must be quite close 😅 but despite living between the 2 I’ve never actually been to either. Definitely easier to run lots of different options in a field though, not the 2 arenas OP says they have.

OP do you run with pre determined times for all events?

I’d 2nd the dress down options especially through the winter we do want to get out and do things in the winter but time is short and the horses are grim it’s sometimes hard to justify what a can end up being an entire Saturday prepping and most of a Sunday attending. Also, even though I have a hunt coat I’m still more prepped for weather in casuals 😅. Unaff SJ when I was going a lot was casuals all winter we just loaded and went and that meant we went fortnightly. I do like dressing up too but sometimes it’s a step I just can’t fit in 😅

Running the opportunity to do a test, have feedback and run again was always popular and I’d def look into the agility/working equitation side currently.
It was always hard work though, I’ve not been directly involved for years.
 
What about fun jumping? Only a few jumps in a grid and do a hold water in a cup and who can keep the most water wins.
Relay jumping - one rider rides a few jumps at one height and next jumps a few at higher height.

Agility session? Building bond - put poles out and get handlers to lead round L and S shapes. Triangle of poles with squashed plastic bottles in for them to walk through. DIY curtain for them to walk through, scary corner with bunting, flags etc to walk through.

Have you asked members what they want more of?
 
Whatever ideas you come up with, they won't work if you can't get them past your Mary
The RC I belonged to had its 'Mary' who had such fixed ideas, for years virtually no one entered the WH classes because the courses were too stiff but she refused to make them more inviting!
 
I feel not running any jumping classes really reduces the club’s appeal. Our club has combined training (dressage and SJ),a dressage day, a SJ day, arena eventing , fun jumps, as well as working hunter. (In the good old days (ie about 7 or 8 years ago ) we also had spring and autumn hunter trials and a ODE , before insurance got too expensive !)

To reduce the work to set up jumps our club has a set up night the week before the event and members are expected to turn up to a couple in a season.
We are lucky to have our own field, I gather you are using a riding centre facility, but could set up be done the night before? Alternatively people have to contribute by volunteering as stewards.

I appreciate you have a rather set in her ways committee to deal with
 
Having been involved with Riding Clubs over more years than I care to admit (no longer - I am retired!) there is one overwhelming issue and it stands out on this thread. People have ideas that would suit them - do they come and help? No! Can we run events for children? No. Riding Clubs are ( or were) senior clubs. Pony Clubs are Junior. Many adults do not want to compete alongside kids on ponies - the kids are normally better than the adults but that does not need to be rammed down the adults throats! Nor do many of the helpers want to be at a showground all day running events for other peoples children when the parents never help and usually complain that 'little Annie' was cheated out of her rosette! Nor can the show organiser help with transport - it is up to you to find friends with whom to share. I have even been rung at midnight the day before an event to ask for directions from their home to the showground. Uhm i'm in bed sleeping and I dont even know where you live!
Add to this scenario that nowadays clubs have to have a Child Protection Officer - even when running only adult classes, A Health & Safety Officer, First Aid and an ambulance on site all day, need to carry out Risk Assessments on every venue used by the club (even the local village hall!) etc etc.
There are less and less people wiling to take on these tasks and when 'Mary' retires the club will no longer exist.
 
I help, now that my competing days are over
It's a very small band of the same people helping every time, and virtually none of them currently compete
The club shows used to be for members only but dwindling entries led to everything being open to non members too
Members get reduced entry fees and there's a points league but very few are willing to 'do their bit' when it comes to helping
 
The advantage of having 1 ring + warm up arena does make it a bit easier on the helpers front. But I have also been the only person on site trying to set up a dressage arena towing my pony with me cos the little ** decided he couldn’t be the only horse in the car park 🤦‍♀️😅.
 
sport horse said:
Add to this scenario that nowadays clubs have to have a Child Protection Officer - even when running only adult classes, A Health & Safety Officer, First Aid and an ambulance on site all day
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I have never seen an ambulance on site at dressage, SJ and arena eventing at shows run by local riding club, neighbouring riding clubs or local competitions venues. I think there might have been St Johns at the local hunter trial but that's it.

With the kids v adults, simply have separate classes running concurrently. You have to place separately for qualifiers and junior/senior leagues anyway.
 
sport horse said:
Having been involved with Riding Clubs over more years than I care to admit (no longer - I am retired!) there is one overwhelming issue and it stands out on this thread. People have ideas that would suit them - do they come and help? No! Can we run events for children? No. Riding Clubs are ( or were) senior clubs. Pony Clubs are Junior. Many adults do not want to compete alongside kids on ponies - the kids are normally better than the adults but that does not need to be rammed down the adults throats! Nor do many of the helpers want to be at a showground all day running events for other peoples children when the parents never help and usually complain that 'little Annie' was cheated out of her rosette! Nor can the show organiser help with transport - it is up to you to find friends with whom to share. I have even been rung at midnight the day before an event to ask for directions from their home to the showground. Uhm i'm in bed sleeping and I dont even know where you live!
Add to this scenario that nowadays clubs have to have a Child Protection Officer - even when running only adult classes, A Health & Safety Officer, First Aid and an ambulance on site all day, need to carry out Risk Assessments on every venue used by the club (even the local village hall!) etc etc.
There are less and less people wiling to take on these tasks and when 'Mary' retires the club will no longer exist.
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All the above (apart from the ambulance bit - you need adequate qualified first aiders for most shows).

I've been reading the comments with interest and thinking yup, ask people what they want and they will probably tell you, but do absolutely nothing to help, and have no idea how much work goes into running even the smallest, simplest event. Running regular clinics in several disciplines and using a mixture of regular coaches and "visiting" coaches will appeal to more people and are much easier to manage. Camps (one or two days, mixture of ridden and non ridden activities, a nice lunch) are popular. Training/competition days are also good, test riding or jumping with instruction, followed by a little competition or just a marked test or round.

Running multiple shows every year must be giving "Mary" a lot of grey hairs. I'm not surprised she doesn't want to change her tried and tested formula.
 
Rowreach is absolutely right, members say what they want and when the club puts it on the person who asked for it doesn’t turn up. I’ve been phoned late at night and asked how big the 60cms class will be. Organising teams is also a nightmare, no one wants to pay in advance, they promise they’ll pay on the day then pull out. Awful lot of shoes off, lameness, lorries which won’t start etc etc on a wet day! Perhaps I’m ’Mary’ !!
 
Would “adults on ponies” classes work. I find there’s not much for me & my 14hh pony at local RC. Eg WH & RC Pony I’m old for the pony classes but pony is too small for horse classes. All the RCs near me seem to aim at children’s classes with lots of novelty ones.
 
I'd caution against taking advice from people on here - not because anyone is giving deliberately bad advice, but because the main thing that will make an event a success is that it's the right event for the demographic of your riding club / local area, the facilities available, and what other events and clubs are offering in your area.

For example, outside of PC, gymkhana games died out in my local area because they were so poorly attended by adults and children, whether they were part of a bigger show, or an indepedent gymkhana. It just wasn't popular with the demographic, and the kids who did it all went to PC and either weren't around for the RC events, or weren't inclined to compete against the lower standard there.

TREC / agility / WE / trail type sports are popular in that area, but involve a lot of specialist equipment and set-up - if you have a local trainer who has the kit and would run stuff through the club, that's viable, but in many areas, it's not an option. Getting people to come in and run any niche sport as a trial event tends to get some interest though, and outsources some of the set-up.
 
Lucky Snowball said:
Rowreach is absolutely right, members say what they want and when the club puts it on the person who asked for it doesn’t turn up. I’ve been phoned late at night and asked how big the 60cms class will be. Organising teams is also a nightmare, no one wants to pay in advance, they promise they’ll pay on the day then pull out. Awful lot of shoes off, lameness, lorries which won’t start etc etc on a wet day! Perhaps I’m ’Mary’ !!
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You forgot the "flat tyres" :rolleyes: ;)
 
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