Pony Club shows-an eye opener!

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WoopsiiD

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WARNING!
*THIS POST CONTAINS A RANT*
Ok....we went to a PC show today and credit to the branch it was well organised and a fairly good day out.
What did however get my 'goat' up was the amount of children that were cantering around and flying over 2ft jumps-only to then enter the lead rein classes!!
Now, in my day when Noah was still building the ark you were on that lead rein for the entire day if you entered a class! It kind of took the edge off it a bit when the group I was grooming for today in classes on lead rein only to be beaten by children who could ride perfectly well!
My other grumble is the lack of respect some of the children showed their ponies and the ponies around them. I witnessed one childs mount savagely kicking another. The rider of the kicker turned to the other child and said that he shouldn't have ridden so close. True-EXCEPT the kicker had no red ribbon and the victim was a good five foot away and the kicker actually backed up into the other ponies space.
Some of the 'darrrrhhhlings' showed their parents little more respect than that of the poor ponies who were galloped round and round and then whipped for refusing a fence. I nearly let out a joyous 'whoop' when one little dear came to grief
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I do have to say I am not sure I will attend another PC show again.
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I noticed this when I went to a show there was a girl in a lead rein class and then she entered a 2ft6 working hunter on the same pony
how on earth is that right? >:(
 
TBH I don't think this is any better at RC level either. It winds me up that people enter the W&T as a warm up class before taking their horse in to compete at a much higher level. It stops those of us who are genuinely riding at that level being able to break through.
 
I agree it's not right, but it must be your part of the country! We found that plenty of shows locally exclude you for having been placed or having won - daughter nipped round and won her (and the pony's) first minimus jumping in a mixed lead rein/off lead rein class (she was off lead rein I am not going in the ring!) and we are not finding many 2ft and under classes locally for her to practise further as they all exclude being placed or having won a jumping class, so have had to go to some shows solely to do clear round since we went to one where 2ft 3 was the smallest class but some of the jumps were also 2ft 3 wide which she didn't want to do (pony only 11.2 and a novice at jumping too!) Could be to keep numbers down, but we also find a lot of shows allow you to do only 2 or 3 consecutive heights only, or if you do LR or minimus excludes you from other classes
 
Our local and RC shows actually state that children competing in LR classes cannot enter any other class off the lead rein.....which is fair, if I were to see what you saw I would be complaining straight away, its just not fair on the little ones.

On the other hand, my OH says he is discriminated against...he is 39 and recently started riding...he keeps telling our 6 year old daughter that he will be entering the lead rein or first ridden class and she gets mad and tells him he's not allowed as he's too old.
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....but as he points out, the class would be appropriate to his level of riding and he's not allowed to enter! Daughter lives in fear of a rule change that would allow her dad in the ring at the same time
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We used to see this all the time when my neices were in PC and doing shows - they found it very disheartening when kids who were doing working hunter etc and hunting regularly were going in lead rein classes etc.
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But as they say revenge is sweet
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- we went to a show one sunday with our new pony (picked her up on Friday night & cost £300) a 11h sec A - we had no idea what she could do - and my neice who was 5 or 6 at the time went in the lead rein class. Local PC mother makes fuss and spoilt brat on 15k worth of show pony has the class held up while she finishes the working hunter
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so she can enter lead rein class
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- my neice and pony win the class and they didn't get placed!! Brats mother absoolutely livid
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(also went to same school as neices) and demanded where 'that' had come from and how much while pointing to our pony. Took great pleasure in telling her......
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There are certainly some little brats on horseback today.
However, I go to the odd PC show, and the odd RC show, and as dwi says, the behavior is often the same. Unfortunately I think at any level there are going to be those who misbehave, whilst the rest of us must just try and get along and have a fun time!
 
[ QUOTE ]

But as they say revenge is sweet
smile.gif
- we went to a show one sunday with our new pony (picked her up on Friday night & cost £300) a 11h sec A - we had no idea what she could do - and my neice who was 5 or 6 at the time went in the lead rein class. Local PC mother makes fuss and spoilt brat on 15k worth of show pony has the class held up while she finishes the working hunter
blush.gif
so she can enter lead rein class
mad.gif
- my neice and pony win the class and they didn't get placed!! Brats mother absoolutely livid
shocked.gif
(also went to same school as neices) and demanded where 'that' had come from and how much while pointing to our pony. Took great pleasure in telling her......
wink.gif
grin.gif
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Good on you!
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That's just unbelievable---do people just have no pride? When I was little, I wanted off the lead rein as soon as possible, and I certainly wouldn't have wanted anyone to think that I still needed to be on it!
 
there's children at local shows that still ride LR classes even though they can ride perfectly well off. Whilst i feel this is okay at higher level (affiliated), it's not really 'game' at small local shows.

My daughter is 4, and has done 1 year of LR. She can now walk trot and canter off the lead, albeit with dodgy steering. She's been told this is the last year she'll do LR at local shows (in fact she's attempting her first off the lead class this coming weekend) because next year she'll be too 'big' for LR classes, and she;s happy about that because she doesnt want the 'baby lead' as she calls it. However, she's still far too young to do FR classes.. so we;ll stick to fun classes until she;s old enough.
whereas my son is too old for LR but still not experienced enough to take obstinate pony into a FR class...


another thing that gets my goat is people taking affiliated LR ponies into RC shows. and then the judge speaking to them clearly being old friends as he hands them a red rosette...


*wanders off to remove my grotty children's stained showing jodhs from the bowl of vanish*
 
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*wanders off to remove my grotty children's stained showing jodhs from the bowl of vanish*

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OT but is vanish good for grass stains? (daughter went one way pony the other). I've tried scrubbing but it still shows. Why do they have to wear pale jodhs? Not practical!
 
It happens round here a lot and has done for years, children quite capable of riding off the lead rein winning lead rein classes, then going on to win off LR at the same show. In the past, lead rein jumping classes have even been split with seperate prizes for male and female leaders. Usually the rules say that those jumping in a mini ring may not enter classes in any other, and there are also 'assisted' jumping classes where someone can go in the ring with the pony but not lead it, ment to encourage those coming off the LR.
However, round this neck of the woods classes as small as 2ft are often open to anyone.
 
[ QUOTE ]
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*wanders off to remove my grotty children's stained showing jodhs from the bowl of vanish*

[/ QUOTE ]

OT but is vanish good for grass stains? (daughter went one way pony the other). I've tried scrubbing but it still shows. Why do they have to wear pale jodhs? Not practical!

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Dont scrub it. Put vanish into a bowl of hot water, soak jodhs for six hours, scrub with LEMON fairy liquid , soak for another 6 hours (fresh water and vanish) then scrub and wash on a hot wash.

if there's still a faint stain sometimes washing the jodhs in a machine on a hot wash with two brand new yellow dusters works, it also gives jodhs that 'canary' colour. (works for shirts too).

can you tell that my children regualarly stain their show jodhs??
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I witnessed some of this when I was at a local dressage show at the weekend.
Kids sitting on their trusty steeds all day, running around, then swapping ponies and trying each others ponies out, not respecting any other horses boundaries etc, and TBH their parents are no better as they LET their kids do this!
If I had a child, and was taking them to shows, I would only let them get on 1/2 hr or so before their class, do their class, let them both cool down and chill out, and then tie the pony up, and untack, and let them relax before the next class.

With regards to "leadreiners" then doing higher classes, I think its down to people like us, to make a point out to the show organisers/judges, as that really is out of order!!
 
Yeah, only thing which really bothers me at these shows is little kids zooming about on their ponies all day long - they seem to "warm up" for hours and how many times does one have to jump the practice fence...?! I just think it shows total disrespect for their pony which isn't a good thing to learn.
 
Oh oh oh! Ask your chair if your hubby can go in the ring hors concours just to see your daughter's face! I used to sometimes do this at local shows with green horses, to get them in a ring, used to the crowds etc - they were always totally fine with it if asked before hand (I always paid the entry fee too, I thought that good manners) if the class wasn't too full. You should have seen some of the sneers on parents faces when I popped into the walk and trot class (and the gleeful smirks when we didn't get placed!) - it always made me chuckle!
 
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