PotHunting! Sorry but........

dianchi

dianchi

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I know this causes lots of tension on here with what some people think is and isnt HOWEVER-

I went to a local unaffiliated dressgae show yesterday and the winning scoring in the 2nd Prelim was 89%
2nd was 72 and 3rd 70%%-no issues there and the rest of the class was marked evenly.
This was a qualifier for a local unaffilated champs but surely this is ridiculous, the horse also qualified in the elementary final at a previous show!

The girl is very well known by the show organiser as well. How demoralising for true prelim riders!
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Flipping heck, 89%?!?!?
A bit gutting for the person who got 72% with is a fab score and deserved to qualify - are there no rules about who can enter?
TBF it happens everywhere to some extent, I was at th RC Nationals last year and overheard the members of another team discussing the fact that they had to be really careful about what affiliated classes they did because they didn't want to have to move up to the open section at the RC nationals.....they wanted to stay as Novice which means Prelim tests.....kinda defeats the purpose of splitting it into Novice and Open doesn't it?!?!
 
Rules are very vague!
I was gutted i rode 68.9% and didnt even get placed in a class of 35!
Did seem a bit like alot of well known local good horses were out to play yesterday in easy playing field!
Really does sometimes make u wonder why we go out.

Maybe ill do the walk trot test next time!
 
I'm not totally disagreeing with you!! but i'm sure i'll get acused of 'pot hunting' next weekend!!
There's no where else for me to go, so i'm taking my Adv. eventer to do an unaff. novice dressage at a riding for the disabled center
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I agree that it's unfair when the class being entered is a qualifier for something (in which case it should be limited to a certain standard of entry) but when it's a normal open class, whatever the level, sometimes there's just no where else to go and competition horses need quiet outings sometimes
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P.S. i'm not totally pot hunting, my horse is soooooo retarded at dressage it's untrue
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he prob. couldn't even win prelim 1
 
I'd agree with you if there was anything worth winning at unaffiliated dressage! Prehaps rossette hunting would be a better title!!
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Our RC splits classes into Open and restricted, where restricted must not have been placed 1st to 3rd in any dressage competition. I think its a very good idea.
 
Other local shows are very fair in there sections- restricted is never to have been placed 1-3 3 times at that level and open is never to have been placed 1-3 in the level above!-some might even say its a lil harsh but at least you know the standard you are riding against!

Its just such a shame that affiliated people can compete and win qualifiers for the unaffil champs-aimed at giving people the chance to compete at a championship.
 
To be honest its down to the organisers to put restrictions on entries......if I can enter a class I will because my horse needs the outings....a lot of horses are out doing unaffliliated competitions at the moment because the regionals are coming up and its good practise.

Its no good complaining about the winner if they are perfectly entitled to enter the class they are competing in. Its not pot hunting....its competing.
 
That's exactly what we do too - all our classes (bar walk & trot which is restricted only) has open & restricted sections (restricted to never to have been placed 1st to 3rd).... there is also an unwritten rule that once you've got points you can't do Prelims any more (even Open). Some members still do (as a warm up) and they go HC

It works well for us as we know our members well and the local competition centres so we can soon spot someone trying to pull a fast one
 
I haven't got a problem with experienced horses needing to get out and compete especially if it is for eventing purposes surely thats why there are open classes- we used to take eventers out for a run locally unaff HC.
 
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I haven't got a problem with experienced horses needing to get out and compete especially if it is for eventing purposes surely thats why there are open classes- we used to take eventers out for a run locally unaff HC.

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Yes but if you're eliogable for the class why shouldn't you compete?
 
I compete my horse at affiliated and unaffiliated dressage, and to be honest we do better at the affiliated comps!!!

I only ever do classes I am eligable and avoid prelims now even if I am eligable.

I think everywhere you get the battle of the pot hunters, but it isn't always the case, some people do it for fun and happen to do really well, then they move on. It is those who fail to move on that annoy me.
 
I just feel its quite sad that obviously talented partnerships decide to big big fish in small ponds. Also they are riding at elementary level and also qualifying at that level
 
If people want to reintroduce an experienced horse to a lower level of competition, they can always go HC.

I have been tempted before to go and ask an obvious pot hunter whether they would like my home address, so that they can go and shove s**t my letterbox as well!
 
How do you know someone is a pot hunter? How do you know the horse hasn't spent the last week on its hind legs refusing to enter an arena? Or the rider hasn't had a horrible fall and totally lost their nerve?

Sometimes people do well when they are least expecting it, and sometimes we would all do well to be a little less judgmental - if you don't like other people winning, then don't compete....
 
I know when the rider competes regularly on the same horse at county or national level. Is that good enough for you!!!
 
I know of someone who went round Badminton who was doing unaff prelims on a very established horse. She'd had a spinal tumour and found balance very difficult. Unless you know people personally, well enough to know things like that, then sorry, but I would not be so quick to judge.
 
anyway why are you so bitter, aren't you more interested in your own/horses performance???.
I love performing again top class folks, come nowhere but, i'm not out there to win rossettes?? but to improve my horse training and enjoy, sounds like you wanted a rossette??? so does that make you a pot hunter ???
 
To be honest, when I first took Hannah back out competing, I could see some people watching her because realitisically she is not a preliminary horse and we were doing two prelim tests (she was competing elementary before having Troy). She achieved good marks, a 70% and 69% and I was so pleased with her because this was the first time she had been out in 16 months and had only weaned her foal 6 weeks previously.

But she is a very bad traveller, and I wanted to give her some experience without adding the pressure on her... I wouldn't say I was 'pot hunting', more trying to get my horse out after a long period off work and out of competing.
 
I know the type of people the post is about. A local partnership comptes and wins at elementary level, only at certain places, the impression is that if she went anywhere else she may be beaten.
She also competes at prelim level when she can and obviously wipes the floor woth most genuine prelim partnerships.

That is one of the reasns I went affiliated, also I like a challenge!!
 
Sometimes you have to ask yourself whether the judging is upto scratch.

At one of my local centres one person won on 100% and the 2nd placed rider got 99%. Ridiculous!

But then if it had been judged by a 'proper' judge perhaps the marks would've been more realistic, like low 70's then no one would've gone home thinking the whole thing was a farce.
 
At the end of the day I'm sorry but you sound a bit jealous, they will have their reasons for entering it. Maybe you could find a restricted competition to enter so you can 'compete' against only those you think you have a chance against?
 
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Sometimes you have to ask yourself whether the judging is upto scratch.

At one of my local centres one person won on 100% and the 2nd placed rider got 99%. Ridiculous!

But then if it had been judged by a 'proper' judge perhaps the marks would've been more realistic, like low 70's then no one would've gone home thinking the whole thing was a farce.

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that is absolutely bloody ridiculous...i would have been fuming if i had entered that...it gives a very unrealistic mark!
 
I appreciate what Spotty Cat has to say but also in my area there are a number of well known pot hunters at unaffiliated level, I know of one well known person who will still do a prelim on her elementary horse given half a chance. She could affiliate but never seems to.....

I also know of a local riding club whose team has competed repeatedly at the national championships at Lincoln at preliminary level whose members' horses work at medium, they won't affiliate them because they want to do the nationals. Absolutely no question they are pot hunting.

There is nothing wrong with having a targeted approach to competing your horse to give yourself a fighting chance in winning. The issue arises when you regularly win at your given level and then don't move on to the next level.
 
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I appreciate what Spotty Cat has to say but also in my area there are a number of well known pot hunters at unaffiliated level, I know of one well known person who will still do a prelim on her elementary horse given half a chance. She could affiliate but never seems to.....

I also know of a local riding club whose team has competed repeatedly at the national championships at Lincoln at preliminary level whose members' horses work at medium, they won't affiliate them because they want to do the nationals. Absolutely no question they are pot hunting.

There is nothing wrong with having a targeted approach to competing your horse to give yourself a fighting chance in winning. The issue arises when you regularly win at your given level and then don't move on to the next level.

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I agree with this. Some people you can just tell are pothunters. When I had my old horse we went to most of the local shows all summer. Some people there you would see week after week on horses that they were competing at Intermediate level BE, or a decent level BSJA. Not difficult horses, not just out for the odd run for experience, but competing week after week just to pick up the prizes. Some of them would even enter the 2ft6, 2ft9 and the Open, every time.

People can enter what classes they want, but I do think its pretty poor sportsmanship to compete way below your level at local classes on a regular basis, unless you have a particular reason to.
 
I'm not saying pothunting doesn't happen, just saying that people are terribly intolerant these days and if you just cut other people some slack then you might just enjoy yourself a bit more. Not aimed at anyone BTW!

For example - who will confess to crap riding in the warm-up? I know I've had dozy moments, but the way people go on you'd think everyone on here rides perfectly all the time and competes at exactly the right level that the rest of the world thinks they should.....and if that's true, who is riding badly in the warm up and pot hunting?!
 
Don't think it's fair to say that if people are at a certain level they should affiliate because some people simply can't afford it.

I agree it pees me off seeing people doing the 2ft 3" Beginners class and then the 3ft 3" Open at the same show week after week if they're winning, but there are so many other things on (well in this area anyway) that you can just go somewhere else that has restrictions.

It's partly the Show Centres fault because they don't stipulate any restriction so they can get as many entries as possible, but then you can't blame them for that either as this is Business.

There's also a RC in my Area who are known as having a 'professional Novice Team' in all disciplines and most of those members are easily capable of moving up a level. It annoys the rest of us, but if our Novices beat them then we're unsportingly pleased!!
 
I think there is a difference between pot-hunting & taking a horse out for experience/practice/etc.
Plenty of people take their horse out for a bit of a run in a class that is not going to cause too many problems/too much stress but I do feel that if you are competing in a class that you are obviously far too advanced for you should be thinking about going HC.
Someone I know was out competing a new horse at unaffiliated Prelim last weekend even though she's spent the last couple of weeks telling everybody that it's working at Advanced Medium. She won the class with a very good score. Now I understand that she has not competed this horse before & is not necissarily an AM rider & I don't even think she was wrong to take the horse out & do a fairly easy test but I do think it might of been an idea to go HC. Ultimatley if you are taking a horse out to see what it can do it shouldn't matter if it wins or comes last, you should be going for the experience.
Just my opinion tho. I rarely compete at the moment as my lad is in need of some work first but when I do start doing more I will start low & aim to move up when we get comfortable at a level.
 
well, at our riding club they run competitions every friday night. we go to support our club as it does not have that many riders, but the horse open class is max 1m and not even that!! so we go i am happily competing on my horse at 1m to 1m10, so although it may seem like pothunting, it really isnt as we dont aim to win we are there to support and have an outing! and we dont win all the time either - there are more serious proper pothunters that go!
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last sunday i was at a dressage competition and there was one lady X and she does all the affiliated dressage around, competes up to elim and i think she is moving up, and she entered the novice 21 test - and she got 59%. yet the winning score was from a novice eventer who got 76% and she is there to support the pony club and get an outing - who would you rather win? (i wud say me every time
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