Riding club Showing - are standards dropping?

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It's now been a few years since I have had any dealings with the showing world. I popped along to a riding club show, quite a large one with equifest and riding club pony qualifiers. The ridden were well turned out but some of the handlers attire in the inhand classes was quite shocking to say the least!

Now back in my day - yes I am old, when showing inhand your turnout was as important as that of the horse or pony you were handing and you could win or lose a class on it. On hot days we would wear a waistcoat with our shirt and tie instead of a jacket - on the judges say so of course, and a proper hat.

Today there were people qualifying wearing, jeans....yes JEANS, trainers (I do understand trainers when running a welsh D, but subtle ones) and those casual country boots with laces up the side, also worn by some ladies were strappy tops - I think the judge was watching something other than the pony!! I pointed this out to a friend who said that this is the norm now....what a shame if it is.

Maybe I'm just an old bag but I thought showing was all about the overall picture?

Chunters off back to a corner...
 
Yes, IMO standards have dropped drastically these days. I find some of the qualifiers a bit silly too if I'm honest. Trailblazers for instance you get through to the championship if you are within the top six at the second round. Well, at a lot of riding club shows there aren't many more, if not less, in the class so it's pretty much a given that you will qualify. I've seen some pretty shocking horses and handlers/riders qualify. In one recent show, someone who wasn't even within rosette placings qualified for the Trailblazers champs. It takes the prestige out of it IMO.

Turnout wise there are some shockers. Like you say, trainers, strappy tops, boobs hanging out are all regular occurrences in classes now. :-(
 
Sounds like you were at my riding club today!

We had the usual immaculately turned out riders and horses/ponies in the ridden classes, then some horrors in the in hand! One lady had red jeans on and a strappy top, and 2 others in "normal" clothes. One of the horses had a flash noseband on I believe too. They were both placed...
 
I was in a Shetland class at our local show only 4 of us were turned out correctly , then about 8 people in jeans, hoodies , hair down , trainers etc came in and all got placed above me who came last ....... And I spent the entire day the day before plaiting and replanting the mane so his knee length mane fell n the correct side and we got penalised cos his willy was out the entire class .... :(
 
I agree. You will always have people that are novices at showing without the correct kit which is fair enough but they should still be tidy ie gloves, hairnets etc

I think the problem is that when novices ask for advice, people say "oh its only a local show, you dont need to worry" well sorry, yes you should worry. You should turn out for every show as if its your own personal HOYS. Its a platform to show you and your horse off at its best and you never know who's watching
 
mrogers said:
I agree. You will always have people that are novices at showing without the correct kit which is fair enough but they should still be tidy ie gloves, hairnets etc

I think the problem is that when novices ask for advice, people say "oh its only a local show, you dont need to worry" well sorry, yes you should worry. You should turn out for every show as if its your own personal HOYS. Its a platform to show you and your horse off at its best and you never know who's watching
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Fully agree.
 
I've not seen people dressed like this in a show, ever. I didn't actually know people would ever turn up in scruffy gear! For me, part of the fun is dressing up - sometimes I wish I had a non-native pony I could plait! (But then I spend the best part of an hour plaiting and replaiting a dressage horse, and my fingers begin to hate me).
If I was in a show and got placed below someone turned out awfully, I would probably avoid that judge for ever more!
 
Lame horses and poor turnout all seem to get overlooked unfortunately. Another I saw recently was a clearly lame horse who was pulled up in the ring by the judge, placed last and sent out without being allowed to do a lap of honour with the rest out of the ring. Said person then carried on sitting on the horse before entering another class. :-(
 
Im shocked that people were dressed THAT scruffily. Ive seen people not turned out very well but never that badly :|

I will admit to not being very good at show turnout, but I try my best and we do go in looking presentable, I just need more practice. Wouldn't dream of going without my show clothes!
 
Its not just local shows! Affiliated Shetland Showing sees some sites! For the last 4 years the same person has led a shetland foal wearing high heels, over the knee black socks, black and white tartan mini skirt, blouse undone to the bottom of the bra, 3in of make up and hair done up like they were going for a night out. This is at the Royal Highland Show and the woman is in her 40's ...

Lord help us all!
 
EKW said:
Its not just local shows! Affiliated Shetland Showing sees some sites! For the last 4 years the same person has led a shetland foal wearing high heels, over the knee black socks, black and white tartan mini skirt, blouse undone to the bottom of the bra, 3in of make up and hair done up like they were going for a night out. This is at the Royal Highland Show and the woman is in her 40's ...

Lord help us all!
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Ewww...
 
Ive seen an awful lot of brightly coloured skinny jeans and garishly coloured football boots recently along with the usual scruffy types but apparently it doesnt matter what you wear now, its all about how well you know the judge!
 
I've seen people win at our local show when the pony has been in a normal coloured headcollar! Handlers in jeans and grubby t shirts. Makes you so mad when you splash out on the correct gear and spend hours getting your pony ready. Like someone said, I treat it like my own personal HOYS. I find they either know the judge, or the handler is a cute little kid and they win, despite their pony being dragged reluctantly around the ring in no more than a sleepy walk.
 
Having turned up immaculately turned out only to place behind a grubby pony in a coloured saddle cloth with the pony's name embroidered on it I agree that some judges aren't maintaining standards.

At local level somethings are understandable like skull caps with a cover or black tack. Even short boots and chaps. Others like no gloves, loose ponytails or coloured saddle cloths are so cheaply rectified there is no excuse and the judge should have a friendly word.
 
When people say on here "it's only a local show so doesn't matter" they generally mean it in the sense you don't have to have all the gear as long as you are smart!

I understand some novices won't have everything, or may not want to buy stuff especially for showing if they only intend to do a couple of classes that year but come on! Everyone can at least borrow a shirt and tie from someone! Or wear some kind of smart top. Its like me turning up for dressage in a t-shirt and yard boots!

When I've done in-hand before I've just worn my beige jods, black riding boots and shirt and tie. Yes I probably do look ridiculous in an in-hand class but compared to the woman who was wearing shorts and t-shirt think I looked a bit smarter!

I'm suprised they allow people in with heels or strappy shoes these days. Surely it's just common H&S?
 
Gloi said:
It isn't a new thing - it was like this when I was showing in the 1970s and 80s
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It wasn't when I was showing twenty odd years ago. Yes, you got the very odd person who was turned out badly but nowhere near the amount you do now.
 
My experience of local showing has always been smart turnout. I've only once saw someone try to show in 'normal' clothes and pony placed last for this reason. I've seen plenty of black tack/ dressage saddles/ skulls with covers but that is understandable at local level, and the odd few times I've seen novices with wrong tack e.g. a flash it has been gently pointed out. That is at RC and agricultural shows.
 
At my local show, the ridden judges are wonderful. They are fair, you only get highly placed if you are correctly turned out and smart, even down to having a dirty bit, wonky tie or hair out of place etc. Your performance is everything and I won my first class this year out of 4 gorgeous horses because our show piece was the best!

Then you have in hand which is completely different! You can wear what you like, ponies look like they have been dragged from the field and never seen a brush, wrong tack etc. I always turn us both out like someone said before, our own personal HOYS. That way I know we did our best.
 
I believe it closely linked to those who want to red (or whatever colour) jackets for show jumping - we now live in a society where people do as they please. "if you're having a good time then that's all that matters." seems to be the thought now and it's sad :(
 
Another thing which I've noticed happens a lot now is that a lot of people tend to enter different classes which they shouldn't, and get placed in both! For instance, riding horse and hunter - two completely separate types of horse, yet I've noticed people will enter the hunter class, get placed, go out, shove a coloured browband on, go in riding horse, and get placed by the same judge again. :-(
 
I agree there are a lot of folk don't make any effort these days . I was at a show yesterday with my new highland filly and I managed to look fairly smart without spending a fortune. I bought beige trousers off eBay , I had brown walking boots, borrowed a shirt and tie and wore my navy waistcoat on top and my navy showing hat. It's not hard to improvise to at least make urself tidy. Even black trousers which most folk own a pair of with shirt and tie at least shows you have made a bit of an effort.
 
I'd almost say it's the opposite at our RC. There a lot of "all the gear, no idea" types. I've never seen anyone in jeans or trainers. I have to admit to doing lead rein classes with my stepson in jods and a waxed jacket as there was no way I was getting into all the hat and skirt lark and I had to run round leadrein gymkhana and other classes afterwards!

I agree with whoever said that when people give the "don't worry too much, it's only a local show" advice they're usually replying to someone who is worried that they have the wrong coloured jacket or gloves etc, or wanting to plait a tail rather than pull it. Nobody is ever saying go scruffy nobody care (well not from what I've seen).
 
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