search for a star, opinions please !

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dane07

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im thinking about taking my boy to the qualifiers next year for the workers, but have seen alot of bad press about it this year, its supposed to give us amatuers a chance to qualfiy for the show of a liftetime yet is was said that well know proffesionals where schooling horses before they went in the ring and that some of the horses in the ring had been shown by the professionals all season .... has anyone competed, can give me any feedback as to is it really worth it or is it just another showing money making scheme ?
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I did it in 03 and it was absolutely brill - certainly can't see another way of competing at HOYS, Sounds like it has changed some since then though....
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Frankly whatever you do in horses will sometimes be like that. I think its no different to some dressage people/Sj I know. I personally think if you are winning at local level, winning at the next grade up which are larger agriculture shows but not full on county shows then you should do it. All you can do is gain from it and learn.
 
well i was on the seib forum and there was a lot of complaints about i believe someone actually had there qualification stripped ! i just dont see the point in spending all that money knowing there are professionals there and its not a fair chance .....
 
I did it the first year it ran and had an amazing experience.

As the competition progressed I followed it with interest and the standard has risen dramtically.

The year we went was 1998 and we finished 2nd in the cobs. The standard was good, the first placed cob and ourselves had been well placed at county level and had done well in amateur classes.

I tried again a couple of years later with another cob and then in the riding club horse and didn't get a look in.

In all honesty if we tried today with the same cob I don't think we would qualify. He was, and still is, a nice county standard show cob but some of the previous winners have gone on to compete in open classes at HOYS and win.

It is good fun and the qualifiers are very busy so you can't always get the chance to chat to the judges but it's a great experience and you won't know if you don't try
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i agree lec i suppose its the same in everything, ive turned away from the ridden hunter and headed more for the workers and this we may have a better chance, he does extremely well local level and we where 4th at angelsey county in august so maybe just need to cross my fingers !!
 
I dream of doing this!!

Okay so you MAY be up against the professionals outside of the ring, you will be in any sport in some form or other - but unless you try you don't stand a chance.

I am sure the people moaning did not get 1st or 2nd place.
 
I groomed for my best friend there in 06 and it was great fun. It is def worth a go for the experience of a life time. I have heard some bad press about it but I still say give it a shot and show them all!!!
 
I did the qualifiers this year, and the people who qualified certainly weren't pro's!! I got pulled in 2nd originally, but put down to 3rd as the riding judge thought he was a bit lazy. And I agree he was very lazy that day. I'm still going to try again for next years q's, and this time I will feed oats the week before!!
 
I think you may have got your wires a little crossed. The only person who was not eligible to qualify had misunderstood the rules (which are a little hazy in places) and subsequently withdrew well before the final. The rest of the contenders were not professionally produced before they qualified. It is possible that some may have gone to a pro yard AFTER they qualified, but this is allowed in the rules. Having said that, I didn't see any pros involved with anyone and I am fairly sure I would have heard on the grapevine if this were the case. And I promise you it is a damn sight cheaper to qualify for SFAS and do HOYS than it is to do the open classes at HOYS.

SEIB who sponsor SFAS do not make any money out of the event. They have to pay for judges, venues around the country and finally for the ring at HOYS.

It would be good to hear where you got your information from.
 
Worried1 - I competed at the finals of SFAS in the same year as you and completely agree that the standard has improved and showing the same pony now I very much doubt we would have qualified. I'm interested to see that you've competed in qualifiers since, because I didn't think the rules allowed anyone who had competed at HOYS since 1997 (even in SFAS classes) to compete in qualifiers, however this hasn't affected me as I've since qualified a horse in the open cob class so am definatley ineligable!

There have been a few hiccups this year with a couple of people who qualified later being found to be ineligable, and there being very little time alloted to the finals judging at HOYS, but I believe it's a great class for true ameteurs to get the chance to go to HOYS and even if they only make it to a qualifier you can recieve very valuable advice to help with your showing ambitions. You've got nothing to loose by doing the qualifiers.
 
My friend qualified this year and I think she really enjoyed it but thought once she was at HOYS the judge hardly looked at her horse, but at least she got there and got a plaque.
Might try with the bay next year as FFM admired him when I put his dressage to music on here, and I reckon she knows her stuff
 
Sister competed in the subsequent qualifiers she wanted to jump on the bandwagon - sorry I should have made it clearer in original post by saying we.

I didn't break any rules honest
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Someone from our local riding club competed her gelding that she bred herself (part Cleveland Bay, SSM) in the Riding Club Horse class this year. She worked very hard and won the class....I think the true amateur can still complete in this class and be successful, have a look at the photos on http://www.theimagefile.com/?skin=3825&Action=_VC&id=117521&ppwd=rc5412sk you will see very good quality horses. I think the standard in show classes is rising each year even at local level.
 
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