Unfair Shows

Showing is fun. :D Just don't take it so seriously.

It's a shiney pony contest. And it's all about manners, turnout, obedience and schooling.

I can't think of a better place to educate youngsters.
If you don't win, ask the judge why (politely of course) and they will help you.

I started right at the wrong end of the line at local level. But after lessons, watching and asking questions, we are now going affiliated.
My horse was green, I was a very novice rider and I didn't start til I was into my 40s. but it was reasonably safe. :D

It's subjective, based on somebody elses opinion of perfection and everybody has their own opinion of that. but look at the breed descriptions, be honest with yourself, choose your classes carefully and have fun.

I don't do tack and turnout anymore - being beaten by horses/ponies wrongly turned out and with tack adjusted incorrectly does stick in your throat a bit.

If you feel the judge is wrong - make a complaint to the secretary and the incident will be investigated.

And for me, the fun is in moving up that line. The feeling I got when I got a 4th is comparable to the first time I won a class. That's the buzz! :D
 
I like showinf but only do it for fun! I seem to fold under pressure (jumping, dressage, showing) and lose all common sense and don't always show the horse off as well as i can se if i place i'm well chuffed!

I can appreciate judges look for different things etc but there are times when you think "really?"

We were watching a veterans class once at a local show. The girl that was placed first rocked up to the class late, horse was a skinny thing that went a round like a giraffe, it napped at the gate EVERY time she rode past it and she didn't canter in her individual show. Now...in comparison to the other horses there i really couldn't see what made her choose that one as first.
 
I LOVE showing, have competed a lot at county level, and judged locally. My best friend judges POniesUK, BSPS, BSPA, CHAPS, etc.

Its very difficult to judge locally as often people get things sooooo wrong, that you have no choice but to place the same person 1st over and over (this has happened to me a bit)

I do try to give advice as well as praise, I always say something nice about the pony. But people will put their ponies in the wrong class, get the wrong tack, wrong turnout etc etc and it can be SUCH a balancing act.

You have to remember that it is the judges opinion on the day. My old horse would either win or come last in his ridden veteran classes. He doesn;t stand still, and mostly canters. (when everyone else is walking and trotting.....)

However, some judges think he looks great, and is enjoyinghimself. Some thing he is the most badly behaved creature they have seen. I don;t care either way, as long as he enjoys himself.

The 'professionals' will be in the correct class, wearing the correct turnout for themselves, with their horse correctly turned out, with the correct tack , and will do a show that doesn't go on for 15 minutes. If everyone did that they would stand a better chance of competing against them

Don;t get me wrong , have seen some dodgy judging in my time, but this has mostly been locally.
 
As for M & M, I spent years showing non welsh M & M's and would often get REALLY annoyed by being placed down to a badly behaved idiot welsh.

Now I HAVE a badly behaved idiot welsh, and feel quite embarressed sometimes when he does well........:(
 
I used to in-hand show a beautiful New Forest foal, he was stunning and so well behaved but for the first 10 or so shows he didn't get placed but there were badly behaved nippy ones getting placed and even ones that weren't groomed properly! I thought it was an absolute joke but then out of nowhere he got 3 firsts in a row! It didn't make much sense to me or the foal's owner, it was like playing a lucky dip!

Pony Club shows used to drive me nuts, there was a girl that was the daughter of a very famous American actress, she won everything so long as it wasn't something obvious like jumping.

On the other end of the scale I had a very excitable ex racer that I stupidly entered into Best Riding Horse. He bolted round the arena on the wrong leg, jumped the jump like a donkey and did an impressive piaffe that lasted 15 minutes whilst everyone else stood square. He got 4th :eek:

Competitions are indeed fun but when you don't come home with a rosette and everyone else at the yard has about 30 it does suck a bit, my solution to this was entering my 17.3 into a tiddly 2ft clear round and getting a rosette :D
 
I entered my nearly 17 hh in a tiddly 2ft clear round and fell off !! the mums with the lead rein ponies doing the same class were every so sweet and concerned I might have hurt myself !
 
Oh damn that's terrible bad luck! Glad everyone else was nice and worried about you though. Charlie (the 17.3) constantly embarrassed me, at one particular show he developed a phobia of everything that was red in colour, come the next weekend it would be something different like a psychotic fear of cows. The most embarrassing was when he took a liking to the big beige flower on the judges hat and chewed on it whilst she checked his legs :o

Horses are frustrating creatures but they don't half have me in hysterics for the most part!
 
I've seen a fair bit of this, but find its best to not take it too seriously!
It really is like lucky dip when we take my old boy out. At one show he won the class and was used as an example to everyone else.. at the next show he was placed last (even though he was better turned out and better behaved this time around). We just don't worry about it anymore.

We did have an interesting one at one point.. he was placed last in a class, the other competitors asked me if I'd stood in the wrong place in the line up, so it wasn't just me that thought it was slightly odd. Pointed the judge out to mum later and she noticed the lady had owned him many moons ago.. we had got him cheaply and with ALOT of issues. She obviously wasn't very happy to see him out!
 
Amy1990 said:
I've seen a fair bit of this, but find its best to not take it too seriously!
It really is like lucky dip when we take my old boy out. At one show he won the class and was used as an example to everyone else.. at the next show he was placed last (even though he was better turned out and better behaved this time around). We just don't worry about it anymore.

We did have an interesting one at one point.. he was placed last in a class, the other competitors asked me if I'd stood in the wrong place in the line up, so it wasn't just me that thought it was slightly odd. Pointed the judge out to mum later and she noticed the lady had owned him many moons ago.. we had got him cheaply and with ALOT of issues. She obviously wasn't very happy to see him out!
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actually, if the judge had owned him at one point, then she would not have been allowed to place him. In fact, she should have asked you to leave the ring.
 
Exactly, I was too young to remember her when we bought him so I didn't recognise her, if I did, I would have said something

My point was, instead of handling it properly she chose to ignore it and fob me off. Just doesn't seem very professional
 
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