What has happened to local shows?

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Not so many years ago you could go to a local show, pay around £6 a class and have a lovely day out. In my area all the shows, even the local, small grass roots ones are now doing nothing but Equifest, Chaps, Sunshine tour etc, etc, etc qualifiers and classes are now around £10. I know public liabilty insurance is expensive, but surely you are putting people off by charging so much in the current climate?? Especially those of us with "non show quality" horses and ponies who used to like going along for a nice day out and a chance at a rossette, now everything is a qualifier we won't stand a chance of even being placed!!

Sour grapes you ask? well, yes there is a bit! There is nowhere now for the hairy, scuffy but saintly kids pony to have a chance at coming home with a prize. This will put the next generation off showing altogether.

With fuel so expensive and classes at that price I have decided not to bother going again to a ridden or inhand show.

On the other side of the coin, I went to a carriage driving show last weekend where classes were still £6, the atmosphere was fantastic and the turnout was brilliant and new and novice people were helped and encouraged, so if carriage driving clubs can do it, why not riding clubs??
 
Because they need to make money! Our RC has showing classes which appear to be 'enter everything and hope something works' and judged mostly on manners rather than type, regardless of class title. The dressage runs from intro to elementary, and the SJ from a 55cm clear round to 1.05m.

Entries are £10 for non-members and £6.50 for members. The club is priced off what others in the area charge and what is needed to be charged to make running shows viable.
 
We're only charging £6 a class at our Hampshire horsewatch show. But I do agree, they have got so expensive. I remember taking £10 to a show when i was little and being able to do lots of classes and buy myself a burger! :)
 
We have lots of riding clubs around here but we actually belong to the furthest one away from us as their entries are just £3.50 for members, £10 membership, the rossys are absolutely fab and it is the best run local show i've ever been to using mostly county judges who are only to happy to have a chat with you. Starts on time every time and everyone is very friendly. No qualifying classes at all but it's always packed over there.
 
Our Riding Club showing show is still like the ones you describe. We try and make it fun for everyone and have classes for hairy ponies and young handlers where it doesn't matter what the pony's conformation is like. We like to see well behaved, safe ponies in our ridden classes and these can often be be placed higher than better put together but badly behaved exhibits. We don't tend to run any qualifiers at our showing show (except for the ex racer classes).
 
SNORKEY said:
We're only charging £6 a class at our Hampshire horsewatch show. But I do agree, they have got so expensive. I remember taking £10 to a show when i was little and being able to do lots of classes and buy myself a burger! :)
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£6 a class I don't mind - that's a fair price, but in west sussex where I live a class is now an average of £10, can't see how that is justified and it's more than a coincidence the price has shot up since all the shows became "qualifiers"
 
I need to move!! Classes round here are usually between £12-£15 each- plus a couple of £ first aid. Such an expensive day out now :0( the local shows def don't seem as 'fun' as they used to be either - it's pushy/biatchy parents central! :s
 
Ours charge £8 per class/£6 for members and £2.50 for a clear round. Not toooo bad, but hopefully we'll drop our prices next year :) It's our first year without YO and we've got an entirely new committee (which I'm on :D)

I do wish I'd suggested a class for "Best Bay" as there's only one other in-hand I can enter :(
 
Our local pc keeps prices down, charging £3.50 for members and £4.50 for others. The local rc is the oposite, charging £6 for members and £8.50 for non. I can't go to a lot of their shows this year, and so haven't re-joined, and as a consequence won't do many classes at their shows. Their theory is it will persuade more people to join, but I think it just puts people off. They do have huge rosettes, but I would rather pay a little less and have smaller ones!
 
I do agree with you how expensive alot of shows are now.
But i go to one show thats 8 quid a class and its a sunshine tour qualifer too. There busy shows and normal everyday ponies get the prizes and also get a chance a championship show that is aimed at normal everday ponies.
The jumping classes start at 40cm at the championship wtih heavy restrictions so not for pothunters and has showing classes aimed at ponies that are not nessary seen as show pony but are saintly and well mannered.
 
I'm in West Sussex too and over the last 5/10 years (ooh I feel old!) there has been a massive decline in leisure riders shows. The yard I worked at used to run a series of shows which where aimed at grass roots riders and I fought tooth and nail for the owners to keep running them and they would get more popular, but we struggled to make money and get a regular flow of competitors. We ran for 4 odd years and did open shows, clear rounds, dressage and eventers challenges.
 
It really is a shame that shows are now stupidly expensive or gone by the wayside. I do find it ironic though that a committee member of one of our local shows who is in charge of organising showing put the classes up by £4 "due to current climate and running costs being expensive" was also the same person being extremely rude in the feed shop over a bag of feed that had gone up by some 20 odd pence......:rolleyes:
 
Local show for me is £3 for members (£10 membership) and has a really friendly atmosphere - and is hacking distance. My horse is moving so hope I'll be able to find something similar near the new yard (I'm not brave enough to drive a horsebox!).
 
I have to disagree about the qualifiers moan. It is a very good idea for riding clubs to use championship shows to bring in more competitors. Equifest is a very large, week long show, extremely friendly and I would place it mid way between RC and County level. There is no charge to qualify for Equifest, it does not cost the RC a bean and it is up to the competitor to take the step to get a qualifying card, get it signed and enter the show. Not all the classes at Equifest are qualifiers.

In fact, I would go as far to say that any RC that does not have Equifest qualifiers (seeing they are free!) needs their brain testing!!

It would however be nice if riding club shows took the time to put aside a ring for gymkhana style events for little ones to enjoy and also the odd "hairiest pony" class!
 
I have a flat field which would be ideal for a show but getting one up and running costs money and more importantly pairs of hands.
I think people who used to give their time now have other responsiblities, grand children to look after so parents a can work or working to make ends meet. Twenty years ago alot of villages had their own gymkanna if not a small show, now most are concentrated on show centres because of insurance and the fact the fences, PA, tiolets are all there so they have to budget for about £1000 before a horse goes in the ring.
We all must support our local riding clubs as these seem to be the only people who have the hands and the insurance to do this cheaply, so if your not taking a pony offer to help at yours.
 
Our RC has just gone affiliated this year, due to insurance costs. It's a long standing grass roots club with (last year) a very healthy number of members, but just as others have mentioned the issue of costs isn't the only problem. It seems to be getting harder to find people willing to give their time to help out, especially stewarding. If your RC has a show, try to get your friends and family involved by helping out (even just making cakes for the judges tea!), the committee will be so grateful! :D
 
We have to run all our shows as qualifiers so that we get people to come as it seems no one supports local shows anymore, & that's charging £7 a class. We can't do classes for any less as that barely makes a profit as it is after paying for rosettes, toilets & judges. As a self funding club we are finding it harder every year to try & bring in funds that we so desperately need (& that's at a small PC branch in a deprived area) x
 
In many cases as well venue hire had to be paid and covered. Nice rosettes are not cheap either. Our rc has lovely 3 tiered ones that cost couple of pounds each. We charge 7 for members and 9 for nm
 
I can't believe the quality of rosettes these days- they are lovely, but they must cost a fortune! I wonder how neccessary it is for them to be so fancy, and would it put people of competing if they were like rosettes of old?

Surely it's only the colour that matters!!!? (says she who is grateful for any rosette, no matter the colour!).
 
I agree about the rosettes. While the ones from my youth with single tiers were a bit boring, the ones at our local rc have three tiers, pointy things coming out of them and aren't even in the regular colours (sponsors choose and each class has a certain coloured rosette). I think they're too big, take up too much room on a wall if you hang them, and are too fussy. A two tier frilly would suit me and a bit off the entrance fee!
 
We made ours plainer and everyone complained! It's finding the balance I suppose. We always have nice ones for the showing show as it's the big money maker for the year.
 
Health & Safety!

It costs our RC a fortune to put on an event and we always struggle to find enough volunteers as need an army, especially for anything XC related. Just the first aid is hundreds of pounds which is obligatory.

Local RS owners can't afford to put on open shows as they don't make any money anymore.

Sad times and I miss all the local friendly shows.
 
The ones I used to go to were about £4-£6 per class (From what I can remember) not sure what they are now.
 
Britestar said:
We made ours plainer and everyone complained! It's finding the balance I suppose. We always have nice ones for the showing show as it's the big money maker for the year.
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Ours probably would too! I think most people like them big and ostentatious, I'm old fashioned!
 
On Monday Dilwyn Show, Herefordshire will be sporting 3 horse rings. Jumping, tiny through to around 3ft, ridden showing, in hand showing. Companion dog show, main ring displays, craft tents etc etc. Entries around £5 & less. Just a good day out. Have a look at the website if you are in the area, go & have some fun. It's a real old fashioned show all in aid of charity & no I am nothing to do with the running of it but have been a few times.
 
My local RC (full disclosure, I'm a 'helper' and on the dressage team) seems to have found a happy medium with their shows. Members £3.50/class, non-members £5.50, Equifest and VHS qualifiers and "well done to everyone" after the class results over the pa system :) The only downside is its so popular that the atmosphere is 'buzzy' to say the least!

Their miniODE is also a happy mix of local kids/adults and semi-pros taking their babies out for a first outing :)
 
I think things round my way have improved! We have loads of lovely local shows with classes for everyone (even a fjord :D), and they are not terribly expensive either. Some hold qualifiers, some are just for fun, so there is something round here for everyone. Well, within 40 miles anyway, that counts as local for me!
 
Some of you are very lucky and still have reasonable classes. In west sussex it is dreadfully expensive at £10 plus a class, yet cross the border to Hampshire and there are lovely shows like Denmead and Cadnam that still have plenty of classes at £5-£6 a go, I just feel that some clubs are now getting very greedy and needless to say I will no longer be supporting them.:mad:
 
Frankly I can't imagine why anyone wants to voluntarily run anything it's damn hard work for little thanks. Without your show committees who work for nothing you wouldn't have anything to enter at all.

Showing shows in particular are just not worth the hassle. If it rains you can pretty much kiss goodbye to any money and most likely make a loss. Event insurance for cancellation is more than the profit you would make. Last year so many shows were completely washed out.

When we run an event we do want to make a profit to plough back into other things like teams, equipment and training. For dressage we have to clear around £500 before we make any money at all because we lack cheap facilities to hire in this area.

My advice is have a go at organising something yourself or volunteer to be on a committee this is the best way to influence things and find out how much they are really making.
 
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