So another Blog FHOTD, did a posting about a trainer whose student showed in the green horse class with an obviously NOT green horse and of course... Won the class, pissing off a lot of people!! Which brings me to another little point... And that is people, not just trainers, but a lot of people in general who show at local shooling shows, little piddly ones, where pasture pony's can be brought in to have fun and completely clean up and feel good about themselves...
You know EXACTLY who I'm talking about too, not the people who are getting their green horse albeit a very nicely trained, one used to showing, or the people who just like to be decked out and look nice and have a nice horse, but the people who have OBVIOUSLY perfectly trained, been to world's, so on and so forth, god's gifts to the horse word horses. They come and clean up and act oh so proud of themselves. I've seen countless BNT's do this ALL the time!! And yes, they do show in the green horse classes and yes they do cheat the system like a son of a bitch... And yes it does look really really tacky.
Bringing an experienced show horse to a schooling is fine, please don't get me wrong, if the horse is A. Getting ready for the show circuit or B. is owned by someone who is just getting into horses.
But, having a huge sense of accomplishment when your "A" system or circuit horse beats little kids on their old bomb proof horses. No I don't think so....
I used to compete against this one girl who had an very nice paint and she would clean up all of the schooling shows, but never show beyond that, because she knew then there would be REAL competition... She knew she could kick the crap out of us who were on green, nervous, just learning horses and was afraid to go beyond that because she would lose. It never did and never has stopped any of us who were there for experience from having a good time and being proud of our young ins, but it does get REALLY frustrating and all fr the sake of a ribbon...
Being proud of yourself for placing high in a class is great, but not when you know you are a million strides above everyone else, that's just a MAJOR Fatty Fail... Any showing pet peeves from you guys??? Let's hear them!!!!
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Fugs blog is suspended, again!
And, some trainers will do anything to win, putting an overclassed horse and rider combo in a beginner class is just one of the things some will do to get that blue!
We have a couple of those at the schooling shows we go to.
The people who show AT CONGRESS every year, clean up all the time.
A few of the kids at our barn who ride REALLY REALLY Well, are always up against these congress kids, and really, come ON. COME ON.
The kids from our barn do well, they are usually in the ribbons/3/4/5th, But 1/2/3rd always go to the "known congress horses."
I've only ever done schooling shows, just because I don't care to show all that much, and try to just do it for fun(totally not competitive over here!)
It's hard on the kids when they ride their BEST, and have REALLY awesome rides, but when they place lower than the congress/peanutpush pony.
There's a girl I know that used to show 4-H. She had a well trained horse and worked with a trainer on a regular basis and went to Appy Worlds. When she would show up to shows, the other riders would rolls their eyes and be very snarky. Of course, she was only able to show in her 4-H area. It got to the point that she no longer had fun so she quit her last year. I'm sure she would have done the bigger classes if her parrish (county) offered them.
I've seen training shows pull in more riders that accredited shows, however I remind my students that this is also their chance to see how it's done in the real show world. It is a training show after all, and yes, many BNT's will use it to school high dollar prospects. If a club wants to do a closed show, why not? If the show is open...it's open. Why not just learn a little and let the people who have put in the time and money get the coveted ribbon?! It also gives an amateur or kid a close up look at horses and riders that they otherwise would never get that close to in the showring.
Because the issue is that the class in question said right in its NAME that it was for Horses Who Have Never Won a Blue Ribbon.
The horse and rider in question have not only carried off world championships, but they'd won blue ribbons at a show a few weeks before.
THAT is why everyone is upset.
Sounds like the judge who didn't know the rules and requirements of a class should have been fired.
If the class rules state ANY limiting criteria for entering the class, the gatekeeper, ring steward, and the judge should be notified and held accountable for not knowing and enforcing the rules.
I cannot stand poor sportsmanship. It was my first show. I was 14 years old, and all by myself because my single mom had to work. I had a cantankerous, large POA pony who was very well trained but had been severely neglected and passed around to inexperienced children who weren't well supervised so he was really sour. We'd come a long way in the year I'd had him, I was very proud of him and fiercely protective. My ag teacher had hauled us to the show and was scheduled to come get me at 6pm. This was in '85, well before cell phones and I had no way to contact him. My pony and I won a blue ribbon in one of our 4-h open classes. We showed western and the girl in 2nd showed park. Her trainer went ballistic and came to me, told me that I didn't deserve the ribbon, I only got it because the judge was biased to western riding, and I needed to step down and let the girl have it. I said no. She went to the show officials and said make her give the ribbon back. They came to me and I said no. They called in a state official, who drove 3 hours, talked to me and then went and bought a bigger ribbon and trophy and awarded it to the girl. The entire reason they told me that I didn't deserve the trophy? She was riding a national park champion and I was riding a " goddamn spotted ass piece of crap that she yanked out of the back pasture," who happened to have won at the POA world show several years in a row, and had earned numerous ROM's prior to my rescuing him, but I didn't share that little nugget.
I was alone, these women knew that and spent several hours hounding me around, they stopped the show until they could get hold of the official and announced that it was because of a ribbon issue so everyone was standing around staring at me, and essentially did every single thing they could to embarrass, belittle, and intimidate me. I did go back and show in future years, but needless to say, I don't socialize and it takes a lot for me to trust horse people.
The actual story, from someone who was actually there..
"Okay- to clear up any miscommunication- the rider and trainer spoke with show management AND the judge prior to entering the class and asked for permission to go in for schooling. Unfortunately, her number was not turned upside down. An accident for which she apologized for and never did pick up the ribbon. After the confusion was settled, the 2nd place rider took the blue and so on and so on."
OMG!!!
shite happens.
Have fun.
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