WHY?!

[whywhywhy]

Can somebody please explain to me why people feel the need to enter their ponies in HOYS qualifiers when they have already qualified?! I just cant get my head round it - they have qualfied, what is the point?! They have their ticket, they have nothing to prove; why cant they give someone else a chance! At the Royal Welsh yesterday a HOYS ticket was lost because the top 3 ponies had already qualified! I find this so annoying and also really unfair! It really does get to me!

[kmg]

I dont think the competitors are to blame as the Royal Welsh is such a fabulous show, if you are entered you are going to go.

I think the rules should change and the HOYS ticket goes to the pony in the top 5 that hasnt qualified.

however i can see your point....! Maybe this is why some ponies never get to HOYS because people keep entering the classes once qualified and standing top!

[Cobbler]

I think that it is the rules that need to be looked at not the competitors.

Great shows like the RW should be well supported, and quite rightly attracts some of the best examples of the breed.

The way to remedy this is that the WPCS should place lower to counteract this.

Are you a member of WPCS ? perhaps attend their AGM and air your concerns, or write to them

[fullcircle]

I can see both sides of this. Interestingly, there was a thread on here not long ago about a pony who won 2 HOYS qualifiers and then qualified Olympia, but was then put forward in yet another HOYS qualifier! It did make me think, how many did they want to win? I agree the big popular shows will attract many competitors. Also agree that qualification should pass down to 5th. With so many gorgeous ponies in the qualifiers, more often than not more than just the top 3 are worthy of a ticket! However... how would it feel to qualify for HOYS in 5th place?! Personally, i think it takes something away from the whole achievement. I think everyone who qualifies should have the joy of the win to go with their ticket!

[dancer]

Another problem is that the closing dates for a lot of shows are so early - people qualify early in the season but have still paid entries for later shows so they compete at them.
I agree it doesn't seem fair but it's not cheap to enter so I can appreciate why they still turn up.

[thecremellosociety]

or is it to block places ? bit naughty !

[ponymum]

Just think how the jockey in 4th is feeling today....

[littlehorse]

Jul 25, 2008 12:02:29 GMT dancer said:

Another problem is that the closing dates for a lot of shows are so early - people qualify early in the season but have still paid entries for later shows so they compete at them.
I agree it doesn't seem fair but it's not cheap to enter so I can appreciate why they still turn up.

Mind you now the entry fee is the cheap part of showing surely its the travelling costs that are the expensive part! Stay at home give the pony a well deserved break and others a chance!!

[hannahlh]

i was thinking this exact thing at RWAS yesterday when the ticket was lost, although the winners were very well deserved and beautiful ponies, its just such a shame that the ticket was lost as there were lovely quality ponies in the whole class and the ones in 4th/5th were definatly good enough to qualify.
Never seen cotteral Ameretto in the flesh before, lovely pony, is that rider that of Roseberry model man or do they just look alike??

[Giddie]

I do think there is something to be said for it remaining with the top three places, sad as it is for those in fourth or fifth. l totally echo the quality of those top three ponies, it just happens to be that Rosemarche Holly Sprig is just my favourite ponies and to me is the ideal M&M pony, so yes l feel very sorry for the owner and jockey.

I also have to totally agree that Cottrell Ameretto is just stunning and a really beautiful pony deserving the win. Another that didn't get a look in, that caught my eye was Rhydspence Casper a beautiful little cream gelding that went almost foot perfect...Well done to all you, you certainly gave me a lot of pleasure watching from the sides..

Think the issue is that it is the RWAS and the entries always have to be in so early...That is probably why they continue to compete.

[try]

We entered three HOYS qualifiers this year. Swansea, Cheshire and the Royal Welsh. These were about the only three that were within comfortable travelling distance for us and about all we could afford to enter!. We qualified at Swansea, didnt go to Cheshire as we had already qualified but we did decide to compete at the Royal Welsh as the owner of our pony was over in this country and she had never seen him under saddle in the show ring, also because the Royal Welsh is such a prestigious show and we enjoy it tremendously. The RW was our ponys 6th show this year and he did three shows last year.
We were very pleased to be second and top section A and i am extremely shocked and saddened that anyone can insinuate we went there to "block" other ponies from qualifying, and i am sure the owners and riders of the other two ponies would feel the same.
I do feel it is sad that no one qualified yesterday because the top three had already qualified but that was very unfortunate and just reinforces the quality of the ponies that were there.
We wont be in any further HOYS qualifiers this year and if the Royal Welsh actually had ridden classes for A's and B's like they do for the C's and D's we wouldnt have been in the one at the Royal Welsh yesterday!

[Giddie]

Try just let me say you ahve a beautiful pony there and it was my first pick. I fully understand what you are saying..Well done for qualifying and very good luck in the future at HOYS..I will be there to cheer you on !!

[shelleyj]

quite right giddie, he is a total star, as are the jockey and the rest of the 'family'!! They are at rw year in year out and deserve their success

[thecremellosociety]

My answer i must stress wasnt aimed at anyone and not in general about hoys qualifiers but we have had it with much lower key qualifiers around here, i was not for one instance aiming this at anyone and wouldnt know what had qualified and where ? Was just answering the general question in this post, so please dont take it personally, i have no interest in who or what is doing what, and wish i hadnt written the remark i did, it wasnt meant as it probably has come out, it was just a answer with a possible reason as to why SOME people may do this, not all and nobody in particular, and is meant at all qualifiers not just HOYS, but simple qualifiers.

[hannahlh]

Jul 25, 2008 17:57:55 GMT try said:

We wont be in any further HOYS qualifiers this year and if the Royal Welsh actually had ridden classes for A's and B's like they do for the C's and D's we wouldn't have been in the one at the Royal Welsh yesterday!

I agree, there should be breed classes for the A's and B's as well as the HOYS classes, and maybe the A's and B's should be split...seeing as there were soooo many entries for that class?
don't think it will happen but would be good if it did
Anyway well done to everybody who did qualify and to those in 4th and 5th place with the ticket lost, very sad, but I'm sure there are lots more opps to get your ticket

[Hayche.]

We qualified HOYS and olympia early on in the season, what classes are we surposed to do after that?
they cant just have the whole season OFF!!!
And waste all the entries we have already payed for!!!
Sometimes it is not worth goin for one pony so we put the qualifed pony on because its entered! and keeps the other one company!
Andd do you think that the qualified pony might enjoy goin to the shows?
well ours does and gets in a mood if shes left behind.
Its all exsperiance for the pony aswell, we go to the big shows with the atmasphere [which are no more than 1:30hours away] to prepear the pony for the real thing!
So If The POny Is Luckey enough like ours to have qualifed twice! then its a bonus and it shows how worthy the pony is to have qualifed.

[ponylover1]

I personally think their should be a system some how where it could be stated on the day of a show that competitors could let show secretaries know they have already qualified so therefore the judge & steward can be informed on on their class sheets & then maybe the cards can then be past down the line & make it fair for every body concerned.
( i`m not saying the ponies that have already qualified should not be placed where the judge thinks appropriate)

[diadem]

Awww, try, I think you werre sitting behind me with your owner and I could see that you were both really excited to be there. Thats good. And I bet there are many people out there like you that do it all for the love of it and well you pay your money so you should do your class. Best of luck with your little man. I am very proud of the Royal welsh and just wish that there was an a/b ticket put forward, Hollysprig was just divine. But that s the rules at the mo isnt it.

IMO the problem lies with the rules not with you competitors. Perhaps the ticket should go down further at the judges discretion.

[smokeycott]

O.K PROBABLY GET SHOUTED AT FOR THIS BY HERE WE GO, I THINK IF YOU HAVE A GOOD PONY AND IT QUALIFIES IT SHOULDNT HAVE TO RETIRE FOR THAT SEASON, AND IF IT WINS LOTS UNDER DIFFERENT JUDGES IT MUST BE DESERVING SO WHY SHOULDNT IT GO TO SHOWS, I KNOW IT FRUSTRATING IF THE SAME PONY WINS ALL THE TIME, BUT THATS WHAT SHOWING IS ABOUT THE BEST PONY ON THE DAY "SHOULD" WIN, AND IF YOU PASSED THE TICKET DOWN TO FOURTH AND THEY HAD QUALIFIED WHERE SHOULD IT END, SAYING ANYONE WHO HASNT QUALIFIED CAN HAVE IT.
ITS VERY DIFFICULT TO WORK OUT HOW TO SOLVE THIS,
BUT I SUPPOSE THERE WILL BE SOME OWNERS THAT WILL SAY I WONT TRAVEL FOR 4 HRS TO QUALIFY WHEN I HAVE ALREADY? BUT THERE IS SOME PRESIGE FOR WINNING AT THESE BIG SHOWS LIKE THE RWAS, OTHER THAN THE QUALIFICATION. AH BUT WHAT DO I KNOW???

[diane]

About as much as me probably smokeycott but with WPCS, if you have medalled your pony previously, then you can still take the Championship but the medal is passed on to the next pony....or is that something completely different? Only know about in hand..sorry!

[smokeycott]

I DO WELSHIES INHAND TOO, BUT MY DAUGHTER DID RIDDEN SOME YEARS AGO BUT I SUPPOSE ITS ALL CHANGED SINCE THEN!!!

[dawnie]

I think it would be better to pass the ticket down the line. It would also be a bit poor from a spectators point of view if they turned up to watch what they hoped to be a big quality class only to find anything that has already taken a ticket has stayed at home. Perhaps then it would be questioned had their qualification been a fluke? I would be pretty gutted though if I missed out on qualifying for something if the top places were taken ... really think it would be fairer all round to pass the qualifier down the line.

[busybusy]

I think the BSPS have the right idea - the qualification passes down the the highest placed pony not already qualified in the top 5. I can understand people wishing to compete at such shows as the Royal, RWAS etc. Perhaps the answer is to give the qualifiers to less "glamorous" shows??!!
Certainly in the working hunter classes I can understand someone already qualified feeling the need to carry on jumping the HoYs standard tracks.

[fmm]

In addition to having to enter months in advance so you don't know whether you will have qualified by then or not, it is also good to have your horse/pony winning high profile competitions - half the battle is being "seen" to be doing well. It is up to the societies to decide how far down the line the ticket goes. At the BSHA the ticket for HOYS goes down to 5th place now, and at the Nat Champs, the HOYS ticket goes as far down as 9th place if necessary.

We have our horses and ponies to take to shows - that is what we enjoy doing - and to say that you should no longer be allowed to compete if you have qualified is really a bit silly. I can understand how it may well be frustrating, but if your pony/horse is good enough, then it will eventually qualify.

[littlehorse]

Surely though the current ruling with Olympia is that you can not compete a pony that has already qualified regardless of whether entered or not? There are plenty of other exciting things to do with ponies!!! - and if they are of the standard to qualify more than once they most probably will not miss out on the 'experience' of the event!! - and with diesel costs then the entry fee is a drop in the ocean by comparison so poss 'blocking' IS more to the point - entries are always large enough to ensure the specatators have plenty of 'quality' ponies to look at and the added excitment of enjoying someone's success and obvious delight when the qualify rather than extreme disapointment when they are blocked!

[Get real]

To whoever said that once they've qualified for HOYS/Olympia there is nothing but the HOYS/Olympia classes to do, you are a complete moron .

There are pleanty of other classes that you are eligible for, the Bob templeton, kingsford, bsps open as well as plenty of workers classes and then many other disciplines etc etc.

If all you and your pony can do is walk, trot and canter around an enclosed ring all year then you and your pony are pretty talentless , a horse shouldn't just do showing when there is so much more on offer!!!

[diadem]

I know plenty of M and M s that are talented driving ponies and jump a useful cross country. It s not all about trotting and cantering around a ring and to assume so is just blinkered.

Of course all these people know what other competitions there are out there, they know this sphere inside out, and im sure they are not morons.

[diane]

Goodness me Get Real..I think you need to go in to anger management

[i agree]

I kind of agree with get real, albeit in a less aggrressive way but it is that sort out to do only every HOYS/OLYMPIA class available attitude that ruins higher level showing.

Diane perhaps you are a little laid back about the state of showing, the amount of people who have given up showing due to predictability of it is ridiculous .

[neddies]

Sept 15, 2008 18:06:23 GMT @i agree said:

I kind of agree with get real, albeit in a less aggrressive way but it is that sort out to do only every HOYS/OLYMPIA class available attitude that ruins higher level showing.

Diane perhaps you are a little laid back about the state of showing, the amount of people who have given up showing due to predictability of it is ridiculous .

HOYS, OLYMPIA...HOYS OLYMPIA, HOYS OLYMPIA, I GET SICK OF HEARING ABOUT THESE SHOW, ARE THEY THE BEE ALL AND END ALL OF SHOWING, IN FACT, I THINK THEY HAVE SPOILED WHAT SHOWING IS ALL ABOUT ......