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Post by hollycane on May 29, 2010 19:47:34 GMT
Well I've just judged again today and with a full suite of RIHS qualifying classes on offer none had more than about 7 in it apart from coloureds. Where were you all? Show Ponies, Hairies, Cobs, Hunters etc? It won't matter what system is created, the pros will do the best as it is their job to get qualified and have the best and most successful horses. The point of HOYS and RIHS is that should be the best of the best. Not everyone should qualify as they are simply not good enough. If you have a points system the pros with the best turned out, best type and best way of going will continue to get the wins. "Amateurs" you must think very hard about what you really want. Amateur and Home Produced classes are often the most well filled but at what cost to type and quality? Who wants to get to HOYS or RIHS if the overall quality is poor? Nobody. You all want to go because you think it is the showcase of the best, it hasn't been for a long time since qualification goes down to 7th place in some cases!!!!! When qualifying classes have so few entries. It's a no brainer.
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Post by hounded on May 29, 2010 20:11:45 GMT
People are being sensible and voting with their feet, staying at home and saving money once they have qualified. Why spend £100+ to get to a show when you have already qualified? The money saved can go towards entries for other shows and preparation for RI. It's a fact of life that there is less money about this season. People are losing their jobs, their income and with the continuing increases in costs they can't continue to compete as in the past. Show organisers and judges will have to become accustomed to this. Take it as a complement if you have a large catalogue entry but not all turn up.
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Post by hollycane on May 29, 2010 20:20:50 GMT
hounded good point, I agree costs are hitting folk hard. The problem is empty rings are not what show organisers or paying punters want to see and the sad fact is that the showing classes will actually be pulled from a lot of shows. The list of county shows no longer staged is already long. I hope shows like Equifest continue to blossom. I've never been but reports are very good, people love it and there are lots of classes for everyone with good judges.
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Post by norwalk on May 31, 2010 18:42:13 GMT
Well I've just judged again today and with a full suite of RIHS qualifying classes on offer none had more than about 7 in it apart from coloureds. Where were you all? Show Ponies, Hairies, Cobs, Hunters etc? It won't matter what system is created, the pros will do the best as it is their job to get qualified and have the best and most successful horses. The point of HOYS and RIHS is that should be the best of the best. Not everyone should qualify as they are simply not good enough. If you have a points system the pros with the best turned out, best type and best way of going will continue to get the wins. "Amateurs" you must think very hard about what you really want. Amateur and Home Produced classes are often the most well filled but at what cost to type and quality? Who wants to get to HOYS or RIHS if the overall quality is poor? Nobody. You all want to go because you think it is the showcase of the best, it hasn't been for a long time since qualification goes down to 7th place in some cases!!!!! When qualifying classes have so few entries. It's a no brainer. OMG - what show/classes was that??? I'm obviously picking the wrong ones!! I'mm so used to the SP & M&Ms having 30+ in a class that I thought that was the norm in my ignorance! On the issue of "points", I would find this difficult: 1 because we can afford to pay for around 5 qualifiers per year (with entries and diesel) so choose the shows we enjoy the most! - Rather than the far flung ones where rumour has it it's easier to qualify or the judge is right for us - Paying that much money I need to ensure a good family day out !! 2 The main issue is the huge levies and memberships we have to pay to even COMPETE in these classes, never mind stand a chance of qualifying (eg, to do one show we love and support I would have to pay almost £100 in memberships to BSPS, plus £75 to JMB, plus £26 pounds for microchipping, plus around £35 entry for one class, plus fuel..... and thats because we enjoy it, whether we are up the line or not.....) (hope my husband doesn't read this!!!!!!!!) Can't imagine why some people are voting with their feet and going away on holiday abroad instead of doing a few shows (!) The levys and memberships and red tape are killing it!
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Post by cg on Jun 1, 2010 7:30:21 GMT
I dotnt hink there should be a points system that would be unfair! There could be people that can make every qualifier clocking up more points and then there could be people who can only make a few! like me i am not old enough to tow my horse, so my mum takes me! I have 2 sisters who do other activites and my mum has a full time job, so making every qualifier is difficult and we dont like to travel the pony too far! I agree with a more even spread of HOYS qualifiers , and possible more? I am in the midlands so there is a fair amount
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Post by zeebeedee on Jun 1, 2010 15:03:42 GMT
Competing frequently is also difficult when you work full time and have limited holiday or cannot get the right days off. I am not sure that on the whole at county shows it makes much difference to the paying punter if there are small horse classes as on the whole they will not be watching the horse section other than what is in the main ring. Quality control is probably another issue and if the winning horse is of sufficient quality, then there is no problem if it has only beaten a few others. Small classes can come about as much from clashes of shows or an uneven spread of show dates.
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Post by phibbles on Jun 1, 2010 19:55:36 GMT
I don't think the qualifying system should change. We are in a recession and its affecting everybody, so that's why show numbers are low on the day. Also we are all thinking about of the welfare of our ponies and horses. If they qualify early, yes we may have entered in all the county shows, but why drag the poor ponies to them all, risking the loss of condition and the ponies's mental state. I think the main thing they need to look at are the sceduled dates of the shows, geographically. In our area in the month of May, there were 5 shows we wanted to compete in, in one week. No normal sane person would put their ponies through this. Therefore we have had to enter alternative shows which are much further away, on other dates, hardly eco friendly, greater expensive and not great for the ponies either!
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Post by Hounded on Jun 2, 2010 21:53:28 GMT
Perhaps the time has come for a show such as Equifest with large rings and good facilities to offer completely open championship classes to encourage everyone to have a go, get more back in the ring and for the very best to win without the pressure or cost of qualifying. These would be a challenge to judge and impressive to win. Pre-entries only and timetable could be set later as used to happen at the Royal Show.
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Post by idoshowing on Jun 2, 2010 22:12:11 GMT
Even with the points system, a horse could get a lot of 4ths, 5ths & 6ths & because they travel to a lot of shows they would therefore qualify over a horse that only did a few shows, but could have won them.
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sarahp
Happy to help
Posts: 9,510
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Post by sarahp on Jun 5, 2010 18:13:35 GMT
When I started showing ridden M & Ms there were many classes that one wanted to win for their own sake (RASE, RWAS and Northleach in my case, and lots of County shows were held in high esteem) but nowadays it's all about qualifiers, for better or worse. There are still ridden breed classes at RWAS but for how long? If you have a pony that qualifies early for HOYS and Olympia what do you do next? It may well have qualified along the way for some of the other, lesser finals and many will opt not to spend their money doing more showing and just wait for the various finals.
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Post by Lala on Jun 6, 2010 21:09:02 GMT
Dear All Further to today's article in the Horse and Hound please find a copy of our response which is due to printed in next weeks edition. Sir, I write in response to ‘HOYS ‘points’ idea gets rider thumbs down (page 10, 27 May). Our decision to review our system has been seen as being positive amongst the groups that we have currently canvassed. The elements printed within Horse & Hound last week are part of a ‘bigger picture’ where we are currently looking at the entire qualification system, which includes the geographical spread of the qualifiers. The points raised are ones that are currently being reviewed, i.e. travel/welfare and cost to competitors. Of utmost importance to us is that as we support societies, shows and competitors for the greater good of the sport. We are intending to arrange focus groups to include representatives from competitors, societies and shows where all will have the opportunity to put forward their comments on the current qualification system and potential alternative qualification systems that are in consideration. Should people be interested in attending the focus groups we will be placing further information on our website www.hoys.co.uk shortly, with the intention of holding the focus groups at the end of June 2010. Places will be limited and selections will be made randomly from those that express an interest in attending. We recognise that there is a passionate interest in, and I stress, any potential changes that we may make and want to ensure the equestrian community are part of the process. Helena Pettit Managing Director Grandstand Media The HOYS response looks to indicate that only a chosen few will be invited to join the focus groups. Who will they be? How is the average competitor going to be able to put thier views across and respond? Will the Showing Council be involved? If the meeting is held in June there'll be no time to go to the showing societies to ask for members opinions.
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