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Inside Your Barn's Horse Show Calendar · Two Point Perspective

• 0:00
  A few episodes ago, we talked about how horse shows have become destinations.
• 0:06
  The venues, the footing, the shopping, even the food.
• 0:10
  But that's really the end of the story, not the beginning.
• 0:15
  Because long before any of us books a hotel room or pulls into the showgrounds, somebody has already made a decision about whether that horse show belongs on the calendar at all.
• 0:26
  Most of us don't wake up one morning and decide we're going to Tryon or Kentucky or Florida.
• 0:33
  By the time that schedule lands in our inbox, someone else has already spent months deciding where the horses should go, where the riders should go, and what kind of season they're trying to build.
• 0:46
  It looks like a horse show schedule, but really it's the blueprint for a program.
• 0:53
  And I don't think most of us ever think about it that way.
• 0:58
  This is two point perspective.
• 1:00
  Two writers with different viewpoints from different generations talking about the same sport.
• 1:07
  Well, everybody waits for the calendar to come out.
• 1:10
  You know, what shows are we doing this year?
• 1:12
  Because once it's published, families start requesting vacation time, you've got to book your hotels, figuring out your budgets, and the whole season starts taking shape.
• 1:20
  Exactly.
• 1:20
  And I think if you asked most riders how they choose what horse shows they're going to, they'd probably say, well, my trainer puts out the schedule and I decide which ones I want to go to.
• 1:32
  Which is true.
• 1:33
  But.
• 1:34
  But what I started realizing is that the calendar isn't really a list of horse shows.
• 1:40
  It's a reflection of how that trainer thinks.
• 1:44
  Every show on there and every show that isn't is there for a reason.
• 1:49
  Well, I know two programs are exactly alike.
• 1:52
  Some stay close to home because it's what works for their clients.
• 1:56
  Some will spend weeks on the road at a time.
• 1:59
  Some are built around qualifying, others are built around developing young horses.
• 2:03
  And I don't think that either approach is, you know, automatically better than the other.
• 2:07
  I think it's just different.
• 2:08
  Yes.
• 2:09
  And I don't think I appreciated that until I changed barns.
• 2:12
  And I wasn't getting a different trainer, I was getting a completely different calendar.
• 2:19
  There were different horse shows that this trainer chose to go to.
• 2:24
  Different priorities, different philosophy.
• 2:27
  And that's when I really started thinking about this.
• 2:29
  When you choose a trainer, you're really choosing a program.
• 2:34
  And the horse show schedule is just one of the ways that that program becomes visible.
• 2:40
  And by the time, I mean, clients are even seeing the calendar, there's already been a tremendous amount of planning behind it.
• 2:48
  You know, how many horses do they think they'll be able, you Know, have going, whether enough clients will support the trip distance wise or close to home, whether it's the right competition, you know, if it's super far away,
• 3:02
  doesn't make sense to stay one week or two.
• 3:04
  And none of those decisions happen by accident.
• 3:06
  And I also think, you know, you have to consider individualized goals too, right?
• 3:12
  Like you have your own goals, but also you have a green horse.
• 3:16
  And so what makes the most sense, venue wise and, and distance wise and all of that, to get both things taken care of.
• 3:23
  Then you've got kids who want to qualify for stuff and some people just want to go to a horse show.
• 3:27
  Absolutely.
• 3:28
  And once those decisions are made by the trainer in terms of creating the calendar, it affects everything else.
• 3:36
  Oh, for sure.
• 3:37
  A two week circuit, you know, isn't just another horse show.
• 3:41
  There's staff and shipping and stalls and housing and do you have enough coverage back at the farm?
• 3:47
  What, what about the clients that are still there that didn't go to the horse show?
• 3:52
  Clients are planning vacations.
• 3:54
  And where's the horse show?
• 3:56
  A vacation, Is it a destination?
• 3:58
  Once all of that starts falling into place, the calendar becomes a lot harder to change.
• 4:03
  And so by the time that everybody, you know, it reaches everyone, it's already a blueprint for the season, effectively.
• 4:08
  Let's make this real.
• 4:09
  Say you've got a hundred jumper barn with 20 horses.
• 4:13
  Some are juniors, some are amateurs, as you said, a few young horses, green horses, maybe a couple in professional training.
• 4:21
  It's October, you're sitting down to build next year's calendar and where do you even begin?
• 4:29
  Well, I think the first question is pretty simple.
• 4:31
  And that would be, or at least I would imagine, what do these horses actually need next year?
• 4:38
  It's, I think it's, it's interesting because I, I don't know that I've ever really thought about it from a trainer's perspective.
• 4:45
  I've, I've thought about it certainly from my perspective as an amateur and what my goals are and what horseshoes make the most sense and how many would I need to go to and that kind of thing.
• 4:53
  But if I, um.
• 4:56
  You have juniors that are trying to qualify for indoors, that, you know, that narrows down the conversation.
• 5:01
  Those horses need to be in a certain number of classes at certain times of the year to, to get the points that they need.
• 5:08
  And that's not negotiable.
• 5:09
  Right.
• 5:10
  So you're not looking for the best horse show, you're looking for the horse show that's right for those horses.
• 5:18
  And what's really Interesting is that changes all the time.
• 5:22
  Kids go to college or green horses are not green anymore.
• 5:26
  You know, it's interesting.
• 5:28
  Oh, totally.
• 5:29
  I mean, you start looking at it kind of like what we were just saying.
• 5:32
  You start looking at the people.
• 5:33
  How much time can they take off?
• 5:35
  Can they afford it in terms of how many they can go to in a year?
• 5:39
  Do they actually want to go?
• 5:41
  Because you can build the greatest schedule in the world, but if your clients can't realistically get to them, it's not much of a schedule.
• 5:47
  You've got to have people that are willing to go and spend the money.
• 5:51
  And that's really the part I never thought about as a client.
• 5:55
  You're looking at your own horse, just one horse, right?
• 5:59
  One weekend, one entry blank.
• 6:01
  But the trainer is looking at 20 plus horses all at once.
• 6:06
  And I think that that's why it can't be just one obvious answer.
• 6:09
  Maybe one show is perfect competitively, but it's twice as expensive or, you know, even farther away.
• 6:16
  Maybe one isn't quite as competitive, but almost everyone in the barn can go.
• 6:20
  So there's decisions for sure that trainers have to make.
• 6:23
  And I think a lot weighs in on that.
• 6:24
  And the clients never actually see the other choices.
• 6:28
  They only see the calendar that finally comes out.
• 6:31
  And so they don't really see the five conversations that happened before one show made the list and another one didn't.
• 6:39
  Exactly.
• 6:39
  I mean, by the time the calendar reaches everybody else, all those decisions have been made.
• 6:43
  But, you know, that wasn't just a, a point and shoot, you know, on a dartboard.
• 6:47
  I think there's a lot of consideration and planning that goes into it on the trainers and to, to put out something that they think can work for the group as a whole.
• 6:57
  Hopefully.
• 6:58
  And here's something else I've been thinking about is, you know, there's a lot of conversation like what's happened to all the local shows.
• 7:05
  I feel like there used to be a lot more one and two day shows than there are now.
• 7:12
  Well, I think there's a lot of reasons, but one of them is that a ton of programs are built around the five day destination show now, you know, once your whole operation runs that way, it's hard to make
• 7:23
  a two day local show fit into the schedule and logistically make a whole lot of sense.
• 7:28
  Which is interesting because from the horses standpoint, there's a lot to like about a local show.
• 7:34
  You ship in, you show, you come home and your horse is back in its stall that afternoon and turned out overnight.
• 7:43
  And Sometimes it's.
• 7:44
  It's exactly what a horse needs.
• 7:45
  Not every horse benefits for being away for an entire week.
• 7:49
  And sometimes they just need another outing or a different course, a different experience at a different venue, and then they're happy to come home.
• 7:56
  It's sort of like a reward.
• 7:58
  They go and they get to see and do something different that day, but it's not as big of a deal, and they're not cooped up for a super long amount of time just to lay their eyeballs on something
• 8:09
  new.
• 8:10
  And I think that's one of the trade offs that people don't always recognize.
• 8:14
  I mean, if I had my own barn and I hauled myself, kind of like your situation with Loki now, you could decide on a Tuesday that you wanted to go to a horse show on Saturday.
• 8:28
  But when you're part of a program, that's not how it works.
• 8:33
  You're part of something that's much bigger than.
• 8:36
  Than your one horse.
• 8:38
  And frankly, a lot of times that's one of the reasons you join the program in the first place.
• 8:44
  It has the things that you're looking for, but it's just interesting to me how all these pieces all start to fit together.
• 8:53
  Yeah, I mean, I totally agree with that.
• 8:55
  Because it's you.
• 8:58
  It brings in the business side of it.
• 9:00
  Right.
• 9:00
  Like as a horse owner and especially you and how you grew up, and partially how I grew up, too.
• 9:08
  Having some autonomy over those types of things is something that I think we're used to, but there's also a business to be run.
• 9:17
  So sometimes you got to sort of follow nine and follow that model a little bit more than you're used to.
• 9:25
  And I mean, I think the funny thing is, is most of us only look at the calendar from our own perspective.
• 9:30
  I don't think that that's uncommon.
• 9:32
  Absolutely.
• 9:32
  I mean, I'm obviously looking at my horse.
• 9:35
  It's just one horse, and I'm looking at one weekend, one entry, blank.
• 9:40
  But my trainer, again, has to think about every single horse in the barn.
• 9:44
  And I think one thing I've learned over the years is don't make assumptions.
• 9:49
  I mean, ask if you want to know, you know, why are we going here?
• 9:55
  What made you choose this show in particular?
• 9:58
  And I think most trainers would rather explain the reasoning than have a client quietly wondering if there's some place or something that they feel like they're missing.
• 10:09
  But I do think that there's another side to this.
• 10:12
  Just because a calendar works for one program doesn't automatically mean it's the right Program for every client, certainly.
• 10:21
  Yeah, I totally agree with that.
• 10:23
  And I, I really liked what you said about asking and I think that should be more normalized because I think people are afraid to ask.
• 10:33
  I also think that trainers should be very open to those types of questions.
• 10:38
  Doesn't mean that they're going to like just because you asked and you're like, well, I don't think, I love that that they're going to like go through and change the schedule just because you didn't like it or you
• 10:47
  know what I'm saying?
• 10:47
  But I think that's.
• 10:49
  Why are we going.
• 10:50
  Can you tell me why we chose this show?
• 10:52
  Does this make sense for my horse too?
• 10:54
  And out of all the shows that you have on here, let's talk about my plan.
• 10:59
  Out of the shows that they've picked, I just think, I think transparency is really, really important and I think that that like you're saying don't make assumptions, but I think that that is a two way road.
• 11:09
  And so it's, the more transparency, the more open conversations, the less confusion there is all around.
• 11:16
  You know, and some people love being on the road every, every other week and others want to show once a month and spend the rest of their time at home writing.
• 11:24
  And I don't think either one is wrong.
• 11:26
  It, they're different because I mean, I remember I wanted to qualify for Pennsylvania and I did, but I was showing a ton and well, a ton for me anyways and at least once a month, if not two.
• 11:42
  And that's a lot of horse showing.
• 11:43
  I mean, I didn't do that all year because, well, I just didn't do it all year but I qualified and it was great.
• 11:50
  But then after that I was like, yeah, I want, I want to go hor show but I don't need to go like every two seconds to or show after that.
• 11:56
  And I don't know that we always ask ourselves the question like when we join a program because we like the trainer and only later realize that we're not sure the horse show schedule really fits our life.
• 12:10
  I don't think people go to a new trainer and before they go say, hey, let me see your horse show schedule.
• 12:17
  And you really can't because it changes all the time.
• 12:21
  I know in, in this particular program we went to Vermont last summer but a lot of people really didn't like it.
• 12:28
  So she took the feedback very seriously.
• 12:32
  And no more Vermont.
• 12:34
  So there's a pivot.
• 12:36
  And I think the same thing could happen with Florida that they might be time to look for other.
• 12:44
  Other places, which I think is kind of cool.
• 12:46
  So again, I think you have to kind of create a schedule that works and is fluid and works with the people that you have in the barn.
• 12:56
  But that's a pretty big ask.
• 12:58
  Well, it's a huge.
• 12:59
  When you have a lot of people.
• 13:00
  I was going to say that's a huge undertaking because it's also the goals like I was just talking about.
• 13:04
  If your goal is to qualify for endorse, your calendar specifically is going to look very different than somebody else in the barn who's happy just going to six or seven, eight really good shows that are at venues they
• 13:16
  really like and just want to, you know, don't have a.
• 13:19
  A big end goal in mind necessarily.
• 13:22
  Right.
• 13:22
  Which brings us back to where we started.
• 13:24
  The horse show calendar isn't just a list of dates.
• 13:28
  It's one of the clearest windows into how that trainer runs their program.
• 13:34
  Or you could also, conversely, look at it and kind of gather from the schedule what is the makeup of the barn?
• 13:44
  Because when I first came, I think I was one of the few adult, older, certainly.
• 13:51
  Oh, my God.
• 13:53
  But even the younger amateurs, most.
• 13:55
  There are a lot of juniors, a lot of ponies, a lot of kids.
• 13:58
  So they're looking for shows where they're going to qualify for pony finals, etc.
• 14:03
  Not necessarily the same ones that I'd need to be putting at the top of my list.
• 14:08
  Sure.
• 14:08
  I mean, that's a good point.
• 14:09
  There.
• 14:10
  There really isn't one right way to.
• 14:11
  To build a program.
• 14:13
  Some trainers like to stay close to home, and some are ultimately on the road all year long.
• 14:19
  Some of them love local shows and some hardly, you know, are traveling at all to a show.
• 14:24
  So I think there's a point being there's a lot of ways to do this well.
• 14:31
  Right.
• 14:32
  And I think that's healthy because riders are different and horses are different and as we said, goals.
• 14:38
  So why would every program look the same?
• 14:42
  That's why it's not a one size fits all.
• 14:44
  You need to find something that, that works for you and, and your lifestyle and all of that.
• 14:49
  Because the trainer, it's not just about the horses.
• 14:51
  I mean, it's a lot about the horses, but the trainer is building a life too.
• 14:55
  And some of them like being on the road, and others would like to build a really great regional program and spend more nights at home.
• 15:01
  Maybe they have a family, maybe they have kids, maybe they have a significant other they'd like to see more than twice a year.
• 15:07
  And you don't want to spend half of your year living out of a hotel room, that's just not for everybody.
• 15:13
  And I think that those are legitimate considerations when you're deciding what kind of program you're going to build.
• 15:17
  And I don't think we talk about that enough.
• 15:19
  We almost expect trainers to be willing to travel every week of the year.
• 15:24
  We don't even think about their personal life or, you know, that they have something other than the barn.
• 15:33
  Right.
• 15:34
  But choosing a schedule that fits the life you want doesn't make you less committed to the sport.
• 15:40
  It just means that you've built a program you believe in.
• 15:43
  I find it interesting that my trainer and the assistant are really not looking to burn out anytime soon.
• 15:53
  And I think going to these away shows where you're gone for six or seven days at a time, and then you start the week over again with one day off, I mean, no wonder people burn out.
• 16:06
  So they're committed to Sunday and Monday.
• 16:12
  They're not.
• 16:12
  You can ride on Sunday, but they're not there.
• 16:15
  There's no lessons on Sunday, unless, of course, it's a horror show.
• 16:19
  And I know that Josie that we've had on our program before as a young professional, the reason that she left the job she'd been in before was because she said, when I go to a horse show, I'm happy
• 16:33
  to work seven days a week, but when I'm home, I only want to work five days a week.
• 16:39
  Whatever those five days are, I want two days off.
• 16:41
  But the catch to that, where you're like, okay, my trainers are, you can ride on Sunday, but they're going to be off Sunday and Monday.
• 16:48
  It's hard, except when you're at a horse show.
• 16:50
  So if you're at horse shows back to back to back to back to back to back to back, they're.
• 16:53
  They're never getting a down day, Right.
• 16:55
  They.
• 16:56
  They need to get their haircut, they.
• 16:57
  Need to go to the grocery store.
• 16:58
  Like, there are things that they are human, you know?
• 17:02
  Yeah.
• 17:02
  And so that's exactly what clients need to think about when they're choosing.
• 17:06
  Because it's not just who gives the lesson or it's really the whole program, the philosophy behind it, the horse shows, that they include the pace in which they do things or.
• 17:17
  Or train or move you up or.
• 17:19
  Or spend time with you, and the experience of it overall.
• 17:22
  I just don't think I ever looked at a horseshoe calendar this way before.
• 17:25
  Not when I was choosing a trainer, not even after I joined a new barn.
• 17:29
  It wasn't until we started talking about why some barns don't go to the local shows, that I realized that the calendar is really a reflection of who and what horses are in the barn.
• 17:43
  Oh, totally.
• 17:44
  I mean, if you have a barn full of equitation riders, there's certain shows that you simply have to attend.
• 17:49
  If there's a lot of green horses, your priorities may be completely different.
• 17:53
  Like maybe the big, the big end all isn't necessarily indoors for them.
• 17:57
  Maybe they want to get them to incentive finals.
• 17:59
  But if your clients are mostly adult amateurs, that schedule could potentially change again.
• 18:04
  And I think the calendar follows the needs of the program too.
• 18:08
  So it's, it's sort of like it, it flows one way and then turns around, flows back the other way.
• 18:12
  Right.
• 18:12
  And there's another piece of this that we haven't even talked about, which is the economics.
• 18:17
  If you're taking 15, 20, 25 horses to a horse show, the calendar starts to look really different.
• 18:25
  Oh yeah.
• 18:25
  I mean, moving that many horses and people, tech, equipment, setups, all of that, that's a huge undertaking.
• 18:31
  And especially with an operation that big, at some point, you know, spending all of that time and money to do something similar or a variation of that for a two day horse show may simply just stop making sense.
• 18:44
  Five days at a horse show, everyone has more opportunities to ride, makes better use of all of the stuff that's there and all of the time and resources it took to get it.
• 18:53
  There's.
• 18:53
  And that's not a criticism of two day shows, it's just the reality of running a large program.
• 18:59
  It seems like the larger the operation, the more those decisions become about logistics as much as competition.
• 19:07
  Yeah, I think that's probably something exhibitors don't always see.
• 19:09
  And by the time the prize list comes out, most trainers have already decided whether that show fits in their program, you know, far, far before they even see that.
• 19:17
  And if enough trainers make the same decision, then the landscape starts to change.
• 19:22
  So what it looks like is some shows are growing, others struggle, and some completely disappear.
• 19:30
  Not because they're bad horse shows, but because they no longer fit the needs of enough programs.
• 19:37
  Yeah, And I think that that's why this particular conversation is bigger than like just, just local horse shows versus rated horse shows.
• 19:46
  I think it's about how the programs have evolved and how horse shows have to evolve with them.
• 19:52
  But I also think it's interesting because there is a need, I think overall for local shows and people will say, oh, well, there's just not that many options anymore.
• 20:01
  And I think that's an important distinction because it's not that there aren't enough good regional venues anymore.
• 20:08
  There are.
• 20:09
  You look at places like Bruce's Field and Aiken or Deep Run or the Virginia Horse center, and I'm sure there's more around the country.
• 20:17
  They all have excellent footing and quality jumps.
• 20:21
  These facilities can host great horse shows.
• 20:24
  Some host local competitions, some host rated competitions and some do both.
• 20:30
  So I don't think the question is whether those venues are good enough.
• 20:34
  I think the question is why do today's programs choose some horse shows and not others?
• 20:42
  But it's a little bit of a catch 22 because is it that they were too saturated and so they just weren't having the best attendance is now.
• 20:51
  Because the programs have evolved and so the need of them has dwindled.
• 20:56
  You know what I'm saying?
• 20:58
  I don't know what that answer is.
• 21:00
  Well, I.
• 21:01
  Yes, I don't either.
• 21:02
  I mean, maybe the question every horse show manager has to ask today is not just how do we put on a great horse show, but who is this horse show for?
• 21:12
  Because if it doesn't fit the needs of the programs that they're hoping to attract, it doesn't matter how good the footing is or how nice the prizes are.
• 21:21
  Yeah, I mean, when most of us look at a horse show calendar, we see dates and places, maybe whether we like the footing.
• 21:28
  But I also think too that this is what's hard is because these five day venue horse shows have become so attractive to people, what room does that leave for the local horse shows?
• 21:46
  Right.
• 21:47
  Because if I'm a client and I'm trying to decide, do I what, how many horseshoes a month can I go to?
• 21:54
  Let's say that there's a big venue five day show that's available and there's also a two day show locally.
• 22:02
  Well, I might like to go to the local show, but honestly, if I'd rather go to the bigger horse show, I probably can't afford and maybe shouldn't for my horse's sake due to.
• 22:14
  I don't know.
• 22:15
  Yeah, I mean I.
• 22:16
  Because that's a really good point.
• 22:18
  If you think about like the wear and tear on the horses too.
• 22:21
  You know, maybe it's like, okay, I've been practicing, I'm going to go to the rated show, maybe something doesn't go great, maybe you feel like, okay, so there could be more practice to be had at home, but you
• 22:31
  want to be able to try.
• 22:35
  You're practicing at a less expensive venue and so it's sort of like, how.
• 22:40
  How could you do both?
• 22:42
  Could you get to a five day in one month and then also have, like, a practice show effectively?
• 22:46
  And maybe that's why, really, a lot of the good local horse shows are having a hard time.
• 22:50
  And it's not because they're poorly run or the footing isn't good, or people don't like them.
• 22:54
  It's just, it doesn't, it doesn't fit into the.
• 22:57
  Or, you know, a large number of the programs that are around right now.
• 23:02
  And I think that's a question we should all be asking.
• 23:04
  Not why are local horse shows disappearing, but what has changed that makes it harder for them to earn a place on today's calendars.
• 23:16
  Because if we understand that, then maybe we can start figuring out how to build horse shows that fit today's programs without losing everything that made local horse showing special in the first place.
• 23:30
  And maybe that's why I find these conversations so interesting.
• 23:34
  You start out talking about a horse show calendar, and before long you realize you talk about how our sport is evolving.
• 23:43
  So until next time, let's ride.