Ugh, horse show rant.

[ranchhand]

I don't ride anymore, nor will I go to a show, race, polo match, or foxhunt. I grew up with all of those. But I don't like the concept of using an intelligent animal for glory and money.

Working animals as partners is another thing entirely.

 

[redhen]

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[bigkford]

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I don't know how old you are but you are one of the few that has the same thoughts we do. Was not 4-H to teach the kids the proper way to raise and care for animals? I know when I was growing up that was how it was and judging was based on that. Yes I am 43, (I think) I quit having b-days after 33. But I can out do my kids and hubby. But anyway what happen to friendly compitions (speeled wrong). It used to be to get kids with animals fo their choosing taking care of it and presenting it. Where did things go wrong? I know here its who has the money.

 

[sanctuaryworker]

I can totally understand how you feel... my only problem is I have a fat mouth and if I see people doing things like that I will usually say something.

I can not stand that people think animals are ours to use and abuse. Its like we forget that they are living beings, this isnt your car or your toaster, its a horse or a dog or whatever. If its not doing what you ask its either because you didnt ask properly or they just dont want to... and I think we are all entitled to have days we just dont want to.

As for 4H my only experience was growing weeds in a garden, I never got into the animal side. Although I had always wanted a pig ( I now have two) but I did not want to send him to slaughter in the end.

 

[()relics]

....anyone can complain about 4H...Get on your county fair board...become a 4H leader....call your county extension agent and ask how you can help....YEAH it takes time... but if you have time to complain you have time to volunteer...Come to our fair in July...You will see how it is supposed to be done...But it takes hard work and lots of time...Our 4H horse and pony kids for that matter all our kids are some of the best horsemen/women-showpersons around some even compete at the national level....but someone has to teach them the right way....It is about competition sure....kids have to learn to deal with it....Parents sometimes can't...someone has to Not place first....whatever...try again next year even harder....Sorry...complaining is one of my pet peeves....

 

[bigkford]

Around here if you don't have enough money or the right name you can not get on fair boards, volunteer or anything else everything as to be voted on. Alot of namesakes are in the kiln and ones the parents are teaching the right things the other pay the judges. Judges we had a few years ago forgot my age 10 years ago went with the basics and condition of animal depended on what they were doing. What they were showing everything was judged on person and animal. Did not matter if it was rabit horse goat llama anything. Barns were check cages everything. Sorry right name or money rules our fair and 4-h and yes my oldest is 21 now and my in-laws have been fighting this for years even my big mouth hasn't helped

 

[BlackBart]

That's why I don't go to horse shows. So many horses don't want to be there, it is sad.

 

[()relics]

()relics :

...complaining is one of my pet peeves....

....I guess sometimes the squeaky wheel gets the grease....apparently sometimes it doesn't.....I guess, in that situation, I would buy a faster horse...At the speed show the CLOCK is the JUDGE....But remember even a $100 horse can run fast enough....Too bad some fairs don't sound so fair...​

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

I don't think voicing an opinion about the cruel treatment of horses is complaining...

As for 4-H, its very sad in my county. We have a very small county, which would lead you to believe we have very close knit 4-H clubs. NOT! Many of our 4-H clubs are run by leaders who don't want to leave their 4-H days in the past. That's not the problem...what is the problem is that many of these leaders and parents show for the money, and just that. They don't care about the "learning experience" and many of their children couldn't care less about being in 4-H.

I was in 4-H since I was in 5th grade (I think I was around 10 or so). I started out with the horses and moved over to small animal and poultry. However, I've done projects in just about every area. Horse is by far the worst, but cow and rabbit run a close second. My mom is now the 4-H leader of our own club, and I am the co-leader. I go to all the leader meetings and even though I have one year before I can legally be the superintendent of the poultry show, I basically run those duties as well. Next year I will take over my mom's position on that. We are working towards making things better, but its very hard when the people who are supposed to be running things are easily swayed by a few people they are afraid of. They make everything difficult...camping, entering animals, receiving premiums, judging...and don't even get me started on horse judges. The one judge they had that actually judged fairly was kicked out of the fairgrounds because apparently she was accused of hitting her horse. I know the people who accused her and I also knew that judge. She had trained me for about a year with my horse and had worked closely with several other 4-Hers who were showing. Never once did I ever see her hit or mistreat a horse and even though she had worked with many of us, she never played favorites! That was precisely the reason these "people" made a stink about her and made false accusations.

This year I am trying very, very hard to get a poultry showmanship class together for people showing their birds so they can have a little bit of hands on experience with their animals. That's something the chicken exhibitors just don't get. I wanted to make it so that if you entered chickens, you would have to set a time with me to do a little one on one showmanship. I would ask a few poultry related questions according to age group and then hand out prizes to the kids in each age group who were best able to answer questions and handle their birds. These same people I mentioned before (and who just happen to be involved with all the higher ups in the fair board committee!) made a big stink about it, saying their kids would not have the time to do this. (And guess what, I was not offering cash as prizes!) I was trying to do something fun for the kids so that they could have a good learning experience and now I have to make it very, very optional...even then I had some evil looks. The only reason I am still going through with it is for the kids. I know some members of our club and a few from others will have a blast with the showmanship.

I went completely off topic, but 4-H is another organization I have a lot of issues with. For so many years I had to sit back and take so much crud because I wasn't an "adult". Now I am and I've been standing up for myself and the 4-H kids...much to the dislike of many other leaders!

 

[Fudgie]

I totally agree. When I was 12, I had a paint horse that I showed. I decided to enter her in the trail class....Boy did I not have a clue as to what I was getting into. There were 20 in the class. Most of them had professionally trained horses. SO their horses just went through the motions without effort. It was getting dusk so everything that COULD scare a horse, scared her. They had to walk over poles and over a tarp with white dust circles on them and side pass(like I had ever done this) and after all the trials, the last thing was to walk your horse into a white chalk circle, ground tie them and walk/run to a barrel in a nearby chalk circle tap it and go back to your horse mount up and leave. Well I had to WORK with my mare the whole entire way through. The crowd was yelling get the nag out of there, she will never do this, you are wasting time, etc etc. I was near tears by the time I was done.... Well the ONE thing my mare did do great was to stand ground tied. I slowly got off of her, ground tied her and sauntered to the barrel and tapped it and sauntered back.

I left the arena and bawled my eyes out. I wanted to go home and not ever go back in the arena. I was NOT mad at my mare I was disappointed in the crowd. they were rude and horrible for a kid! Anyway, as I was bawling, my dad came and said you need to line back up. they are calling your number to come back into the ring. I thought YEAH RIGHT!!! Well the judge said that I had earned 5th place! He put the crowd in their place by saying that on the trail you don't have the option of stopping and running back to your trailer. You have to WORK with your horse and get them around obstacles and that I was one of the only ones that actually had to work with their horse. For that reason alone, He said I earned 5th place(the lowest place that you can get and still get a ribbon). Needless to say some people just don't have the manners or care that they should to show horses.