Barbara Warners thoughts on the show industry as a whole. Please feel free to comment. The following comments represent the individual views of Mrs. Warner and not necessarily The Bluegrass Horseman. THE BUSINESS OF HORSE SHOWS LETS FACE THE BASIC FACTS, HORSE SHOW WERE CREATED TO MAKE SOMEONE MONEY. PLAIN AND SIMPLE. CHARITY, CLUB, ORGANIZATION, PRIVATE INDIVIDUAL...NO MATTER WHO BENEFITS, HORSE SHOWS ARE STILL A BUSINESS FOR PROFIT ENTITY. Like any other business they must be profitable to stay in operation. The profit can be great, or it can be small, but unless there is profit, the show cannot continue to open its doors to the public. So let’s first look at what any business does to make itself a success and 1. It opens in a location that is easily accessible to its patrons. 2. It provides a product that the public needs and wants. 3. It provides that product at a price that is affordable to the public. 4. It offers courteous service, in a friendly atmosphere, without prejudice. 5. It studies the market for changes in buying habits and upgrades its products to keep up with the changing times. 6. It is a business that is constantly changing and evolving without rigidity. It is actively involved in the surrounding community from where it draws its patrons. Now lets compare the above to the business of horse shows. 1. The show must be centrally located to its participants and provide basic necessities suitable for showing horses. ie. Stalls, warm up area, show ring, entry booth, trailer and camper parking, audience seating, broadcast announcer system easily heard by all exhibitors. 2. The show offers classes that are in line with the styles of riding performed in the immediate surrounding areas or that offer the most participants in that geographical area. 3. The show offers reasonable stall, entry, grounds, camper, and other fees that are easily affordable without trying to make an exorbitant amount of profit from that part of the process. 4. The show management, show secretary, stall manager, and all show personnel are friendly, courteous, and treat everyone with respect and practice the principle that the “customer is always right even when they are 5. The show studies the classes it offers to the public, and changes scheduling conflicts as necessary to further promote ease in showing for both trainers, and private exhibitors. It upgrades its class divisions to reflect growing trends in horses breeds. It expands divisions that are growing and decreases divisions that are not productive to the show while still trying to be fair to all active participants. 6. The show is constantly evolving with the changing times and is not afraid to set presidents or implement procedures that other shows may follow in example to make their business solvent. Sharing makes the community grow and is a win win situation for everyone along the line and keeps the business of horses alive and prosperous for all. NOW LETS LOOK AT SOME POINTS THAT SEEM TO BE STANDING IN THE WAY OF 1. Stall fees. Necessary evils that must be charged since no show facility is offered to show management free and clear and show grounds rental costs must be offset by reasonable stall fees. But what is a reasonable stall fee, Well the simple answer to that is one that the majority of exhibitors can The more complicated answer is that the stall fee must be calculated on the basis of what the shows rental costs are for the grounds and/or stalls themselves. If the grounds charges 2500 dollars in rental and the grounds provides 250 stalls, then the expected amount of horses is calculated at 250 (one per stall) and a stall fee to cover the cost of the grounds could be as low as $10 per horse. We all know this isn’t going to happen!!! But allowing for bad weather and bad economic situations, a stall fee of $25 to $45 dollars is affordable to most exhibitors multiple times a month. If your show has to charge $75 to $100 dollars for a stall, then not only will you be limiting the participants that can afford this high fee at your own show, but you will also be adversely affecting the other shows in your area. How is Well, if an exhibitor has ‘x’ amount allocated in his show budget and he spends it all at one show, then the other shows suffer the consequences. Is it fair to everyone? Well it depends on what side of the fence you are on. If you are on the show committee with the high fees, then you certainly want everyone to participate in your show no matter what the consequences to the other shows in the area. If you are the show operating in the area of the high-priced show, you could very well be hurt by that high stall fee because of budget constrictions of the same exhibitors who might show at both shows. Does one show care how much it hurts another show? Well, it should care because for every show that fails and goes under, the potential for losing horse business increases in that area. Who wants to own a horse and only have a few shows available to show at, and, of those few shows, most are extremely expensive and no low cost options exist. You now are locked into leaving the area in search of lower cost options to show, or giving up your horse for a better deal. Sadly, many will chose to leave the horse world due to lack of affordable shows to show their horses at leaving them with an obsolete hobby. Obsolete hobbies dry up and disappear. So although a class “A” show is great, it could very well price you and all your competitors out of business for good. How do we fix this problem? Well specialized breed shows might help in a few selected areas. Saddlebreds at one show. Morgans at another. Arabs at others. Western riders at western shows. Hunter jumpers at another show. But in fact, that has been tried and has failed also. Was it the show managements fault? Not necessarily. As fewer people got into the horse business, many specialized breed trainers has to diversify and branch out into multiple breeds to survive. That trainer now may be forced by his clientele to go to and participate in all breed shows so that the whole barn can participate on a given weekend instead of just a select few. Thus was born the driving force behind all breed horse shows in this country. Not only were they open to any breed, but they were open to many diversified riding skill levels from professional showmen, to seasoned amateurs, to rank amateurs, and to the new beginning rider/driver of any age just getting his feet wet at a horse show. It is these new beginners that are the saviors of this industry and what we all must cater to if we want the industry to survive. How do we do that you ask? Well first of all, let me tell you that academy as it stands today in our area is not the answer. It was created to advance and promote only saddleseat riders. Now I don’t know about you, but even the saddlebreds, morgans, arabs, and other breeds have a western division, and a hunter division. So why would anyone want to exclude them from any promotional riding I have no answer to that question except that whoever set up the program was obviously a saddleseat only person and could not see the forest for the trees, so to speak. What I do know is that for this industry to survive we need to include all seats in our shows without prejudice. The person that rides a hunter is just as good a participant as the person who rides a western horse and he needs to have as many opportunities to show his horse as the other saddleseat rider. If we don’t give him a chance, we could lose his support at our shows. There are people who argue that academy is god’s gift to a horse show and that without that division we will have no horse showing or our attendance will be way down. To this I say, wrong!!! Let every age and skill level for all seats be created equally by giving them a starter division at all shows. One that follows some general guidelines set up by the first academy riding programs such as attire optional so that even a poor beginner stands a chance at participating at a horse show, horse equipment optional so that a rider with unsteady hands can now avail the use of a martingale for their own safety and comfort of the horse, horse equipment optional so that boots leg wraps can be worn to protect leg injuries by unskilled hands messing up the horses balance, and lastly horses unrestricted so that any horse, regardless of whether he is in a lesson program , a back yard steed, or even a seasoned show horse can be a participant in this class. These classes are not about how good the horse looks, how high he trots, or how well he sets his head. These classes are about how well the student has learned to control what he is riding and all judges should be lectured to look beyond the show horse level and judge only the riders skill levels. Riders 6 to 70 no matter what they ride, can be beginning starters in need of a walk trot division. If we exclude ANY rider today from showing a horse, we, as show managers, are fools. It is time to step back and take a look at what is the greater good for the show. It is time to let go of preconceived notions about what seat is more advanced and what seat is lesser and therefore should be treated as such by ignoring the cold hard facts. EVERY RIDER AT A HORSE SHOW IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON IN THE WORLD OF SHOWING HORSES Who knows...maybe the whole academy philosophy needs revamped into skill levels vs. age levels. Who is to say that a 70 yr. old is more skilled than a 10 yr old?? Or vice versa?? Perhaps it is time to adopt the Tx program that is divided by maiden, novice, limit and then advanced so that all skill levels can be promoted rather than promoting someone thru the ranks based solely on their age. So I say to you now that the biggest fault of shows faltering and classes not filling here is not solely the fault of show managements, but with the state of the nations economy. The world as we knew it has changed and it has affected the business of showing horses. You can blame any shows “one or two horse” classes on the show divisions offered, and in a few rare cases, you could be correct. But overall, the problem is that, plain and simple, people have less money to spend today and they have to be selective in how they spend it if they want to enjoy a sport or hobby. So the real solution is competitive pricing to make this work for everyone in the industry. Having one big expensive high-class horse show is great for the ego but it does nothing for the industry. We have grand nationals, nationals, worlds championships, celebrations, congress and all that to compete at if we want high class and expensive, but on a local level we are obligated to every owner, trainer, and exhibitor to make it affordable and fun for everyone within our geographical showing area. If we, as show mangers, forget that basic principle, then we have failed the industry as a whole and we have put greed or our egos in the way of doing good Another thing shows can do is to be selective about when they hold their shows. If we are doing competition with a large breed specific show and we draw our exhibitors mostly from that breed, then we can expect the show as a whole to be down in entries. No not everyone goes for the big show, but many may go to watch rather than show. Many have trainers that must go to the big show with better horses leaving the less fortunate with no one to carry them to the lesser less expensive option so DATE SELECTION IS CRUTIAL TO SUCCESS. Running in competition with another show within your geographical region is another show stopper. With the decline in horse owners, and horse dollars, to do competition with another show is killing two shows with one date. Today, we can barely fill the stalls at one show, let alone fill the stalls at two shows running in competition with one another. SHOW COMPETITION BELONGS IN THE RING AND NOT ON THE SHOW Division selection. Each show and region differs in which competitors are most likely to come to the show. If you are in a growing hunt/jump barn area, then certainly your show should reflect that as a primary source of exhibitors. Remember this is a business. It is not your personal preference of what you want to see showing in the ring. To be successful you must sell the product that your consumer wants to buy or needs. BASE BREED, OR SEAT DIVISIONS BY WHAT MOST COMPETITORS NEED IN YOUR IMMEDIATE AREA. And lastly, remember that in order for everyone to survive in this changing economy we must all work together toward the same goal and that is bringing horses back to horse shows. It cannot all be done by individual barns offering riding lessons. It cannot all be done by shows offering bigger and/or more breed divisions. This is a community effort that must be shared to make it work and grow. Many options exist today to grow barns in the area. Groupon, and Living Social deals are indeed a cheap form of advertisement available free to every riding facility all over the country. Social media is alive and growing, but websites listing ALL facilities and what they offer are pennies on the dollar today and could become a group effort to all the riding establishments in a region or state. Vistaprint offers a do it yourself user friendly version that would be a cheap and easy way to list everyone in the area. Anyone running a riding/training/ trail riding/ etc. facility could ask to be listed on your site. If they have their own website, the link could be listed also. It is merely a matter of typing in the general information about who they are, how to contact them, and what they offer. Horse shows could advertise on this site also by paying a “cheap” nominal fee to the website creator and provide a link to the site where their show information is printable. This minimalistic show poster advertising should more than help defray the cost of the website each month. The important thing in all this is to not discriminate against others in the industry even if what they do seems small and insignificant to you. Anything that involves any horse lover in this industry in any way has the potential to eventually help Are there other things that can be done? I am sure if you think long and hard about horses and horse shows and how to translate them into business terms, you will find other ways to get noticed, get back on track, and make us all grow and prosper. There are changes that can be made to everything to improve both shows, and communications between all interested parties. One of the biggest is to remember there is no right or wrong way to conduct “your” business. It is what works for you and makes you happy. And no one should be telling anyone else they are right or wrong in their choices. We can suggest changes that might make a difference, but as the old saying goes “you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink” so goes the horse business. Suggestions are like a-holes. Everyone has one, but only one works for you!!! We are all fighting for survival in this business whether we like it or not, whether we accept it or not. One day the roller coaster ride will come to an end. It is where and when it will stop that we can’t determine. Don’t stick your head in the sand and pretend that you are not part of the problem because if you are reading this then you are part of this and it is only thru holding hands that we can keep the system alive and If you are a show that is too expensive, then figure out a way to cut your If you are a show running in conflict with another local show, then give in and make a change for the betterment of all. If your show has too many breed specific classes that are not filling then change your emphasis to another breed that will keep the show alive and open until the world changes for the better. If you are a training/teaching facility support your local shows and help keep them all alive. Without shows what is the point in what you do?? Unless you are a barn that promotes trail riding, then promoting horse shows should be your priority. Swallow your ego and get real. Small shows are just as important as big ones and are the stepping stones to greater accomplishments. No one started out winning the world championship!!! And lastly, jealousy has no part in a marriage or in this failing horse show business. It is not about how big your barn is compared to others. It is not about how big your show is compared to others. It is not about whether you have world class rich customers as clients or just hard working people who want to enjoy a horse hobby instead of a boating hobby. This is about making the industry work for everyone no matter what race, creed, breed, nationality, seat, or horse endeavor they are involved in. It is about supporting those that support you and not a race to see who finishes in front of the pack. Our industry supports a whole faction of other people, photographers, blacksmiths, clothing manufacturers, jewelry designers, artists, printers, publications, tack shops, veterinarians, horse drug companies, blanket manufacturers, brush and grooming suppliers, and a host of others that rely on you and I to do our job to the best of our ability to PROMOTE SHOWING HORSES so that everyone survives this economic crisis. ONE FOR ALL , AND ALL FOR THE GREATER GOOD!!! WHEN YOU FORGET THAT STATEMENT, YOU HAVE LOST THE GREATEST WEAPON FOR FIGHTING THE BATTLE. Go team. SHOWING IS WINNING!!!
Posted on: Tue, 30 Sep 2014 13:08:52 +0000
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