The Decline of Equine Showing: Uncovering the Real Reasons Why People Are Turning Away From the Sport

Showing has been a popular equestrian sport for centuries. However, in recent years there has been a decline in the number of people participating in these events. This article will explore the reasons why people are turning away from showing and the various factors that are contributing to its steady decline.

From producers taking all the wins to judges not being knowledgeable or fair, many things are causing people to pack up and move across to other disciplines.

The current system of judging is outdated and judges just do not seem to have the knowledge, life experience and morals that they used to. Many shows are judged by producers and people who have a vested financial interest in the outcome, leading to an unfair advantage for certain competitors. This has caused many competitors to feel as though they are not being judged fairly or given an equal chance at success. So they stop going to the shows altogether because many think what is the point?

Furthermore, some judges lack the necessary knowledge and experience to accurately judge. This leads to horses with poor conformation, poor behaviour and more being placed higher than they ever should.

Welfare is a big issue in showing too. How many times have you been to a show to see that the highest placed animals in the ring are morbidly obese, at a serious detriment to their health? The showing world is doing a lot to ensure that riders aren't overweight for the horse or pony that they are riding, yet judges are persuading people to pile on the weight of the animal. Yet no one seems to know why fat animals are preferred, as it is only in showing that this issue lies.

The other big welfare issue in showing is travelling. People are travelling horses the length and breadth of the country chasing qualifiers. Is it fair on your horse to make it stand on a box or trailer for 6 hours, do a few classes and then have to travel another 6 or so hours back? Factor into this weather, cold, hot etc.

Even worse than this are the people who do this day in and day out, to ensure that they get the qualifier. These people are usually 'professionals' and are chasing the qualifiers with someone else's animal and getting paid for it. So they load up the box and day after day make them travel long distances and stand around waiting all day whilst they take horse after horse in the ring.

This is something that even official showing bodies have warned people against. However, it doesn't seem to have made a difference, as many 'professionals' seem to think it is a badge of honour that they have dragged as many horses and ponies around the country as they can and got the qualifiers for the owners, to the detriment of the animal's health.

Whilst I can say it isn't all producers, many of them rely on their name, not their skill, to get these qualifiers. People have known for many years in showing that it isn't what you know it's who you know. Many of these 'producers' lack qualifications and knowledge, but have been on the circuit long enough that they know every judge and steward and know exactly which ones to go to to ensure they get the result they need.

Why is it that producers can qualify an animal and then just anyone can hop on for the ride at the shows? Why is this allowed? How is this fair to the people who have done all the work from the ground up? How did this even become a business? Why are people paying for this service? If you can't qualify your horse with your skill, then maybe just don't go to the show. Or is this because it is almost impossible to do that now because, without a producer, your chances of winning are slim to none?

Showing has become a business now, and that business leaves no room for anyone else to have a chance.

Speaking of judges, this is another bone of contention for many an average competitor. It seems that judges today seem to have less real-world knowledge about actual horses than they used to. Very few qualifications and don't judge on what they are meant to be judged on.

In the ring, we see horses being pulled up top with terrible conformation, horses that are obese, wrong canter legs, and terrible riders, with simple things such as not being on the correct trotting diagonal, misbehaving horses not being penalised and the blatant choosing of friends and producers to be at the top of the lineup.

You have only got to read the headlines to know that it is almost a shock when someone unknown wins something themselves because we are so used to producers and produced animals winning everything.

So there are a few reasons that we know of why your average Joe isn't going to shows anymore.

Because there is no point. You just can't compete with it anymore and it isn't fun. You can't mix people doing it as a hobby with people doing it as a business and expect it to work.

So something has got to change, but it won't, and because of this we are slowly losing our local shows, and then our county shows until there is nothing left to compete for.