Awareness of the outside world. Law Dork: SCOTUS guts what remained of the Voting Rights Act before taking on TPS termination case, Geidner, Apr 29, 2026.
Pause to shift gears.
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A pondering post.
Every horse & rider combination has their own reasons for going to any particular horse show. That said, I see motivation falling into three broad categories.
Experience
Experience for the horse. Experience for the rider. The show is NBD for one or the other.
For me, I could see being the adult in the room in a cross-rails class with, to take a random example, an off-track Standardbred.
Program
Qualifying for another show. Points for a year-end award.
I’ve read rants decrying points-chasing as leading to overuse of horses. Could be. Mostly, what I’ve seen is standardization and stifling of creativity. If the show schedule is structured around year-end awards, then all the shows have the exact same classes, barn-to-barn, year-after-year. No one seems to have interesting one-off classes. Could be it’s not what their customers want.
For me, I have no moral high ground.
“But just this once. I can quit points-chasing any time I want.” [Georgia Fall Classic] 2015
“You know, if I do two of the three local, summer shows, I could probably climb onto the tag end of the year-end awards.” [“The Crux“] 2022
Enjoyment
This would be showing for the show itself. Anything from trying to win the Olympics to taking an old friend for a trot around the ring.
Enjoyment is not quite le mot juste. One would hope that folks enjoy every horse show on some level, otherwise why go through all the nonsense? But you know what I mean. Doing the show for it’s own sake.
For me. Yes, please.
What motivates you?
Onwards!
Katherine
Virtual Brush Box 
Priney’s former owner was chasing year-end points. She showed every possible weekend, drilled in the ring, and poor Priney paid the price. My more laid-back style – the occasional show or event, lots of out-of-the ring riding – changed her. I’d had her less than a year when Nancy told me she’d never seen Priney so relaxed. And Nancy knew her for years before I bought her! (Priney, not Nancy)
I couldn’t compete in hunter/jumper shows more if I wanted to, because they wouldn’t let seniors (over 18, not senior citizen type) ride ponies. I don’t know how many show secretaries I argued with that I just wanted to ride against adults. When I did – well, one show I got a first and a second riding in two classes, and another I got reserve champion riding in only three of the four classes in the division. So there big elegant riders on big elegant TBs who all but snickered aloud when we rode into the ring.
Then we were introduced to eventing. Took a while to get the hang of it, but with Katherine’s help, Priney realized that one phase included the things she loved most in the world: running and jumping. We always sucked at dressage, but took a second overall. Eventers don’t care what the size/age of horse/rider is, if they can do the job, they’re welcome.
I just wanted to do better each time than the time before, I was competing more with myself.
Oops, brain outran fingers. That second overall was in what turned out to be our last-ever competition, the years of hard work caught up with Priney and she developed a lameness problem. After about a year as a pasture pet, she could be used for light riding, until she developed liver disease and lived out her live just being pampered until it was her time to go to the Bridge.
Life. I meant to type life. I didn’t sleep well last night.