On the downside, winter officially starts in two days.
On the upside, longer light starts in two days.
Frozen water trough during Snowmageddon last winter. [Post Called On Account Of Snow, Snow Day Montage]
Loot. A Blog Hop.
Tails From Provence answered my question about French horse show ribbons with the post Loot. She ended with, “Would any of my friends from other countries like to weigh in with their stories for comparison?” Talk about ribbons? Sure!
Colors
In the US, the ribbon colors are consistent: blue, red, yellow, white, pink, green, purple, brown, gray, baby blue. The average show awards through six places. Bigger shows &/or bigger classes go deeper into the colors.
After 10th, the colors are up to the organizer. Rolex gives ribbons to 20th. The ribbons for 11th through 20th are the same baby blue as 10th. One assumes the prize money checks are different. When Big Ben won the World Cup in Tampa, the ribbons went down to 20th, each one a distinct color. I remember seeing orange.
Size
The standard horse show ribbon is a rosette with three 8″ streamers. Different levels of effort go into the ruffles at the top, the style of button, and amount of show personalization on streamer and button.
Eventing gives fancier ribbons as they only buy one set per division. Saddle seat is off the charts on both quality and size of ribbon for the simplest of classes. Championship ribbons are proportionally larger and longer.
(Ego compels me to add that I do have the blue version of this ribbon, see inset. It was unavailable at the time. [Confidence])
Prizes
At shows where the riders are expected to ride in many classes (hunters), generally no prizes are given for winning a single class. The division champion might get a trinket. At shows where the classes entered are fewer, the trinkets are more prevalent (saddle seat, sidesaddle, Intercollegiate). The bigger the show, the bigger the trinket.
Year-end or series prizes run to coolers, halters, saddlepads, frames, and silverplate.
Money
Jumpers are more likely to give money than hunters, dressage, eventing, and so on. Usually the last class of a division is a classic or stake of some sort. The amount is small but pleasant. Money increases as the fences get higher. OTOH, the shows that give big money also cost big. Does anyone really make a profit on horse show prize money?
My biggest checks have come two years in a row from National Academy. Woot!
Over to You
US readers: Does your experience differ? Aside from saddle seat, this is all from back in the day. Has it changed? How about other disciplines: Western, breed shows, Endurance?
International readers: What ya got?
Meet Rodney
The UK version.
Rodney lives at Church Farm Livery Stables, Monkton Farleigh, Wiltshire. He shares his life with Ros Dobson, whose Twitter description reads: Equine Professional, A Groom and Instructor for over 20 Years, supervised by Jack Russells! @rosddobson. Read more about his life and friends on Rodney’s Page. His new wingman is Buddy. They are “the ginger ninjas of the yard, specialising in synchronised spooking when we take our humans out and about together.”
I cyber-met this Rodney during my first #HorseHour Twitter chat. Hosted by @HorseHour, the chat takes place every Monday, 8-9 pm GMT. I decided to expand my Twitter horizons after reading #HorseHour Mondays: A Lunchtime Twitter Chat for the Horse-Obsessed on Saddle Seeks Horse.
Thanks to Ros Dobson, Horse Hour, Susan Friedland-Smith, and of course, Rodney (UK) for the chat & for the blog post.
‘Tis a strange and wonderful time to be alive.
Rodney’s Saga Twitter accounts
Content: @RodneySaga
Notifications: @RodneySagaBlog
Show Report & Tweets: Rocking S, Dec 2014
Winter Tournament 1
Rocking S Farm
Helena AL
December 13, 2014
Riding & driving with Natalie
Thank you to Ann Stanton and Nicole Hardy
Riding
1. Advanced Horsemanship WTC Adult, 1st of 5
2. Advanced Equitation WTC Adult (Pattern), 1st of 2
7. Pleasure Horse or Pony WTC Adult, 3rd of 4
Natalie came to the party with her dancing shoes on. Walk? Trot? Canter? Right away, boss. Serpentine across the short side of the arena? Sure thing. Halt-to-canter transitions? No problem. I simply sat on board and caught the blue ribbons as they were tossed at us.
For the third class, we popped out of whatever groove we had been in. Ah well, as the song says, two out of three ain’t bad. Particularly when the two were so stellar.
For a few minutes there, I was scoring an undefeated season. Cool.
Driving
22. Academy Driving, 2nd of 2
I’m still the mental stage where getting in, getting around, and getting out counts as victory. Natalie was perfectly happy to convey me carefully around the ring. We even styled a tiny bit of extension in the second direction.
Tweets
This may be a record low number for a horse show tweets. Arrive. Ride in three of the first five classes. (Classes 5&6 were not held, so #7 was the fifth class.) Drive. Feed peppermints to waiting horses. Stop feeding peppermints when they give saliva a pink tinge. Watch the last few SSF riders. Zoom. Done. Home. A good day, but not one that lent itself to tweeting.
~~~
Gratuitous Donkeys
Summer donkeys – Show Report: Rocking S
Milton Deconstructed
I freely admit that any problems with Milton are inside my head. He is just young and green. I have the skills to deal. This is good news and bad news. Nothing to fix with the horse. Plenty to fix with my head.
The BTE repost [Back To Square One] reminded me how hysterical Rodney’s behavior was back then. As bad as it was, we still a host of design features to discover: the duration of his ulcer [Update], the depth of his back scarring [Piling on the Therapy], his dislike of trotting in hand [Weekend], and his fear of leather halters [Life in the Slow Lane]. That much ongoing frustration leaves a mark.
In Rodney’s defense, he is a sweet, talented, and willing horse. This adds a hefty element of “if-only” to the frustration. But I digress.
Remember a few years back when Zoë Baird was up for Senate confirmation for US Attorney General? She had hired illegal aliens for childcare and had not paid Social Security taxes. She did not pass go. (We will overlook the more socially relevant fact that men had not been judged on their domestic finances.) The next candidate, Kimba Wood, had a situation that was superficially similar. However, “Wood had done so at a time when this was legal, and had paid Social Security taxes.” She too did not pass go. Mind you, she had broken no laws. Had she been nominated first, she would have gotten the job. Because her actions smelled even slightly like that of the previous nominee, everyone’s knickers got knotted.
Wiki: Nannygate
It’s like that.
Text Art: Patterns
Inspiration
Roberta Warshaw: Book of Letters. Artist’s home page.
A Letter a Week 2014: Adding Color. Flat views of pages.
A Letter a Week 2014: Patterns in Letters. In black and white, easier to see the individual letters making up each pattern.
Show Today: Winter Tournament, Rocking S
Show today. The first show of the 2014-2015 Winter Tournament. Didn’t go last year [Back].
Two years ago, this was my first saddle seat show [Sorta]. Still trying to dial down the overriding and to do what the nice lady at the rail tells me to do. On the plus side, still getting blues with Sam [Report].
Also driving today. Because giving me mini-meltdowns amuses my coach, I guess.
~~~
Gratuitous snow photo
NOT where I live. Taken by a reader in the North Country.
From the same photographer:
Fancy Ribbon
Road-side balloon photo in Mail-Order Horse
Virtual Brush Box 