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 Expert
Posts: 1392
  
Location: Central Texas | I'm trying to get back in the swing of riding and competing so I decided to join the local saddle club this year and do some playdays.
At the meeting last night there was a big argument about people not being able to use more than one horse in a day.
I'm looking for opinions and how other clubs handle this.
So the questions are...
1. How would you feel about having to ride the same horse in all 5 events in one day (middle of the day) in the summer in Texas?
2 .How would you feel if someone came in with two horses and did half the events on one and half the events on another?
3. Do you think one way is more fair than the other?
Please discuss and give me some input.
Thanks |
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 Hawty & Nawty
Posts: 20424
| I've rode in gymkhanas for years. You will never get the same opinion twice and drama inhabits those places pretty bad. Just worry about you, have fun and learn. Leave the rest to those with nothing better to worry about.
Good Luck! Personally, I have a great time. |
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 Coyote Country Queen
Posts: 5666
| I've never done playdays, so I have no idea. But I'm wondering if the reason that people don't want members using multiple horses is because of year-end points. If so, could you do points on the horse/rider combination? I personally wouldn't care if someone wanted to ride multiple horses, and if my horse was in shape I probably wouldn't mind doing multiple events on one horse. But would like the option of riding multiple horses, simply because I usually have more than one horse that needs hauled. |
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
| Our gymkhanas up here one horse one rider for all events.
We have 30 degree Celsius weather which is abnormal for our horses, I always pulled saddle and boots off after each event then sponged them down with cold water.
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 788
| Iv been doing playdays for years and they are great for family fun but there can be a lot of drama involved. Just ignore it and ride. Iv always tried to use more than 1 horse but mostly because a horse will do better at less events. But if a horse is in shape they are fully capable of doing 4-5 events in a day in the middle of summer. Weve just always made sure you cool them off plenty between events and even spray them with water to keep them from getting too hot and ALWAYS have a fan handy and in use when its 100 degrees.  |
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 Cute Little Imp
Posts: 2747
Location: N Texas | In the association I'm a member of, you can ride a different horse for each event if you want. Points are accumulated for the rider, regardless of horse used. I've had seasons where I rode 3 or 4 different horses. The only horse rule we have is people sharing a horse must be related, you can't bring your buddy and let them ride your horse or they get disqualified.
Riding multiple horses is pretty common, and no one makes a big deal about it.
It's also very common for a person to ride the same horse in all 6 events.
Edited by Gunner11 2014-02-11 9:36 AM
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Expert
Posts: 1392
Location: Central Texas | Yes, I had forgotten all about the drama that comes along with small playday clubs. I just wanted somewhere close to home to go and get back in the saddle again.
I don't really have a dog in their fight since I currently only have one horse to ride but I had never encountered people that had a problem with others bringing more than one horse to use. I know some of us have much older horses and it would be nice to be able to switch out and give the old horses a break.
This club does points based on the rider not the horse so once again I don't see the problem that some of them are having with those that have multiple horses. You can only earn points one time in each event.
They also don't offer any exhibitions. Period.
The rules just seemed kinda crazy to me. Maybe I've just been out of it for too long. |
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The Resident Destroyer of Liberal Logic
Location: PNW | Where I am, our local horse show association does points on horse/rider combinations. And they allow a rider to bring as many horses as they want. There's one gal that will bring 4-6 and ride each one in each event - of course, each horse is entered and paid for individually - so her game days can get spendy. I don't see a problem with it, it's just like somebody taking 3 horses to a barrel race.
I can see the stickiness with using different horses to accumulate points on the rider only - it kind of takes away the all-aroundness out of the equation. I have an awesome horse that is the love of my barn - he's 3D at super races, but at our local game days - he can do all five events and WIN in the fastest division (our classes are split by speed/skill as opposed to rider age).
Best of luck! And have fun! |
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The Resident Destroyer of Liberal Logic
Location: PNW | Where I am, our local horse show association does points on horse/rider combinations. And they allow a rider to bring as many horses as they want. There's one gal that will bring 4-6 and ride each one in each event - of course, each horse is entered and paid for individually - so her game days can get spendy. I don't see a problem with it, it's just like somebody taking 3 horses to a barrel race.
I can see the stickiness with using different horses to accumulate points on the rider only - it kind of takes away the all-aroundness out of the equation. I have an awesome horse that is the love of my barn - he's 3D at super races, but at our local game days - he can do all five events and WIN in the fastest division (our classes are split by speed/skill as opposed to rider age).
Best of luck! And have fun! |
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 Born not Made
Posts: 2937
Location: North Dakota | At all of the shows I go to, it does not matter which horse you are riding. Points go only to the RIDER.
Some shows I go to allow a rider to enter more than once on multiple horses. Some shows don't.
Some shows I go to allow the same horse to compete in the same age division (so more than one person can ride it). Some shows don't. Some shows allow the same horse to enter in different age divisions of the same event, and some shows don't.
I really don't care either way on any of those rules. If one horse is good enough to clean house with multiple riders in multiple events, more power to ya for having a good horse. I just try to do the best that me and my horse can do.
Right now I only have one horse to compete on. So that's who I'll ride! Next year when my young one gets going better, I will try to hit up more of the shows that allow you to enter multiple times on different horses. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 1092
Location: OK | I hate the 1 horse for all events requirement. It seems pointless to me, especially in the heat or on a horse that kids also jr rodeo on. That can make for a long hard week. I think it's a PLAYday, and should be a little looser on that rule.
My friends are in a club and it's a giant hoopla over who rides what, did she ride another horse back in June because she's ahead of me in the points and I should win, bla bla.
The other thing I hate is dropping. Some places, they have 10 playdays or rodeos, but you get to drop 3, so whoever is leading may not be leading by the time they drop. I've heard it's because some kids might have a bad day, but uh, I always thought if you have a bad day, you just don't win. Seems fair to me.
Some of the rules they come up with leave me shaking my head. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 731
Location: WNY | everywhere is different. places I go it points on horse/rider combo. so yes potentially I can run horse a and horse b and win both 1st and 2nd. its the same at a 3d or 4d barrel run. I rarely ever take one horse. theres always another one running around out there that needs to be seasoned. so no, im probably not going to clean house on both horses. but places try to prevent that.. sometimes you get jerks that would do that. my opinion is that its life run the show how it makes most happy and keeps people coming and making the club happy. if attendance goes down your in trouble. me personally it is exhausting trying to keep rules rules rules straight. better to keep it simple and save the headache of 100 people at the reg booth not understanding your points system and rules. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 731
Location: WNY | r_beau - 2014-02-11 11:22 AM
I really don't care either way on any of those rules. If one horse is good enough to clean house with multiple riders in multiple events, more power to ya for having a good horse.
and its their business if little joey and mom and dad want the horse to run 3times in one event=15 times that day and run its dang legs off. lol. let em maybe they'll learn something about a horse.
another place I ran awhile if you didn't show up to the year end banquet you forfeit your award. bc they had one that cleaned house and didn't bother to show up for her buckles. I thought so what let her grow up being stuck up and rude like that. the rest of us lets just have fun. so if your mom was dying you still had to show up... or forfeit your award. |
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 Balance Beam and more...
Posts: 11511
Location: 31 lengths farms | I think Hi-Point in gymkhana's should always be one horse one rider combo and I do not think it is fair to ask a horse to run 6 or 7 events with a senior rider and a junior rider. I've seen it done here because the mother and daughter shared a horse which I get at a level say running barrels at a race but 12-14 runs in one day to me is a bit much for any horse and taking advantage of a stoic one. |
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Expert
Posts: 1392
Location: Central Texas | jojammer - 2014-02-11 12:09 PM I hate the 1 horse for all events requirement. It seems pointless to me, especially in the heat or on a horse that kids also jr rodeo on. That can make for a long hard week. I think it's a PLAYday, and should be a little looser on that rule. My friends are in a club and it's a giant hoopla over who rides what, did she ride another horse back in June because she's ahead of me in the points and I should win, bla bla. The other thing I hate is dropping. Some places, they have 10 playdays or rodeos, but you get to drop 3, so whoever is leading may not be leading by the time they drop. I've heard it's because some kids might have a bad day, but uh, I always thought if you have a bad day, you just don't win. Seems fair to me. Some of the rules they come up with leave me shaking my head.
This is what I feel like is happening in this club. I used to ride in this same club many years ago and we didn't have any of these "new" rules back then. It was so much simpler. Pay your entry fees, run whatever you brought wether it was one horse for all events or a different horse for each event, whoever had the most points at the end wins.
They have also adopted the drop two shows method. I think if you went to all of the shows and paid entry to all the shows you should get all the points that you earned.
But I do see that some of ya'll have some of the same rules so I guess it's not as uncommon as I thought. |
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 Expert
Posts: 1367
Location: mi | Our local club has a horse/rider combo rule. It really stinks if your horse gets hurt towards the end of the season as there is no replacing them. But I get the rule as this is a smaller family club and they are trying to help out that kid that can't afford a horse for each event. That being said I can bring and ride multiple horses so it does work ok. |
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 Am I really the Weirdo?
Posts: 11181
Location: Kansas | I've gone to little saddle club shows for years and always enjoyed being able to take different horses throughout the year. It has always been a good way to season a colt or have fun with a horse that's not quick enough to compete at the barrel races. There have been a few times that I've taken a "good" horse to just cruise through a pattern because I'd rather win $3.60 at a playday than spend $5 on an exhibition and win nothing back. |
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 Night Watchman
Posts: 5516
Location: Central Montana | That is what I grew up doing. I spend several years bouncing around from horse to horse and many were not ours. My steady horse had navicular and was sound as long as he was kept shod right but we didn't over do it with him. I borrowed several horses from friends of the family who had kids riding in different age groups just to get through a few seasons. There were no rules on how many horses you could ride. We generally did 5-7 individual games per day and then team games for the older age groups. A lot of weekends we did back to back days. Most of the people used the same horse for all games both days. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 929
| jojammer - 2014-02-11 10:09 AM
I hate the 1 horse for all events requirement. It seems pointless to me, especially in the heat or on a horse that kids also jr rodeo on. That can make for a long hard week. I think it's a PLAYday, and should be a little looser on that rule.
My friends are in a club and it's a giant hoopla over who rides what, did she ride another horse back in June because she's ahead of me in the points and I should win, bla bla.
The other thing I hate is dropping. Some places, they have 10 playdays or rodeos, but you get to drop 3, so whoever is leading may not be leading by the time they drop. I've heard it's because some kids might have a bad day, but uh, I always thought if you have a bad day, you just don't win. Seems fair to me.
Some of the rules they come up with leave me shaking my head.
The other thing that the club I am going to ride in this year does that I can't stand is "bumping," which means that if you time up from the speed bracket that you were entered in for more than 4 of the 6 classes, they bump you to the next speed bracket. BUT...they keep your points. So if you were winning at the lower division but would be 4th or whatever in the upper bracket, you cut all those people who actually earned their spot out. I don't really care, myself...I take my 4D mare and clean house at the gymkhanas because a lot of the classes they do at this club are very technical, but it's hard to explain to the kids and makes them frustrated and it's a hard concept for 7-10 year olds to grasp. |
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  Northern Chocolate Queen
Posts: 16576
Location: ND | The club I showed with offered 13 events each show. We did 3 english classes, showmanship, 4 western show classes and 5 speed events. You did not have to ride the same horse all day, points went to the rider. Reality is, that many events most horses can't do them all, let alone do them all well and last through that long of a day. For year end they gave awards in each event and then an overall high point. To be eligible for the high point you had to compete in I belive 3 of the 4 shows and you had to participate in at least 2 show & 2 speed events at each one. |
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