Ep 46- $356. Four Judges. One Great Horse Show.

What if horse shows didn't leave you exhausted, overwhelmed, and wondering why you spent so much money?

This week, I'm recapping my weekend at the Ohio Amateur Quarter Horse Association's Little Buckeye—and honestly, it reminded me why I fell in love with horse shows in the first place.

One trip through the pen. Four judges. A horse show bill of just $356. Great competition, incredible prizes, amazing food, and somehow... I came home on Monday actually feeling rested instead of completely burned out.

In this solo episode, I'm sharing what made this show so different and why I think there are lessons here for the entire stock horse industry.

We also dive into:

• Why the "show once to four judges" format worked so well for me.
• Whether we've made horse showing more complicated than it needs to be.
• My thoughts on Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, and why so many exhibitors feel intimidated.
• Why I think Green Horse eligibility deserves another look.
• An idea that could make showing more encouraging for new exhibitors and young horses.
• Why weekend horse shows still matter—and why I think they're an important part of keeping our industry strong.

This isn't about saying every horse show should look the same. Super circuits absolutely have their place. But after this weekend, I couldn't stop thinking about one question:

What if making horse shows more enjoyable is just as important as making them bigger?

I'd love to hear your thoughts. What makes you want to keep showing—and what would make the experience even better?

If you see me at a horse show, please come say hello. Meeting listeners is one of my favorite parts of doing this podcast.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

The Monday after a horse show. It is. It's a Monday after a horse show. A horse show that put a lot of things in perspective. You know, I I went to the not so little buckeye, but it's called the Little Buckeye horse show in Ohio. And last year I wanted to go to the horse show, but my horse Zeus broke his jaw very inconveniently. And this year I was bound and determined to go. So we just got back and I wanted to do like a little recap. I have my notes on my phone and my coffee, and I'm ready to talk about it because there was a lot about this horse show that I feel like the stockhorse industry needs to kind of realize. And I don't know. You know, there's there's so much discussion about the expense of horse shows and the time and the judging and like so many, so many different things. So I just wanted to do a full wrap-up on my experience at the Little Buckeye. So what's interesting about the Little Buckeye is it is an amateur run association. So it's the Ohio Amateur Quarterhorse Association. So everyone on the board is an amateur, which is really great because they have that perspective of what amateurs want from their horse show experience. So first things first is the horse show is run at the Garwood Arena in Columbiana, Ohio. So for me, it was like about a four and a half to five hour drive, which isn't too bad, you know, as far as like expense of fuel and so on and so forth. Not too bad. So they do have a limited amount of stalls at this facility and a limited amount of campers. And when I say limited, it's really a very, very large facility. So there were, um, let's see, one, two, three, four, technically four indoor areas to ride. Nowhere outside, but four indoor areas, which is amazing because no matter the weather, we are able to lunge, get ready, prep, show, no matter what. So, and then I think they said they sold somewhere around 650 stalls, which is incredible for a weekend horse show. So the numbers were incredible. And then again, they had limited camper hookups. You know, of course, like that's just like anywhere else, right? Like if you're going to stay in a hotel room, you know, there's not a million options available. So you have to either book early or, you know, sponsor or pay a premium. It is what it is. It's just like life in general, right? So if you want that opportunity, sometimes you have to pay for it or, you know, be on top of it or book early. So I understand that side of it. I know some people are always like, there's not enough room for camping. Well, sometimes hotel rooms run out of rooms, also. So it just happens. But okay, I was lucky enough to get a camping spot early enough. I stalled with Pierre and Nicole Breer and split a tax stall with them. And then I did a sponsorship for the donuts that are amazing. But okay, so that was kind of like how I got into the horse show. Like, you know, my experience of like getting a stall, getting a camper wasn't too bad. Okay. And again, I think they sold 650-ish stalls. Okay, so up front, my cost for a stall, the tax split, and my camper was around $400, which honestly, again, that's not too bad. Try and find a hotel room for an entire. So I was there Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. So at five days, six, five days, you couldn't even go find a hotel room for that cost. So not bad. Okay. Then we get to the horse show. It's a great place. It was my first time there. Really easy to get to, easy to get in with your trailer. I have a big, long living quarters trailer. And I was really impressed because, you know, a lot of times I go by myself. It was easy to pull in, easy to get around the facility, get my horse into stall, unload my things, and get hooked up. Great. Perfect. Signing up was great. And Equine Production was in charge of the office. And as per usual, their group does a great job. And then the whole facility, also, what's really neat about that place is there's like a vendor area. There are two stores in there that have like tack and clothing, you know, cinch jeans, area jeans, supplements, medical supplies for horses, all the kind of things, you know, fly sprays. If you forgot something, you can get it at the Garwood. And then there were also a couple vendors there, which was great. There was Betsy's boutique, head-to-tail boutique, glamorous threads, berry fit, rhinestone lip gloss. And then there was another tech vendor that is slipping my mind right now, but had like leather goods and things like that. So perfect. And they had another office area set up that had all the prizes in there. So if you placed first through sixth, you could go into the prize room and you could pick out a prize. And they had a plethora of things in there. They had seam rippers and electrical tape, fly spray, shampoos, some little things for the kids, like you know, coloring things and sticky things that like you, you know, like throw and slap against the wall. What else did they have? They had like combs and hoof picks, koozies. Oh, and you know what else is really cool is when you check into the horse show, they give you a little goodie bag and had like a towel in there, a t-shirt, which is I'm sorry you guys, but I love it when you check into a horse show and they give you a t-shirt.

SPEAKER_00 6:15

Like, I just I don't know why, but that makes me feel like whatever money I'm gonna spend there was well worth it for the freaking t-shirt. I don't know why, but I love it.

SPEAKER_01 6:24

I think it's so cool. I remember the first time I ever went to the little bucka, I think it was in like 2012, 13, maybe. I still have that t-shirt, and I just think that is really cool. I don't know, I like it. It's nostalgic. I don't know. I like it. So, okay, so then the prize room, they had all these different things, and then they had the high points, the circuit champions, all that stuff. So the interesting thing about this horse show, too, is you show one time to four judges. I know there's some controversy around that, and people are like, well, we want to show twice. I just want to say, for me, personally, Allie Hubble, I am a level three amateur exhibitor. I brought just my all-around horse that is he's broke, okay. He is ready to go, do all of the things, and I don't, I guess I should say it in a way of like, I shouldn't really need to do it twice. I should be able to go in there and do it correctly the first time. Okay. So for me, I think that showing once is fine. And I'm gonna go into why, but okay, so we showed one time to four judges. For example, in the showmanship, the amateur showmanship, I think there were 45 exhibitors, which oh my gosh, great numbers. Again, for a weekend horse show, 45 in the amateur showmanship. Amazing, and everybody was really good, like the competition was stout. I was unbelievably impressed by everyone. So I love that because I had a first to second and two gates. We don't need to get into it, but a first to second, I mean, I got a ton of points. I got to go in and pick out prizes, and like I loved that. That like I got to go and do it against a bunch of people, and then I was done. You know what else I got to do that night? Go to dinner. You know what else I got to do? Take a shower. Like the day was done. And I I don't know, you know, for the Monday after a horse show with only showing one time. I feel good. Like I feel refreshed and accomplished. Like there were great things that happened at the horse show. I came home with loot, which is cool. And I like I'm actually excited to go again. Where sometimes I feel like when we show twice or even three times, like at the madness, for that third time, it's tough for me to amp myself up to do it again, like at that same level that I did the first time. So I personally, again, just my opinion, I'm not a horse trainer. I'm a level three amateur that goes by herself, okay? But I like that format. Again, I got a lot accomplished. I came home with stuff, which who doesn't love stuff? And then they oh, they also had jackpots. So if you placed first through fifth, you got money. What you got money, so that's pretty cool. I think I came home with like $80. That's great. And I also was the bronze champion and I won a really cute chair that was embroidered with what I won on that. I love that. I don't know about other people, but I enjoy when my award says what I won. It doesn't necessarily have to have the year on it, but I think it's really interesting to at least have what you won on the award. So kudos to you guys for keeping all that stuff in perspective. I personally loved it. I thought it was great. The biggest takeaway for me, well, these are all huge takeaways for me, but when I checked out in the office on Sunday, and they told me the total for my horse show bill, it was $356. You guys, I can't tell you the last time I showed in all of my classes. Again, I made money, all of like it was amazing. $356. That is the number one reason for me to A go back and B, love these weekend horse shows where you show once. And again, I love showing to the four judges. Great, because I get four different perspectives, four different opportunities to show off what I've been practicing, so on and so forth. And again, back in the day, this is what we used to do. And when I had a corporate job too, I couldn't take time off, like to go to the madness in Florida and do all these super circuits. I don't think we need to go away. Or I don't think we need to stop the super circuits because there's definitely a need for them. And don't get me wrong, I'll I will go to them. I will continue to go to them. But I just feel like I feel so great about paying $356, coming home with stuff and feeling refreshed. My horse didn't overdo it. It was fun. And, you know, I feel like the setup of the Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday horse show show one time with four judges is really attainable for most people. You know, it's I know it's still a lot to get there on a Wednesday, and you know, if you have to take the time off of work and so on and so forth, but it's not as bad when your bill in the office is $356. You know, the blow to the purse isn't as bad. So I really, I really enjoyed that. And the whole crew there was so welcoming. Uh just great job. They fed us, oh my gosh, they fed us. So there was breakfast, lunch, and dinner every single day of the horse show. And it was good food. It wasn't just like mozzarella sticks and chicken fingers or pizza. Yes, there was a pizza night, but who doesn't love pizza? And I think the other night they had a pasta night. I was still showing when they did that dinner. There were sandwiches, like they just did a nice job. There's a couple of nice restaurants in town. So if you didn't want to do the dinner they had, there were options to go in town also. I got to talk to a lot of people there about just kind of like the state of affairs, right? And what and what the I guess it's the what and the why of showing right now. And obviously, it's really expensive, and we have to make sense of it and to keep ourselves excited about showing and going and being there. Like, how do we continue doing that? I personally am starting to feel like we need to like bring it back to being simple that we have made a lot of things very complex as far as the rules and the divisions and so on and so forth. And I am I'm 41 years old, so I have been showing quarter horses since I was about 25-ish, 24-ish. There was the novice division, the amateur, the open, you know, the youth, the novice youth. And I remember I personally, so I was a novice, and I showed in the novice and the amateur, so I got to try twice and I got to practice more in the show arena. And then, you know, they they changed things to obviously having the level two, the level one, the level two, the level three. Okay, I understand that. I understand why we're doing that. I wonder, I understand why there are different levels for different people, but I feel like it has just caused more discussion about what we're doing wrong. I don't know. That's probably kind of controversial. And I know some people are gonna be like, no, we need levels. Yeah, we do. But I don't know if we've got it right right now. Because of the amount of people that do either like hold themselves back or you know, stay a novice for a long time or stay in the level two because they don't want to be a level three. I've probably said this a couple times, but I'm gonna say it again. Some people I'll be like, they'll be like, oh, are you a level two in this or a level three? And I'll say, Oh, I'm level three, they'll say, Oh, I'm sorry. And I say, No, I earned it. Like, I've worked my butt off to be a level three. And you know what? The girls I and guys I have to compete against in the level three, man, they push me. They really do. And just to get my name called in the top five of the level three is like insane. Like, that's the ultimate, you know? So I want us to not feel intimidated. And I hear that a lot in my conversations with people is that they feel intimidated. And that like hurts my heart because this is a competition, right? These horse shows are a competition. We do this to compete and to win. We do, all of us, or to improve at least. Okay. So, you know, I isn't it weird. Like in my head, if I'm top five in the level three amateur, I still like consider that that I won. And not that, like, obviously, I'm not like the best one, but I consider that like a win for me, I guess. So I would tell somebody had a great horror show if I was top five out of 45 in you know, level two and three amateur events. Because everyone there at that level is good. Okay, so with that being said, you know, I I I don't love, I want to talk about two things. I want to talk about the green horse classes, and then I want to talk about like the novice stuff. So for me, with the green horse classes, I currently have a green horse. And I'm not gonna lie, I'm holding her back because I don't feel like she's ready to go out there and like kill it. Okay, because she's not, like, she's not. She's a four-year-old that hasn't shown much. She and I'm showing her in the Western Pleasure for experience. She's not exactly a great Western Pleasure horse, as we've all seen my soggy jog video that was very controversial on the interwebs. But you know, I don't feel like she's ready to go out there and nail a showmanship pattern or a horsemanship pattern for that matter. Because the people that are showing in these green classes, you guys, they're freaking good. Like they are ready to be top five in a level three amateur Western horsemanship class. And like that's gonna take me some time to do that. So I kind of have a couple problems with it. And I would be really interested to hear everyone else's feedback about these green classes. So I know at the NSBA this year they're doing first year green classes, and I love that because like that's what my horse would be ready for. I hate to say this, but like I just feel like some people are taking like a super broke, either like Western riding pleasure or trail horse, and then like and it's like maybe won some stuff already, and then they're showing it in the horsemanship and they are cleaning house. Listen, that's the way the rules are written right now. If they've never shown in a pattern class before, they're green eligible. I get that, but that's a different level of horse majorly than a horse that's like never shown, or like a three-year-old that's starting the pattern stuff that really never did the real classes, and you know, so and listen again, I'm I know I'm the one saying it's a competition and whatever, and it is but what if we look at these green classes like either and like 10 points, I don't know, I don't think it's enough because at one super circuit under one judge, you know, and like 10 points, I just don't think it's enough. Because at one super circuit, like the madness, if you win the level one non-pro green horse horsemanship class out of 50, you're pointed out. That's it, you're done. And like, yes, you get to show it for the rest of the year, but like 10 points can go pretty quickly. And I know some people in different parts of the country don't have the numbers that we do, like in the East Coast or maybe like Texas, Oklahoma area or Florida. So it would take you longer. So here's my idea. What if we do like I'm just gonna say, for example, 30 points for the green classes, 30, 35, 40, I don't know, something like that, or two years. So whichever one you would hit first would make you out of, you know, not eligible for the green classes anymore. And I almost feel that way for the novice division too, because you know, I just feel like it would be a little bit more fair to give somebody two years in the novice, and actually Julian Harris was the one who said this to me, and I was like, you know what? I love that. I think that's a great idea. Give somebody two years of being a novice, two years of being a green horse, again, or we can put like a higher point level to it. That way people feel confident to step up, right? I want my horse to feel confident to step up and myself. I think that would really help people be encouraged to keep showing, to show up. For me, if I knew I had two years to show my green horse, I would probably start showing her sooner. I think I'm gonna do it anyways because it is what it is. But this is something that I might do a rule change proposal for. And I would encourage others if if you like this idea and you think it might be beneficial, that let's do it. Like, let's do it. You know, I think it would it could help a lot of people. And I think it would give horses a little bit more of an opportunity. You know, someone like me, I can't show every weekend. I can't do a ton of big circuits to help these my horses get more broke. So I have to pick and choose. It would be nice to have two years to get that horse solid in the pattern events, and then let her move up to the amateur, and then I feel like she would be ready. So I saw that a little bit at the Little Buckeye that there were some individuals there with like super green horses, and you know, they did. They felt intimidated in some of the green horse classes because there were horses there that were like broke, broke, broke, broke. Again, it's a competition. I get it. You know, we don't have it figured out for everyone, and sometimes it's the 1% that we're worried about, and the 90% that we're just forgetting about. So we're not gonna make everybody happy, and that's okay. That's life. But yeah, just some things I wanted to put in perspective, and I really I just wanted to put this quick episode out there of my absolutely wonderful experience at the Little Buckeye, and I just wanted to touch base on the novice stuff and leveling and you know, just ways to maybe make things a little bit more encouraging. Because I felt the conversations that I had at the Little Buckeye with multiple different people, and my experience that I had at that horse show was I just feel like my experience that I had at the Little Buckeye and all of the conversations I had with multiple different people, like there was some like really encouraging things out there, really encouraging. And we need to keep that going. We need to keep that conversation going because I don't want anybody quitting. You know, that's like really my thing with Cantor Culture is we all love horses and a lot of us love showing. Sometimes it's out of reach for us for one reason or another, but it's never gonna go away. So don't quit. Keep showing up. You can do it. And if you see me at a horse show, I want you guys to say hi to me because this weekend I saw so many people and they were like, I love your podcast, I love your, you know, social media stuff. And I can't tell you how much I love, like, I'm gonna get teared up. But I love that. I just I love it because I am just like you guys. I, you know, I put my pants on the same exact way that you do. So please always feel free to say hello, or if you have an idea for a podcast, I would love to hear it. I wish I could do more podcasts. You know, it's like always a scheduling thing. And like some of these horse people that I want to talk to, they're hard to get hold of. But I love it. I love meeting everybody. Please, you know, again, don't feel intimidated. I am so easy to talk to, and I want to talk to you. So definitely keep saying hi. And uh, yeah, there's gonna be a more podcast coming.