Prizes Worth Winning (HITS Edition)

Okie Doke.  Part II of the whole Ribbon/Cooler Debate.  I guess this isn't really a debate, per se, but rather applying my ribbon/prize standards to a large Winter Show like HITS Thermal.

When I went down to Thermal last year, it was my first time at a Big Show (Fnacy Name trainers, more than 2 weeks... thouands of horses, 100 horses in a division, at least 5 food vendors etc etc). 

I was a bit star struck.  My brain could barely comprehend that there were seven Hunter Rings.  What do you even do with that many rings? 

Then I quickly figured it out.  Some poor judge sits there and watches 80 horses jump their entire division, and 320 rounds later he rubs his bleary eyes and watches them hack.  For his troubles he is rewarded with a sandwich.

My jumped-into-the-deep-end brain was short circuited by the GORGEOUS, cresty, fancy hunters that seemed to be everywhere.  The Jumper Rings always seemed to have something 1.40m or higher going on and there was SO MUCH SHOPPING.

Last year I was also counting down the days until I had to stop riding, so I shoved all my hopes/dreams/expectation/nerves for the entire show season into three, sunny weeks. 

This year I went down knowing we could belong, knowing that I'd have to shove big dappled butts aside in order to get to the portapotties and knowing that three weeks in Thermal this year was just a warm up, not the be-all-end-all to my season.

Needless to say, whether it was a shift in perspective or just the insanely thick layer of desert dust on everything, I was decidedly less star struck.

Of course the fact that HITS upped their rates by 20% didn't help either.  I started the show off feeling nickeled and dimed and that didn't really dissipate.

HITS is run for profit, and it shows.  There are efforts to be exhibitor friendly and small gestures made toward hospitality, but really, it's a numbers game, and nothing takes the (bought and paid for) shine off a horse show like trying to cut costs. 

I'm sure the overhead of running a facility like HITS Thermal is through the roof, but when you realize there are no sanctioned Derbies (they cost money) or that top tier judges have started refusing the job due to less pay and smaller per diems... that perhaps the goal isn't to be the most glorious winter show on the West Coast.. but something else.

Seeing as how I'm diving down a dark, crappy tangent I'll get back to the prizes. 

First up, RIBBONS.  HITS earns full marks for ribbons.  They are appropriate for the show size, though I feel like they could stand to dress up their tricolors a tad (but I always feel that way... tri colors can always be more glorious). 

2015 Thermal Ribbon Hauk

All in all, no complaints on ribbons.  Good Job HITS.

First Place prizes..  Oy.  Thermal is the land of logoed prizes.  Picture frames, rags, totes.  All logoed so you can proudly advertise for them all year long :)

As someone who competes in the lower, unranked divisions and wins a decent amount, the prizes are totally acceptable to me.  This year there were coffee mugs, so I made a point of collecting those. 

(I have this problem where I hate hand-washing coffee travel mugs so I put them in the dishwasher and destroy them at a record rate.  Having endless backups is not only nice, but prudent.)

the 2015 Prizes.. mostly coffee cups, YAY

However, if I were campaigning a horse in a big Pro Division or a Junior in those huge Eq classes, I'd be a little sad if after beating out 70 top competitors, I got a .... weird makeup brush kit?

I'm not kidding about the weird makeup brushes.

WTF? who though that was a good idea?

Because what the lady spending $100k (gulp) on showing the whole circuit really wants, is a $2 set of makeup brushes that say "HITS."  Yes, I'm certain that Mrs. Hunter-Money-Pants is going to tuck that gem of a prize right into her Celine bag so she can use it while freshening up her Chanel lipstick in the.... portapotty.  (facepalm)

Even if we ignore Mrs. Hunter-Money-Pants, I feel like most riders are lucky if they even wave mascara across their face while at a show.  Makeup doesn't really make an appearance at the shows (well... Arabs and QH aside maybe) so this just seems like the weirdest prize ever on so many levels to me....

Basically I would give HITS a B- on First Place Prizes.  They are totally fine for ammys in smaller divisions riding 12 rounds a day... But less acceptable for serious rated competitors. 

But if they had me starting to get skeptical about their First Place prizes... they got me back with the Championship Prize.

These they do better on.  The standard Coolers (COOLERS!!!) are actually quite pretty.  Navy, with gold cord and a nice large embroidered logo.  My only beef with the cooler situation is that they (apparently) don't change the coolers year to year.  I don't mind a theme, but either change the fleece, or the cord, or maybe even just embroider the year on them so that they don't all look the exact same.


Full marks for Champion Prize

I haven't gotten this year's Grand Circuit Prize, but last year it was another lovely cooler with double piping and was a pretty tech fabric instead of the regular fleece - a totally acceptable prize in my book.

Terrible photo, but... here.

The Grand Circuit Cooler is definitely higher quality than the regular Division prize, which it should be.  Though, oddly I ended up preferring the Division Cooler solely based on the fact that Prair looks sharper in Navy than she does in Gray.  The Grand Circuit prize does win points for being somewhat water resistant which is darn handy in the PNW.  I end up keeping the Grand Circuit cooler in my tack trunk for use as a rain sheet when we are showing at home and inevitably caught in a drizzle at the back gate.  

So, even though it's not the perfect color combo for Prair, I think HITS does well in this category as well. 

Again, I don't mean this to be a bratty, blue-ribbon-entitled diatribe, but rather a total op-ed on prizes from a true ribbon-addict. 

I reiterate that most of us (me included) don't show for the actual ribbons or prizes, but rather the opportunity to demonstrate improvement with our beloved horses and try to cram all the benefit and progression of hours and months and years of training into a 2-5 minute performance. 

But, when you're paying anywhere from $500-$3000 for the privilege of that public performance, sometimes it's really (really) nice to have a pretty ribbon or prize at the end of the day too.

SB's Ammy Hour

Huge thanks to Sprinkler Bandit for asking us to participate in her hugely entertaining "Ammy Hour" series over on her blog.  I've always enjoyed reading the posts, and have often found my next favorite blog to follow via the series. 

Based on the number of hits I know I get from her blog, I'd wager that most of my readers are already quite familiar with her story and totes adorbs OTTB, but if you aren't, I can't recommend it more. 

Great mix of humor, humility, tack ho'ing and general pontification on the craziness that is Horse-Land.

So much cute. So much delicious tack

Just going through her list of interview questions was actually an interesting exercise for me in terms of self-reflection which is something I've been doing almost zero of since the wee little baby came along.

Anyway, big thanks for the interest and shoutout!

xoxo,

Gingham and Prair

The Princess P

Princess P was a name reserved for Pia when she was at her most...opinionated and self assured about how life *should* be.  And Frankly it's a name that's never really fit Prairie's personality or tendencies, but OMG - today, it fits.

So I had a good flat lesson (meaning, we WTC both ways, I felt moderately effective and the mare didn't flip me off too many times) and I figured that since she's had a couple days of hard work in a row, it would be a good day to put Prair outside again for the first time.

I booted her up in case she acted like a lunatic.

I switched to a light sheet in case all her antics got her sweaty and warm.

I even gave her a small cocktail in hopes that would take the edge off enough to keep her from jumping the fence and galloping to the next county.

Then I prayed.

I prayed to the horsey gods that she wouldn't undo months and months of painstaking rehab work with one dumb flying mare move.

And then we took a left out of her stall instead of a right and we headed for the open sunshine.  We jigged.  Prair threw her head in the air like a terrified, dominant llama, and we jigged toward the closest (smallest) paddock.

Then, because there is some metaphysical law that states all paddocks must have a large puddle by the gate, we stopped.  Because Prair hasn't had to do a puddle since Spring 2014 and it just wasn't going to work for her.

Naturally that meant I couldn't pick my way along the fence line and hopscotch myself through the puddles and to the other side.  No no, instead I had to march my (freshly polished, sniffle) boots through the puddle and drag the big mare behind me. 

Then I gave her a treat, unclipped the lead and scurried out of the way.

......

nothing.

and I mean, nothing.

She stood, snorted at her neighbor twice then walked herself into the run-in shed and stood under cover.

To be clear.  First time turned out in eight (+) months - and the mare... turned herself in.


I will truly never understand mares.

Prairies go here.  away from puddles.

Circuit Awards

For some reason, this year Thermal felt more productive but not more successful in terms of ribbons.  Prair was without a doubt a better Hunter than she was last year, though it's questionable as to whether I was a better rider or not given the whole took-a-break-for-a-baby thing. 

All in all though, we still held on to a couple of Circuit awards.  For the second half of the circuit we snagged a championship in our Eq (lol) and an Reserve in one of our Hunter divisions (I forget which one).

Our Eq points were enough to win the Grand Circuit Championship which is pretty cool, so Prair gets at least one more HUGE tri-color to pin on our wall. 

To be honest I go back and forth on how excited I am about an unrated Eq championship.  On one hand, neato burrito -  even at the baby level, the horses and riders (for the most part) at Thermal are more competitive than what we see at home and it's an accomplishment.  Frankly just getting to the ring is an accomplishment....

On the other hand, I feel like it isn't that impressive or noteworthy to be (what feels like) the only one who hangs in the baby leagues for long enough to rack up enough points for a win.  It seems like more people show one or two weeks and then move up to something bigger. 

So in a way, the award almost feels like a participation ribbon for not progressing.

Cynical I know, but that's my current read.  I love the ribbons and the circuit award coolers are usually pretty snazzy, but it makes me feel like we should be doing more.

That sentiment is probably more of a reflection on my competitive mindset than anything.  If I'm not winning (or rather, doing "well"), I am (understandably) frustrated. 

However, when we do win - Instead of enjoying the accomplishment I feel like we should be doing more, or worry that we're sandbagging.

In a way, it's nice to hear the vet say she wants us to hang at 2'6".  At least then I feel like I have permission to hold steady for a bit and not beat myself up about moving back up to our former 2'9" or even 3' height. 

In the end all of our work is more correct and more relaxed than it was last year, which if anything should make this award mean more, not less.