Julie Templeton on our Irish neighbours’ prize pots and packed-out crowds at ringside
I’ve just returned home from judging at the Royal Dublin Horse Show for the first time and I thoroughly enjoyed my experience at the prestigious fixture.
It did help that the weather was incredibly kind to us, however the show itself was fabulous. I feel that some of the shows in England could learn a lot of lessons from the Dublin format. As well as top-class showing, there were amazing tradestands and an abundance of food and drink options for all to enjoy. The rings were fantastic and the layout of the show led to a great atmosphere.
I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed arenas where the grandstands were completely full and spectators were standing five deep around the remainder of the perimeter. This was the norm for nearly every single class. This could be in part down to the well-priced entry tickets and the very generous allocation given to competitors. Our county shows could definitely learn a lesson here.
While the average British showing enthusiast would think the class entry fees ranging from €275 to upwards of €400 per class are eye-watering, I’m sure they’d be surprised and impressed by the prize money on offer.
In standard showing classes at Dublin, first place typically takes home at least a few-hundred euros in some pony sections, and even into the thousands for the highest-placed Irish Draught stallion. Even competitors in fifth place still earned a respectable sum. It makes our brown envelopes with £15 for first seem farcical.
While it has been widely publicised that we are facing challenges here with dwindling numbers in our breeding classes, this was not the case in Dublin. The prize pots were spectacular with some in-hand classes offering upwards of €500 for first place and a huge €3,000 for the best foal.
An equally brilliant initiative was that the breeder of every winning animal across all youngstock classes was awarded €150; what a fabulous way to acknowledge breeders.
All in all, if Dublin can make this format work and have all classes with at least 20 competitors in them, then perhaps it’s about time we looked at the structure in England and re-evaluate in order to regenerate interest in our sport.
Safety first always
Lastly, my thoughts and best wishes are with Sarah Walker who had a terrible accident recently at the Sports Horse Breeding of Great Britain hunter championship show while working in. While she had to undergo surgery, the doctors said that she had been very lucky in the circumstances.
This just goes to prove that accidents can occur at any time on any animal.
While this incident took place in the warm-up I believe those competing in the ring should also be aware of possible dangers and risks.
All competitors should be wearing the correct standard of hat at all times and there should no longer be a place for classes where other headgear is acceptable. Health and wellbeing is worth more than vanity.
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