Let Me Introduce You to My Non-Competitive Self…

We’re excited to introduce our newest EquineChronicle.com blogger, Kory Kumar! If you’d like to contribute a blog post about a topic of importance to the horse industry, email B.Bevis@EquineChronicle.com. 

EC Blog by: Kory Kumar

Why pay the money for full time trainers, the price of high end show tack, show fees, and trainer fees if you don’t have a strong competitive drive? This is a question my husband and non-horse show peers ask all me all the time. Do you know what you could be doing with that money each month?

It’s very true! I’m not a competitive person by nature. I don’t want to spend countless hours practicing, but I LOVE to get dressed up and show my horse, and I’m all too happy to pay the fees associated with it. I don’t care to spend time strategizing my classes so that I can make sure I do everything I need to in order to be in the High Point running.

There is nothing wrong with being a person who’s a dedicated rider and showman, and, in caring about these things, I’m just not one of them. So, let me offer you a different perspective.

I am a novice amateur competitor. I keep my horse, Neil, in full time training with a wonderful and talented trainer that I respect and enjoy very much. I have an amazingly supportive show team that genuinely cares about each other, and I’m blessed with a great gelding who is extremely good minded and patient with my amateur riding skills. He puts up with my lack of timing in Trail and helps me more than I probably even know. I absolutely love him!

Someday, I will point out of being a novice. To many, this may be a scary thing, as the competition level bar rises quite a bit. However, I’m not scared at all. Even though I will, one day, have to ride in the same pen as the talented amateur horses and ladies, I will not be riding against them. I’m truly riding for myself!

I want to have fun and be around people that I enjoy, doing something that I enjoy, plain and simple. Of course, I want to place well, who doesn’t, but if I don’t, I’m okay with that. I believe in making personal goals before each show; because, let’s face it, we can’t control what judges think and like. If my goes are good, and I feel good about them, my placings in classes are secondary. No joke!

I don’t chase points; I don’t go for High Points; and I don’t look at my fellow exhibitors as my competition. I’m in competition with myself each time my horse sets foot in the pen. I hope that my ride today will be better than my previous ride and that whatever piloting issue I had before, I will have a plan for today. It’s always a fun surprise to get my ROM certificates in the mail. YEAH! I earned some points this year!

Sure, I practice at home, and sure, my trainer probably wishes that I would spend a bit more time. I’m not by any means trying to make her look bad with my relaxed attitude. She knows me, though, and she knows my horse. If it is going to be a total wreck, she will step in and tell me that I shouldn’t go in a certain class, or to a show. Just like everyone, I practice the most what my horse and I enjoy, and I will do my practice at the show as well, because that’s expected behavior.

Showing my horse is my hobby. I don’t want to have a stressful hobby. Where is the fun in that? It isn’t as if the show office will give your money back if you didn’t enjoy your time. So, I say, find a way to make it fun! It’s up to each one of us to look for fun in our hobbies. That’s why we do it, right? It’s enjoyable, and this particular hobby is
way too expensive not to have it be enjoyable.

It can’t be up to the clubs or breed organizations to create all the fun at the horse shows. The exhibitors have a responsibility as well. It’s okay to have FUN. It’s okay to be social and to celebrate the successes of others. As I reflect upon my past horse show season, and the people I have talked to or laughed with, I have only fun to remember and, thankfully, some of my best rides.

Horse shows bring together a mixture of people who are there for all kinds of different reasons. It’s important to be respectful to the trainers of our industry and to respect their profession and time. Where would we be without them? It’s also important to be respectful of the other exhibitors, who may, or may not, share the same objectives as you.

So, when you look at me, don’t think I’m trying to be a total slacker. I’m not; I promise. I’m just trying to make my own fun and enjoy my time with everyone around me. When I look back on my life, I want to be able to remember all the fun times I had with awesome people. Prizes come and go, but the memories will last a lifetime!

-Kory Kumar
Novice Amateur Rider

About the Author- Kory Kumar

I’ve had a love of horse shows since I was a young girl.  I went to my first show at 7 years old and have never looked back. Over the years, I’ve been fortunate to have served on many show committees with my regional clubs and for the APHA Zone One Representative Council. I’ve also worked most of the different jobs at horse shows over the years.  Horse show planning and growth is a topic that is dear to my heart, as is the upward growth and prosperity of the equine industry.