2021 Will be the Year of Collaboration For Horse Shows

EC Blog by: Kory Kumar

Club and Association Collaboration Leads to Horse Show Innovation

Meaningful and purposeful collaboration is essential to achieving long term and sustainable outcomes. Successful companies, associations, and clubs have demonstrated that collaboration is key to their overall success year after year. In the spirit of promoting, sustaining, and providing for our competitive equestrian industry, we simply must innovate. Collaboration is the central theme of innovation, my friends!

Innovation begins with collaboration between people. The same is true for horse clubs. Collaboration is based on Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory, which emphasizes the importance of modeling, observing, and imitating the behaviors, attitudes, and emotional reactions of others. The theory considers how both environmental and cognitive factors influence learning and behavior. When we, as individuals, engage in social learning practices, it allows us to work collaboratively with others.

Jeff Dance is a collaboration consultant. In 2008, he described the following 5 main reasons why collaboration contributes to innovation.

#1- It increases the association between ideas.

#2- Collaboration speeds up processes.

#3- Connections are created and those connections are linked to reduced stress levels.

#4- Energy is created to better overcome obstacles.

#5- Collaboration helps ideas reach implementation.

The interesting thing about collaboration is that it’s most effective when used with volunteers, because the work being done is a choice. Guess what most horse show planning teams are made up of? Volunteers!

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, many groups struggled to host competitive equestrian events that yielded a profit large enough to be considered “successful” and provide the opportunity for future shows to grow. A best practice for planning the financial success of a horse show requires that the revenue generated from stalls should pay for the rental of the facility. Most clubs start with a working budget from the profits made off the previous year’s show. This money covers the upfront costs associated with the show, such as the hiring of judges, show staff, and for the purchase of awards. If a group is fortunate enough to gather sponsorship money, that has a significant impact on the ability for them to “profit” from hosting the event.

In every single horse show planning group I have participated in, the ultimate goal was not to create substantial profits, but rather to make enough money that the event could continue. Also, in the event of a profit, there is a greater potential that more can be given back to the exhibitors the next year. In general, the profit margin associated with hosting horse shows is not large. We do, after all, consume our own product in this industry.

So, what is that magical number of entries that are needed for an event to be deemed, “successful and profitable,” by the group hosting it? There is no hard and fast rule, for a variety of reasons. For the purpose of illustration, I’m using the number 300, and I’m closely examining the number of American Paint Horse Shows within the western United States (Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California, Arizona, Utah, Montana, and Nevada) from 2019. In 2019, that area had only 21 APHA shows/events with 300 or more entries, per judge, out of 52 total events. Those 21 events were performance horse shows made up of a variety of regional club, championship, and special event shows. That means only 40% of APHA approved events within the western portion of the U.S. had enough participation to potentially have made a profit.

Let’s examine the numbers from overlapping shows:

April 2019: Seven calendar days: four separate shows: 88, 153, 252, and 543 entries per judge.
July 2019: Four calendar days: two double shows: 249, 221, 661, and 641 entries per judge.
August 2019: Two calendar days: three separate shows: 228, 294, and 464 entries per judge.
October 2019: Five calendar days: four separate shows: 32, 32, 510, and 999 entries per judge.

There are additional overlaps with AQHA, ApHC, PtHA, as well as other breed associations and groups who are not represented.

The overlap is not something that happened in isolation for 2019; the same pattern continues in 2021. I would challenge the planning committees to look closely at the competing events going on around you. There are unintended consequences that organically happen when exhibitors have so many options in any given region.

I have compiled all the stock horse association horse shows that I have been made aware of in the western United States for 2021. I have shared this list on different media platforms. You can access the list with this link. We simply need to find ways to come together and collaborate between associations and clubs so that we can all gain in profit and numbers at our events.

What can we understand and reflect upon after looking at this information? I don’t know about the rest of you, but the message I am getting loud and clear is that we simply can’t continue with the practice of clinging to our show dates, and hosting shows for only a single breed of horses. What this information tells me, is that if we are to sustain our industry, and grow it, we absolutely must collaborate. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Adaptation and change are messy and challenging. I know you though! You are my people. Horse people are resilient and together we can do this. We all want the same result, and by working together we can make it happen.

In the words of Mattie Stephanek, “Unity is strength. Where there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved.”

My request to you is this:

• Reach out to other associations and clubs around you.
• Look at your individual show numbers and consider what could happen if you joined together with others.
• Look closely at what is going on around you, and where the exhibitors’ trailers are going. There are a lot of choices of shows for people to attend.
• Think about how joining forces could increase participation for multiple breed groups.
• Consider the mutual benefits that can come from working together.
• Reach out to teams already engaged in this work and ask questions. The link above shows the different class types being offered, as well as contact information.

One thing I have learned over, and over, during my time as a competitive equestrian is that horse people are all too happy to share and support one another. So here is another opportunity for us to share and support one another. “If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself,” said Henry Ford.

I challenge you to step outside of your current lane and to make new and collaborative friends. I challenge you to engage in reflective practices. Collaboration really is fun, and I know that if you enter into a collaborative relationship with an open mind and a genuine want to create innovation, only good things will come from it. 2021 is my year of collaborative practices and I invite you all in!

Your Most Collaborative Partner, Kory Kumar

If you’d like to write a blog post about a topic in the horse industry, email B.Bevis@EquineChronicle.com for consideration.