This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Information Architecture) I haven't had time to closely follow all the discussions lately about holding the Evaluations at individual Fjord owners sites, but I do have a couple of comments. I don't really care where an Evaluation is held to a certain extent, but to say it wouldn't give the owner's horses an "at home" advantage is ridiculous. At the Oregon evaluation there were a few horses that had never been ridden in an indoor arena, and, guess what, the performance tests were held in an indoor arena. Those owners felt that their horses had a distinct disadvantage. Think how much that would be compounded by horses that were being ridden in their own arena. Granted, there would be additional excitement, but still, the horses that knew the footing and the arena and even some of the horses would be more comfortable than those totally unfamiliar.
Second, concerning lowered costs, how many Fjord owners have stalls for the 26 horses at the Oregon Evaluation or the 39 (!) at the Blue Earth Evaluation. What, exactly, do you propose to do? Have the horses shown out of their trailers? I am not set up to do so if the weather is unpleasant, and here it Oregon it can rain ANY TIME OF THE YEAR. How many of you have washracks to accomodate that many horses? How many of you have hot and cold washracks? How much do you think portable stalls and port-a-pots cost? My guess is that these expenses are going to eat in to the amount of money you'd save by not renting an arena. And what about insurance? Most rented arenas require that you also provide insurance, but most farms are no appropriately insured for an event with outside horses, so there would still be the insurance expense. As far as I can see, the most you'd save around here is the $180 to $300 a day that it costs to actually rent the arena, and I believe that's less than 1/4 of the total cost of the Evaluation. My largest problem with the use of private farms owned by Fjord owners is not exactly cost related. It's the arena itself. How many Fjord owners have 100 x 200 indoor arenas? With good footing? And warm up areas to boot? I've ridden in many arenas in which the owners told me the footing was good, only to find my horse knee deep in dirt and me worried about tendon strain, or with hard packed clay underneath that my horse slipped on. I've ridden in lots of 60 x 100-foot (or 50 x 100) arenas and that is not adequate to show a horse in hand at a full trot, much less to show them under saddle. Young horses can often not do the circle in a smaller arena, and even older horses show their best when they have adequate room to turn. So who's going to judge if so and so's arena is adequate? What do we do, fly an Evaluation Committee member out there to evaluate the arena? An Evaluation is a serious thing. If I'm showing a performance horse, I would rather pull my horse than show on bad footing or in too small an arena. And though I'm sure some people have adequate facilities, I doubt if very many do. There are only a few boarding stables around here that are adequate in terms of footing, much less private arenas. There were complaints about the footing at the Oregon Evaluation, and it was relatively good, and the arena size was relatively large. You will always have some complaints, but I really don't think that inadequate facilities would be the answer. So if there are to be Evaluations at private facilities, I think something really needs to be done in advance to ensure they are adequate. For that matter, I think it needs to be announced in advance the size of the arena in which the Evaluation is to be held and whether it is indoors or outdoors. Here in Oregon, indoor arenas are common because it rains so much. I don't have one, but during the rainy season I trailer at least twice a week to an indoor arena. However in California and Nevada, indoor arenas are almost unheard to because of infrequent rains and well-draining soils. It makes a big difference to a horse whether the arena space is indoors or out, and when one wants to present one's horse to its best advantage, one deserves to have the ability to prepare in advance for the setting in which the Evaluation will be held. Becky Vorpagel Jont Creek Acres
