We just had our first ASPC/AMHR show of the season today. Entries were down slightly, I'm not sure why--a bit part of it is the crappy weather we've had all spring. Our snow lingered--all 3 feet of it!--well into April, and then once the snow went off it's been so wet (first from the spring thaw, then from rain, rain and more rain) that people just can't get going. Farmers are in poor shape, with pastures flooded, hayland flooded, crop land either flooded or simply too wet for anyone to get onto the land to do the seeding. Gas prices are up, the economy overall still isn't all that wonderful. Then of course there are always those few that boycott a show in hopes that it will fail... The EHV-1 outbreak might have kept a couple away, some did ask about the disease and how it might impact our show. One exhibitor had another illness in her herd & so could not show. I believe a couple of owners didn't attend due to conflicting shows--not on the same date but within a couple days of each other, and people didn't want to drive a long distance home & then head off to another show the next day.
Biggest thing, though, people just haven't been able to work horses unless they have an indoor arena. I probably wouldn't have been showing today if I'd had to drive any distance to get to the show and if I weren't one of the organizers--my ponies just weren't ready. I'd hoped to have one driving entry but since I didn't get one single drive in this spring....no such thing. I know there were another couple of exhibitors who said the same thing--just not ready to drive at this show. Halter entries today weren't too bad but driving entries were almost non-existant.
In spite of the lower entry numbers the show should do okay financially--better than we'd first thought--and that's one of the main things. The show was fun for those that were showing, and many were already talking about "next year" so that is always a positive thing. We had a couple of new exhibitors, and there were a fair number of spectators. All in all I think it was a very good show and we look forward to 'bigger and better' next year!
