Big Bucks Or No Bucks - we get treated equally?

I know I have not been writing much on here for a while, I have been busy trying to get moved and dealing with Doctors and insurance companies :)
Things are getting settled down some what, and with the AQHA world show and the NRA futurity both being web cast I was able to watch some great horses and riders. 

I always get the itch to go back to showing this time of year, as those shows are a blast to compete at. 
But then I remember why I quit, the cost to fun factor got to be to much. I basically quit showing back in 2008 because for me I decided that the cost of trying to be competitive in reining had got to be to much when compared to my income. 

There was no one better at competing on a budget than I was, until the associations started trying to push the sport into the same tax bracket as Racing and jumping. With that push the cost of competing and being competitive became to much for me to justify. 

The sad part is, in their push for an increased value and demand for reining horses and trainers, they not only lost a lot of people like myself, they are losing the people they were going after when they lost me. 

I look back over 25 years and think of the big name players that the sport has attracted, the ones who spent millions and millions planning on being the next big thing in Reining. Many if not all of them last fewer than 10 years, and many only a couple years.
But there seems to be a never ending supply of people wiling to spend millions to play this game, as each year we see and hear new names of people spending more and more trying to be the next big name in reining.

I do not have to ask myself why the people who invest millions into this sport leave, because I know why. They leave for the same reason I did, and the same reason many others did and do each year. 

The cost verse the fun cant be jsutified. The amounts of money and the reasons people figure it out are different, but the fact is the same the fun verse cost relationship is to heavy to the cost side and keeps getting bigger each year.
The fun value equals the ability to achieve some success and that is not there anymore for the average horse person showing and playing on a budget.
For the people who can afford the cost they can only have people kiss their ass, while they rip them off for so long,  before they have to figure it out? 

Even the lucky few that come into this game with lots of money and find the honest trainers and breeders that do not try and rip them off, will eventually figure out that when only the top few horses win more than $100,000 per year, spending a million plus to win that does not make much sense.  Some then try the breeding game as many of us do, and they soon find out that only a very few horses ever sell for enough to cover the total costs involved regardless if you spend $10,000 or $100,000. 

So the bottom line is, this is a game to have fun at, but for some reason the few people who are running the industry think it is all about money, they keep making it more expensive and more elitists and they wonder why they do not grow? 

They drive all people away as fast as they attract them.   
They also get mad at me and other for saying this type of thing, as if it is some big secret? 
The only secret is why such smart people cant figure it out?

If they create a system that encourages and helps people do it themselves then they will grow and everyone wins.
Keep things  as they are where the handicap system promotes the need for trainers and breeders no none wins,  except a select few, and the sport does not grow. 

It was the idea of promoting the do it yourselfer that caused me to develop IPHDA in 2008 after I quit showing.  Although IPHDA is not large I will say we have a lot better success rate of helping people improve with out the use of trainers and  needing to buy better horses, than any other association out there. 

If NRHA or AQHA would have accepted the program when I offered it to them they could have doubled their memberships by now in my opinion. 

People are the same in anything, they want to join things they cant afford, based on prestige and appearances of being fun and challenging, eventually the cost factor does rear its ugly head and wont be denied.
But if you make the things they want affordable they  not only flock to it they stay..
Reining and showing quarter horses is a great game, people flock to them even though they cant afford them. They last a few years then go away.
 
IPHDA ran by a prestigious association instead of a broke wannabe like myself, would give them the best of both worlds. Belonging to something they see as prestigious and able to afford and have some success at as they learn :)

Even the hanger ons, the ones who claim to be enjoying reining on a budget, will have to not show for a few years at a time,-  save enough money - fall back in eligibility (raise their handicap)  so they can compete another year.

I know myself and many others do not care about belonging to the group enough, to play that game of show a year, then be a cheer leader for a couple years so we can play again.

Until next time, enjoy your horses no matter what you do, and stay safe and happy.

Rod