So, I made this post originally on FB back in 2016 and I was thinking how much about this still rings true in 2024. I’m curious about what you are all feeling about these questions from your current perspective.

"I’ve been pondering this a lot recently, and maybe it is a good time to have this discussion. Live showing has evolved incredibly quickly since I started as a novice in late 2003. I’ve even seen many shifts in the past 10 years. I’ve seen quite a few people saying that live shows aren’t fun/fulfilling/etc. anymore, for other people, they’d like to either focus more on one division or try and show in them all. I wonder about a lot of different elements of these issues we are seeing, what can we do to change and adapt with what we have to work with, how can we encourage growth? So, I’d like to pose the following questions. Answer any that you’d like, or all of them, if you’d like to participate!

1. Why do you like to participate in live shows?
2. What roles do you see yourself in most often (judge, show holder, shower, volunteer, sponsor, etc), and which are the ones that bring you the most joy?
3. Which medium(s) do you collect? Is there one that dominates over the others?
4. Performance, halter, or both?
5. On average, how many shows do you attend per year?
6. Would you consider yourself to be a Casual shower (less concerned with regional/national qualification, attend fewer shows, etc), or an Avid shower (shows frequently, finds regional/national qualification to be important, etc). (I’d say both groups place an emphasis on fun :))
7. Would you like to see more levels of competition available? For example, there could still be shows for “Avid” (not sure on this term yet, I may want to find something that fits better) that incorporate regional/national qualification, stricter standards, along with shows for Casual showers (those who have graduated from the beginner/intermediate levels but who don’t care about qualifications and likely do less shows per year now because of that). Beginner and Intermediate divisions would also be promoted to encourage learning, especially for hobby newbies and kids. 8 Would you like to see a greater emphasis on regional competition with larger amounts of prestige at that level, and a smaller emphasis on national competition, with only those that want to put the money into traveling/qualifying horses doing so? It would be seen as more of a bonus rather than the “be-all-end-all” that it is now (think of it as if we had an international championship now- most people wouldn’t participate, it would be more of an infrequent/rare trip if at all).
8. Do you feel that most shows that you choose to attend offer classlists that adequately cover what you’d like to enter? Do you feel that most of the time, “apples” are being judged against “apples”, rather than “pears”?
9. If you are feeling iffy about anything in question 9, what do you feel is missing?
10. If you are not feeling inspired to compete now, what would make you excited to attend a live show? Assuming here that your dream live show is close by and isn’t too expensive.
11. What other questions do you think should be brought forth for discussion about the current structure of our live show system? I want to work on a chart outlining various levels of competition, what people want to get out of the live show experience. What could potentially change based on what today’s pool of entrants wants to see happen. We don’t just need top-down change from NAN and NAMHSA (or your respective Show Association if your country is also having these troubles), but also bottom-up change from our local and regional levels to provide for the needs of our live showing population at large. How can we adapt and evolve to encourage new faces, to keep them around and involved, and for people to feel as though they are consistently having a positive experience with live shows?"