There's a lot I could say about horse showing and skill sets and the like, but the most important part is this: how important are ribbons (and/or prizes) to you in the horse show arena? I mean, I know, I know, we're not here for the ribbons.
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| Arabian shows have the best ribbons |
How do you feel about ribbons? Do you love them? Boycott shows that don't have them? Throw them away as soon as you get them? Never pick them up?
Um, have you met me? I'm obsessed with ribbons.
ReplyDeleteI love ribbons. I don't win a lot of them, so each one is precious to me. They represent a lot of blood, sweat, and tears and I'm PROUD of them! It's always a little disappointing when a schooling show doesn't give out ribbons! I have them all displayed in my office on the closet doors.
ReplyDeleteI have an ENTIRE ROOM full of ribbons in our house. It's technically the "pet room" where the crates and the catboxes and the bookshelves all go, but it's FULL of ribbons. We call it the Ribbon Room. And it is glorious.
ReplyDeleteI actually put about 50 of Gogo's plain-jane ribbons away in boxes *sniff* when we moved, but I kept all of the big important fancy ribbons out and put them up. O is racking up her own impressive wall of satin - it spans from one end to the other now! Hubs just DOESN'T UNDERSTAND how critically important these tiny pieces of satin are!
The placings and scores are important to me, the ribbons not so much. Except my AEC ribbons. Those have sentimental value. I have no idea what to do with them though.
ReplyDeleteFor some types of events I don't even take the ribbons or I give them back (dated/other event-specific ones I take if they can't be re-used). But as someone hosting events - when we got bigger ribbons we drew in more exhibitors and then the posts of those ridiculous giant rosettes on facebook had even more people asking about our next events.
ReplyDeleteI've never had a neck ribbon. ..kinda want one. But in general nah, ribbons don't do it for me. But I guess I don't have tons so. ..Shrug. I'd rather have pictures and videos.
ReplyDeleteI hoard ribbons. I have ribbons from 20 years ago in a box in my closet. I keep most of my ribbons in that box, but I have a wall in the living room where I hang particularly hard-earned or sentimental ones.
ReplyDeleteI love ribbons. As I moved up in dressage, I've found that they mean less and less to me because I just want a score and I end up competing against myself (so that first place ribbon doesn't mean much to me). I value the pictures and videos much more now. I have boxes of ribbons, I can't display them all, but I can't bring myself to get rid of them either.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I have some favorite huge ribbons, and my one and only neck ribbon that Husband knows he best not touch it or move it around to where it could get a funny crease. I won a long format event on my dressage score (the only one to finish the division on their dressage score), had two rails in hand at the start of show jumping, I schooled myself for the week and came up with my own plans, and I'm just in general super proud of it.
In endurance we don't get a whole lot. The rides I've been to give out a water bucket or homemade sign tot he top 10 and a slew of different things to those who complete. I've gotten shirts, a mini flashlight, nearly expired supplements. Honestly, I wish they would mimic marathons and give out a completion medal. I love those and they were the entire reason I used to run half marathons.
ReplyDeleteI love ribbons. I have no idea what to do with them, but I like them. I'd really like to win a neck ribbon.
ReplyDeleteLove them! They're all hanging up in the tackroom. Paddy's added quite a few this year.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely a satin-lover here! As a kid I had wires running around the perimeter of my room and I managed to complete 3 sides full of ribbons before I went to college and quit showing. All of those are mainly in a box now, but the three most "valuable" are on display, along with the rest I've won as an adult (sadly, just a handful, but I'm proud of them). I won a couple of nice medals at my last show, too! Still no neck ribbons in the haul OR a championship one that isn't many decades old. Something to aspire to. :)
ReplyDeleteI love ribbons. I've always showed project horses that were in for training or to be sold, so every single ribbon I've won has been hard earned, and is something I'm really proud of. Right now I have them on a wall in my bedroom like a twelve year old, but I love the idea of putting them in a "ribbon room" of sorts. Maybe when I'm not in a one bedroom apartment!
ReplyDeleteI will admit I love ribbons, probably because showing for ribbons is a rare occurrence in my life. They don't give ribbons in endurance (though they do in CTR and I have my fair share, including some tri-colors). I care much more about the achievement than the prize, however, and my ribbons pretty much end up stuffed in a drawer after I take photos of them. I am one of the few horse girls I know who doesn't have a wall to display them on. (Maybe if I get my own barn and tack room that will change.) I am WAY more into my mileage patches from AERC, and I brag more about dressage SCORES than placings. Still, it's fun to have something to show at the end of a competition.
ReplyDeletei love them and display them proudly - but they usually have a limited shelf life and then are relegated to my trunk or a box (unless my mother happens to want them)
ReplyDeleteRibbon Jars... I have lots and lots of pink and green ones :/
ReplyDeleteWe have ribbons coming out of our eyeballs. So many ribbons but I could never throw one away. And by we I mean add a family. I've shown for 15 years I have one kid that had shown for 7 years, one for 4 and one for two. That's 28 years total of ribbons! The kids hang them in their room. I usually hang them for a few weeks after then put them away. I love to look at them and remember how we won them.
ReplyDeleteLets be honest.... people who say they don't show to win are the worst at lying. We have a running joke on how much we spent on our ribbons! I only keep my champion and first place ribbons unless it was a sentimental non blue one for some reason. But the Pony only likes to bring home blue ones anyways :)
ReplyDeleteRibbons Ribbons Ribbons! Love them!
ReplyDeleteI wish we had pretty rosettes like you guys do. I've just got some lame neck sashes that are really hard to show off, and don't look as nice. ... But still, I'll keep them because hey! I brought something home for once! :D
ReplyDeletebonita of A Riding Habit
Love ribbons! I keep them all and am sad if I don't get a ribbon. That sounds awful. What I mean is that I like to earn ribbons for a job well done and keep the ribbon as a way of remembering the day/show/class.
ReplyDeleteI'm addicted to satin, I have an entire bin of ribbons from my 4-H days of showing rabbits and chickens that I refuse to get rid of. I absolutely covet a neck ribbon, that would be the best. Right now I have ribbons hanging across our window in the office, the hubby doesn't get it but he rolls with it :) I've been pondering sending my smaller ribbons off to be made into a frame-able wall hanging but I need to actually get motivated to do it. I have some seriously huge ribbons from livestock shows that I absolutely love- big rosettes and long "tails". Gosh those ribbons are awesome :)
ReplyDeleteOh gosh. I keep the big ones (meaning two) and get rid of the rest. It appears that I am alone in this. BUT at the new barn all of the ribbons are collected at the end of the show, you get the keep the ones you want, and then they go to one of the boarder's pre-schools for the kids to play with! I'm totally down with rehoming!
ReplyDeleteI like ribbons, but there're just a nice bonus. And since most of my classes are small and i show I lot, I have bazillions of them. I still like them, especially if they're a bit different. The four I got at this weekend's show were two color blues, so I'll hang those up for a while. I literally have ribbons stuffed in baskets, jars, boxes, etc. I can't part with them though. :0)
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