I've been mixing it up with lack of entries has me wanting to just cancel it until people want it back up.

Agreed with Ruby that more advertisement is needed. I personally get a boost of wanting to enter a show if I ser others post their entries in a group or such.
Definitely make sales over EA with only ads in groups etc. Nowadays people seem to only use EA as a bank to keep money, not an actual forum with activity.

Fun banners and more roleplay-ish shows (making up a story, provide a specific lot etc) could be ways to get people active?
Especially if breed regs have their own official show grounds

I really liked Ruby's idea! Might try making a sale like that, even though my horses suck xD I love EA and check it several times a day.

One thing I noticed, is that its actually not the entries that are declining (not in every case). I did notice that for breed specified shows, there are less entries. But for all breeds shows, its the lack of open shows. If you look at the English Shows thread, you can see that only a very few are open. Less people are hosting shows. Therefore there are less entries.

For me personally, one of the only horses I don't have are Hotbloods and Baroques, and these two associations are the most active with hosting registered horse shows.

Back to the main idea, we need more all breeds shows to be hosted. And one thing we could try: Make the prices bigger. Like 25 points for a first place unedited entry.

These are all I could think of, I'll post if I have another idea.

I agree that more advertising would help, as well as like Rika said: "I personally get a boost of wanting to enter a show if I ser others post their entries in a group or such."

For my own shows, I bug my friends to enter until they do. I PM people on FB and try to convince them that they want to enter. My last two shows, I offered large point rewards as well as money and that seemed to generate more interest. Additionally, I hyped up the competition factor, and put an RP spin as a show host (had a setting...described the weather etc). But that doesn't work for everyone.

Personally, as someone with very, very little time to enter T shows, I struggle to find shows I like enough to enter. It's more just I don't feel confident in entering when I know I'm not the most outspoken, present member on the forum. The way a lot of shows seem to be judged for the most part is also a bit of a turn-off to me. There's no structure, or rhyme or reason it feels like...it's a game of pleasing the host's particular likes/interests. That's hard to do when you don't know the person. (Not to say that everyone does that.)
Granted I'm not saying we should be super strict, or judge to a degree of hyper realism because then members who may be newer to the game will feel left out, but there should be some sort of criteria. When you know what you're being judged on, it's a lot easier. For me at least.

Additionally, the boards are a touch messy. It's hard to sort through closed shows and open shows. Closed shows eventually get pushed to older pages, but it's still cluttered.


I am going to slightly disagree with you aurora. You said:

I feel like there are too many open shows. There are too many options. People don't have time to enter every show..maybe one or two. So they enter their friends shows, popular people's shows, or shows they feel like they will for certain place/win. I've noticed that pretty much every show in the FUN board gets a handful of entries and that's it. The Western shows are finally growing a bit, but the fact is...a majority of players ride and compete in English disciplines (Dressage, Show Jumping, & Eventing). And like I said...there are loads of these going around.

This is getting ridiculously long, so I'll leave it here.

I base the tack I allow in my shows from real life show rules found on google and based on my own observations when watching clips on YouTube and being on competitions in real life. For example, some bridles won't be accepted in the show ring and therefore I don't allow them either. And really, I might be turned off from entering a show if the host is very slack with the tack and attire, because to me that's a signal that they don't really care about the entries being correct and then that reflects in how they judge (as in, they might not have enough knowledge to judge if a horse is moving properly, rider is sitting correct etc)... that's me wanting some structure and sense to shows and for them to resemble real life as close as is possible with a game and I understand that's not the goal for everyone or what everyone wants.
Like yeah, I understand that the strict requirements on some shows about what colour tack (at least in showjumping and cross country, dressage does tend to be stricter) can be frustrating. At least in the lower levels, such as Beginner and Novice, the attire and tack is a bit more free but the higher up you go the more specific it gets (like how at riding school competitions your dressage horse is allowed leg protection, but if you'd entered the Olympic they wouldn't be allowed it).
I don't really see, though, how changing the colour of your saddle pad would make you less comfortable? It's just a colour and many pads come in different colours, you can even ride in it a few times before so it's not brand-new-stiff and I'd assume that a regular competitor would buy a saddle that suits competing and either use it regularly or enough to also be comfortable in it compared to the everyday saddle. I know of dressage riders from my old riding school that had two saddles, one dressage that they used during shows and when training specifically dressage and one all-purpose that they used at any other time.

I do understand that in olympic level its pretty strict, but in lets say a local level show, I don't really think so. Obviously, in real life, some people will already have the most expensive brand saddles, and some will have cheap ones for a horse they are leasing (just making up something). In an olympic level, everyone has huge sponsors, the best bred horses (usually), and the best tack. 

For me, the colour of the saddle pad reflects a specific horse, their personality, and more. It also just looks good if the tack is matching and not everything is white, in my opinion. 

No, the judge shouldn't be sloppy about the tack, but some rules really are strict. Personally, I just feel more confortable with tack freedom, and I think that's how real life riders feel too. I don't compete in real life, so I find most of my knowledge on the internet (I ride natural horsemanship), I'm just assuming that real life riders are also more confortable if they can ride in their usual training equipment, just a little more preppier since its still a show. 

I understand that you don't agree, with me, I just said my own opinion. 

If you look at the English Shows board, there are exactly 2 shows open, I don't think that's too much