Respect the Show Organizers

Its amazing the things we do that teach us respect for other peoples jobs. I define myself as a Professional Equestrian. I know what I need to do to enter horse shows, get my horses ready, and work out all of the small details that go into getting myself, my students and my horses ready for shows. I have been a volunteer and know what its like to be an outrider, a jump judge, ring crew, and a scribe. And I have been a spectator, watching all of the goings on at horse shows. Until this fall I have never been on the organizing/secretary side of things and what I have learned has given me a new-found respect for the people who take on the daunting task of making these horse shows possible.

As some of you know part of my job is secretarial in nature. I never knew how hard, yet also rewarding this could be. It requires a lot of remedial tasks such as copying, re-typing, and organizing but it also requires me to know how to answer all kinds of questions at the drop of a hat. For those of you who know me (now becoming a favorite phrase of mine) this can be a total nightmare. I am a stresser/worrywort by nature (see earlier posts) so I try to get these things done in a timely manner and sometimes they take over my life. This particular time its getting the program ready for the upcoming IHSA show at the College. DO YOU KNOW HOW DIFFICULT THAT IS!!!!

Here's whats involved. Begging all of the coaches to get their entries in on time. Organizing how many classes you will have, how many people in each class, who goes in what class, changing classes, answering questions, finding extra horses, sending the program to my laptop from my desktop so I can work on this ugly thing at home, making sure all the riders back numbers are correct, biting all of my finger and toenails off <---eeeewww not, as if I could reach my toenails...ugh,  find clipart to fill in the blank spots on pages, make sure all of the advertisements are where they are supposed to be, changing people in classes again, changing class order so the horses arent overworked, answering emails, pulling my hair out (much easier than getting a haircut- cheaper too), sending copies to the College's coach so she can make sure everything is correct, arranging for printing of the program, making last minute changes, getting irritated at a Coach who forgot to put a rider in the program, and take a deep breath because for better or worse its printed and while it looks pretty on the outside just know that the inside is going to get written all over. And finally doing a happy dance beacuse I don't have to do this again until next fall.

So while everyone has anxiously awaited another story, this has been my life. Now all of you see why I am so neurotic. I come by it honestly.

At the show I will be responsible for collecting money ( I know- who in their right mind would let me do that?) handing out packets, announcing (ba hahahaha), and helping with program changes and points. I do love this. I really do. Having done this though I think I could be a show secretary. I have even more respect now than I used to for them. I used to wonder why everyone had to be so snarky or in a bad mood or why they had to make it so hard for me or my students to switch horses/levels/riders/days etc. If you could see the mountain of paperwork involved in organizing a show you would understand too.

My advice is this. If you ever have to deal with a show secretary in any capacity say Thank You. They deserve it. Be gracious and polite when making crazy requests and if they can't be filled, don't bite the secretary's head off. They are just following the rules or guidlines they have been given with the organization their show falls under. If they do their best to help you out and bend over backwards so you can show 6 horses in 10 different classes all running within one day take a second to be grateful they are out there to do their job, because if they weren't I cannot imagine how we could all compete these animals we love.