What has come of people?

These pictures are one of the few good things that came of Saturday nite's sorting.

I will probably be sorry I posted this, but it is becoming a bigger problem all the time, and it really bothers me. Working at a sorting is usually really fun, or it used to be. It takes an immense amount of time, effort and money to put on a show, and quite often the host loses money on it. Still they do it, and I honestly think they do it because they are trying to get back the fun it used to be before people got too serious over what is at its base, a game. Unfortunately, it is not working.


What happened to showing horses because it is FUN? This is not the Olympics but a back yard sorting, yet at every single event, you will have at least one group that complains non-stop about something. Sometimes, they get completely out of control and ruin it for everyone else there. So WHAT if some judge's call does not fall your way? In the bigger picture, what difference does it make? So WHAT if a different class than you expected is offered?


Many people carry on non- stop about doing this for the kids, as they are the sorters of tomorrow. I can tell you this, if I had a child who wanted to do this, I would find somewhere else to do it where the adult participants were not so petty. Grown men and women throwing fits over whether the prize for a class is a buckle or a saddle pad (when the prize was donated by a sponsor in the first place), or screaming over who gets to make the decision about which classes are offered, or who is qualified to ride in them--what kind of example is this? I thought sports were to teach character and how to handle success and more importantly, defeat, and all we are showing others is how to act like a child over something that is supposed to be fun. Being a bully is not something I would want modeled for any child of mine, but I am seeing more and more of it all the time at these events. The only value in people seeing this sort of ill behavior is to use it as an example of totally unacceptable behavior, and unfortunately there is already enough of that in the world.

It really is sad, as slowly but surely, we are losing people who want to enjoy this as a fun sport, and we are losing people who are willing to host the events. And who can blame them? One participant who has done this for years (and wins quite a lot) suggests that we go back to the good old days where everyone throws some money in a pot, and we ride for FUN. Maybe we can get back what it used to be before the character of the whole system changed it into
this cut-throat mess that pits people against each other.