Congress Locations

[kaykay]

as other posts state there is a lot more to consider then just the facility. I remember talking to leonard davenport at the congress before it moved to st louis. I told him then that was a huge mistake as st louis (the city) is so expensive to eat, stay at hotel, traffic is horrible etc. I do think all this played into st louis not doing well. I know it is one of the first congress shows we have missed in 5 years.

And I whole heartedly agree with Lisa. Will these people who want the show moved centrally really show up? Or will moving the show make even more people like Amber (who take 20 plus ponies) rethink how many to take while those that said they would start showing if it moved dont attend. That will equal even lower numbers.

As much as I would love to have it in ohio after looking at the facility I do believe it is even smaller then gordyville. I think it says it only has 390 stalls? Even with the low numbers at congress this year we had 400 something. I do NOT want this moved to a smaller facility even if its in my home state!

When I first started showing at Congress there were I believe 550 horses (right in there, this is when everyone started yelling it was too big for gordyville and i agree it was) it has steadily gone down since then. It needs a home!

 

[Leeana]

Another point to consider is the dates of the World show and their close proximity to the Congress. The World show ends on Saturday, we return home on Sunday and have left for Congress on Tuesday.

That is the exact reason i didnt attend the World show this past season and i only had ONE pony to take to congress and was loaded with stuff and the World show is EVEN in my state! There was no way i could go to worlds for a week and then come home and in that short time frame recover (!) from worlds and then get ready for congress.

Just a thought, i plan to go to worlds and congress both next year bc i will just have to squeeze them both in. I cant imagine how hard that must have been on people this year that traveled from almost the other side of the country to worlds and then had to jump back and go to congress. I can only imagine the headache!

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But of course, i dont think the dates for Worlds is decided until next spring though is it? Maybe its decided at convention as well, not sure, so it prob would be hard to plan dates for congress around the dates for world which arent out yet if a decision is going to be made next month.

 

[ckmini]

I'm just responding to combining Nationals and Congress thing. Honestly, I don't think this would ever work, trainers (and us too!) have limited trailer space regardless of the show.... also when and where would it be? I'm (hoping) my pony and I will go to Congress next year but with Nationals being so late in the year I don't even know if we can go

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[Lewella]

As much as I would love to have it in ohio after looking at the facility I do believe it is even smaller then gordyville. I think it says it only has 390 stalls? Even with the low numbers at congress this year we had 400 something. I do NOT want this moved to a smaller facility even if its in my home state!

Wow, 390 stalls is small! Too small!

Lancaster Events Center currently has 650 and when the expansion is finished in early 2008 will have 1050 stalls. Plus, when we've rented Lancaster for local club shows we've only had to rent the parts of the facility we needed. So if we only needed 250 stalls we only had to rent one pavillion. So if Congress only needed 650 stalls and not the other barn I'm guessing we would not be required to rent that extra 400 stalls. (We've had years at Lancaster where we held a pony and mini show in one barn and the Appaloosa people hed a show in the other barn - great cross promotion!)

I've heard from a lot of West Coast people, including West Coast trainers, who have not wanted to put their ponies through the stress of a 3 day trip to Gordyville, who would attend Congress if it were held in the Central US. I've also heard from several Texas people who would also bring ponies or more ponies than they have in the past to Gordyville.

I think the first year you would see a small slump in the numbers from the eastern US but that the increased number from the western US would outweigh the slump. I know personally that in recent years many of my sales have been to Colorado and points west as have the sales of several other breeders. The pony population out there is growing by leaps and bounds!

Lewella

 

[Erica]

The new facility will be about 21 hrs for me. I more than likely will not be able to do it. I have spoken to a few friends over here that were going to get into the ponies and we are all gun shy to find out where the Congress is going to be held before we pursue and more purchases. All the pony shows are 7 plus hrs to go to as of now. Wish there were more around here then I would not be so worried!
I know some one some where will have to drive!!!! Can not please everyone

Alison

I just had to laugh (to myself) as 7hrs is nothing to some of us is some parts of the country (even in a well populated horse area) to get to AMHA/AMHR/ASPC shows.......I consider 7 hours "normal" for any rated show I go to. I have a couple that are 6 and some that are 10, but that's about as close as it gets. Well other than the new one that just got started in Arkansas.

Some states don't realize how good they have it only traveling an hour to all the qualifing shows.......but then in return usually do have a longer haul to the National shows.

 

[Coventry Lane Farm]

July is usually a pretty busy month with us showing both ASPC & AMHR rated shows, and we go to a AMHR show the middle of the month on a weekend, then a week off, then traveling off to Worlds being there the whole week, then come home for 2 days and then leaving for Congress for almost week, not much time for resting at home, getting caught up with the farm and its just unpacking and repack and leave again with different horses. We are usually off from work for 2 weeks for those particular shows, that consist of the Ohio Worlds and Shetland Congress and then home most of August, then headed out to Nationals in September for two weeks driving roughly 20 hours, no big deal there with driving the distance, with Scott being a truck driver by profession and it really doesn't bother him doing ALL of the driving to the shows. We only have the problem of getting time off on vacation away from our day jobs with only 4 weeks vacation, so we have to plan our shows according to days off no matter what location that the Congress show ends up, where ever they decide we will have to decide what we will do because it wouldn't pay us to travel with two or three shetlands to Congress long distance and give up the trip to Nationals with showing six miniatures. We had purchased a few shetlands last year but just recently sold off most of them.

We are pretty lucky that there are a few AMHR shows locally, but there is not too many ASPC shows around yet, hopefully some of these shows will combine with offering both ASPC & AMHR classes.

We are working on a new equine facility to be built locally here and we are both involved being on the steering committee with being hopeful ... in a few years we might be able to have a ASPC/AMHR rated indoor show here close to the Pittsburgh area for people to participate.

Sorry for the long post...whatever they do decide in location for Congress there always be people that will be unsatisfied in the decision. Profit is a big deciding factor from seeing of all what is involved in putting a show together and being run smoothly.

 

[SweetOpal]

I am with you on this one Erica, we drive 10+ hours to the 3 LOCAL pony shows that we go to, one is 20 hours and yes that is closer than Congress or Nationals. Last year we started our own club and actually had one show with amhr/aspc/aspr, it was nice but alot of work, I would honestly drive 18 hours to show than do another one, however we had a decent turn out for the first one and we are planning 2 more, which really doesn't help me since I am putting on the shows, so still not getting to show at them. When I bought the ponies, I knew I would have to drive unspeakable amounts, and I wasn't lucky enough to drive home from world to go back to Congress, we laid over and paid for overnight stabling. We were gone for almost 3 weeks for those 2 shows. Glad we have a L/Q trailer!

 

[dmk]

I have to agree here with the ones who have noted that 7 hours is nothing. Live in Texas and you drive 7 hours to the Dairy Queen :bgrin

My ponies were on the trailer for 18 hours on the ride to Congress in 2007. It was a pretty slow drive and obstacles in the way, but still a ways. We would never be able to COME HOME if we went to the World show which we have never done, but would like to try once.

It is closer for me to Lincoln, but still over 14 hours away, so I'm not proposing something that is going to save me much money or time in the long run. That is with a good tail wind pushing the speedometer. But I do know it is a nice facility. Hey I know you all come to Glen Rose - I don't know the number of stalls, but we can do the tents and it has all concrete. :aktion033: :aktion033:

I'm sorry but when I got to St. Louis I thought to myself . . . yuck. I've heard there were quite a few who liked it, but I wasn't one. :new_shocked: And the loss of revenue was because of the high fees charged by the facility I guess - is that correct? I don't think Lincoln will be too expensive. As Lewella has pointed out the Area VI shows don't have huge numbers and they put on 4 judge shows. If they still make money they must have fairly reasonable facility rates. I just think that we have to start thinking outside the box. With the numbers of increased entries in the pony shows I believe the answer is there - we've got to find it.

 

[Fire N Ice]

We've never taken our ponies to Congress, but if it were in Lincoln, I'm sure we'd make the trip. We'd be showing at least four ponies in several different classes, both halter and performance.

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Besides, if Leah says it's a nice facility, I'm all for it!

Sue Baskin

Rosa Roca Training Stable

Newalla, OK