by Helen Sproat
Many of our events share one major problem: a lack of volunteers. I suppose this isn't surprising. As our sport grows, more and more competitions call upon the same group of knowledgeable workers, who are bound to get burned out eventually. Each issue of every local CTA newsletter I see now carries ads from events begging for volunteers
Please competitors, pay attention! This is a very clear cry for help, to which we all need to respond if we want to keep our sport healthy. The organizers make our events possible, through the generous expenditure of their time, land and money, and we need to support them in every way possible.
The alternative is grim. The new organizer, who has built his novice course by himself and been gratified by how much fun his competitors had last year, is now eager to improve and expand his courses. This may turn out to be an outstanding event. But if he finds he has to do everything by himself and cannot find enough people to jump judge or help post scores, he may very well decide it's not worth the effort and expense.
Meanwhile, the well-established events will probably continue, but at what price? Many organizers are now talking about the necessity of hiring people to weed-eat, paint stadium jumps, collect score sheets or serve as jump crew... all traditional volunteer jobs. And who will pay all these workers? The cost will be passed directly on to you in your entry fees. Luckily, the solution to this problem is not difficult, but it requires a little effort from each of us. We must refill the vanishing volunteer pool. I know we're all busy; it's the modern way of life. But there's not one of us who couldn't find a few hours somewhere to give back to eventing. This wonderful sport gives some of us our livelihood and the rest of us a challenge and a great deal of pleasure. In return we each owe it a little support.
The opportunities are great. Your local organizer will welcome your offer to help well ahead of the competition date if you can help build fences. Closer to the big date, go help mow or flag courses or put up stall cards; the last days are frantic and the organizer would love to have YOU there to get these rush jobs done. If you can trailer in a few hours early on Friday, you'll have time to help hand out packets or set up the score sheets or perhaps go fetch a Judge from the airport. All these things have to be done and you could surely help relieve the pressure.
Unless you're a trainer with 6 students to coach or 4 horses to show yourself, you'll have a few spare hours during the event weekend itself . If you have only one horse, you generally have most of dressage day to kill time and worry about your cross country ride. Why not sign up, preferably in advance, to scribe or act as runner? If you're a novice rider (even more so if you're beginner novice), your stadium ride will be late in the day, leaving you lots of time to be warm up steward or scoring assistant during the earlier divisions. You say you need to walk the course? You should already have walked at least once Friday evening (the "Official" walk, when you might learn something to keep you from making a stupid mistake on cross country ); twice more on Saturday is plenty and leaves you lots of free time. Go get yourself a volunteer job!
Then there is endurance day! Stop and count up how many people it takes to make that happen. It is not only jump judges, although that in itself is a huge number. You must include scoring and runners and fence repair and parking and box lunch preparation and delivery and warm up stewards and timers and communicators. Phew! Our competitions can't go on if we don 't fill these positions. I'm sure you can fit in somewhere for a few hours. Do your friend and family members go to events to help you and cheer YOU on? This is a wonderful work force which could really help a lot. See if your support crews wouldn't like to sign up to help. Again, volunteerism is most appreciated in advance, when the organizer is planning this duty roster. Call a week or two ahead or send a note with your entries. I'll bet "If I go early enough in the day, I'll be glad to help jump judge later." would save you from being last on course.
If your horse comes up lame and you have to scratch, go to the event anyhow. You've already set aside the time. Try a weekend on the other side of the sport and see what jobs you like best. You could be an area steward for cross country or design the stadium course or learn how to score. You'd be a winner without your horse.
Actually, volunteering can be as helpful to the competitor as it is to the organizer. In a sport as diverse as ours, there are so many things to learn that it's not surprising to find that many riders really don't know the finer points. Any education along these lines is sure to help you become a better competitor, and there's no better way to learn about eventing than by volunteering.
Cross country personnel are briefed by the TD on scoring faults at fences, a rather exacting subject which seems to be slightly revised every couple of years. You'll learn even more as you watch some of the weird things that happen at your fence and figure out how to score them. If you help out as a timer or a bit checker or a scribe you'll learn not only how to do your job, but also rules and fine points you may never have considered. All these things you'll now be able to apply to your own riding. It's better than a clinic, and free!
I know that people who scribe for me in dressage almost always thank me and tell me they learned a lot. It takes me half a minute to teach them how to scribe; that's not the value. What counts is what they learn from my comments and scores, as we watch many horses of different types do the same movements. What better way to learn what a judge is looking for. And don't feel that once you've done it you've learned it all. Every judge is different and each will open your eyes to something new.
I have served as a scribe at Rolex Kentucky for many years and wouldn't give up this opportunity. This is my greatest educational opportunity of the year. If nothing else, scribing helps one realize that every judge is hoping that the next horse through the gate will get all 8s and 9s. Dr. Riener Klimke, whose English is excellent, lapsed into disappointed German, "Ach, nein, nein. nein!", as a horse which had done a fine extended canter, swung his haunches off the track when asked to collect.
Through the years I have tried to volunteer in every facet of the sport. Short of organizing a competition myself, this is the best way to learn all that goes into an event. Each undertaking has proven more complicated than it appeared on the surface and one certainly gains respect and tolerance for those who do these jobs. Are you impatient when the bit checker interrupts your dressage warm up? Try spending a few hours on duty in the warm up ring, trying to check each horses tack before he races into the arena. You learn a lot about good and bad temperament, and I don't mean the horses! Do you get mad if you find you have been charged with a cross country refusal you're sure you don't deserve? An afternoon judging at the water jump will open your eyes to how many close calls there can be. (Did the horse step back or only sideways? Does "A stop followed immediately --" allow a pause of one second? Two seconds? Half a second? Was the horse presented to the fence or did the rider mean to make that circle?)
And scoring! Which of us hasn't complained about how long it takes to post scores? Those who haven't tried it have no idea of how complex cross country scoring can be or the organization required to get all those time and jump sheets collected, compiled and totaled. Perhaps if you had volunteered to post scores after your ride, you wouldn't have to wait so long before starting home.
As I see it, there are 3 very important reasons for volunteering. First, eventing needs us. If our sport is to prosper, we must each do our share to help. Second, the educational opportunities are great and will improve you as a rider and competitor. And third, it will make you feel good about yourself, as volunteering always does.
Let me slip in a fourth benefit to give you something to consider. Many of the best events these days are oversubscribed. If you aren't lucky, especially at novice and training levels, you're likely to be shut out of some of the most popular competitions. Now, who's accepted and who's not is supposed to be decided by the luck of the draw but, just between you and me, it's not difficult to help luck along. Just as the bad apples in our sport find that their entries occasionally get lost or that their stabling just happens to be downwind from the manure piles, those who make themselves helpful to organizers are likely to be especially welcome. It never hurts to set the reputation of being a good citizen.
This article appeared in and is property of The Roads & Tracks. All Copyright laws apply. The Roads & Tracks is a monthly newsletter published by the Central Ohio Combined Training Association (COCTA) and USCTA Area VIII. Any questions regarding this article, The Roads & Tracks, or COCTA, can be address to Jim Wells, co-editor.
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