With so many shows to choose from during the year, how do you decide which shows to put on your calendar? In another installment of the GoHorseShow.com series, "We Ask The Experts," we asked some of the top trainers and exhibitors why and how they determine which horse shows to attend throughout the year, and we got a variety of answers.

Tell us what is important to you when choosing a show by commenting at the bottom of this story.  You do not have to be a registered reader to comment. 

Vicky Holt
Argyle, TX
For me, my stock really dictates where we go. When you want to get your rider or your horse out you need to go to the bigger shows and get them exposure and go out there and see where you are against that level. If you’re just starting out it makes sense to go to the smaller shows to be able to compete and look good. You will discourage the owners and the riders if you’re constantly going and getting beat. I want to take them places in the beginning where they will gain their confidence. I think that makes a big difference. We come all this way to Arizona to compete against this level of horses and the numbers here are great. This is one of the biggest shows we will see all year and it’s good to compete with the West Coast people. I’m originally from California and it’s nice to get out against them every once in a while instead of the Midwest or East Coast.

Steve Stephens
Weatherford, TX
The most important thing when picking a show is that you have your competition to where it is going to challenge your youth or amateur to be a better rider. A weaker rider can be the big fish in the little pond, but there’s no growth there. You need to take your riders and bring them to a higher level so they know what to work towards and they can strive for that level. If you keep them in that little pond all the time, they never have anything to strive towards and they just think they’re the big winner and they get bored with it. There’s no growth pattern to it. A huge part of it is that and of course it is the social part of it. Arizona is great, the weather is nice, great mingling, a different variety of people that we don’t necessarily see all year. Florida is the same. You want to have that diversity of getting to know everybody. We are in the exposure business. We want to have good exposure on both ends of the spectrum. It’s not really about winning and losing, it’s about being seen and seeing what hard workers we are and seeing what kind of job that competitor is trying to do and I think that’s a huge part of it.

Ted Turner
Thackerville, OK
Coming to Scottsdale, Vern Habighorst lives here so we brought his horses. We look at numbers and I take into consideration what is convenient for my customers. I try to take one amateur at a time so they don’t have to show against each other except at the big shows.

Jeff Mellot
Andover, KS
The three most important things for me are the show conditions, management and numbers that will be at the show, in that order. By show conditions I mean the quality of the arena, stalling, the facility, the neighborhood, motels, and convenience for the owners to get there. The numbers are dictated by the show condition. Classes are bigger and you get more points. Usually at those shows the judging is at a higher quality. Once I got a judge’s card I realized how much more there was to putting on a show then what a lot of exhibitors see and the amount of planning that goes into trying to create a good schedule is quite extensive. Most management are doing their best to try to make it work and no matter how much you work, somebody at the show is going to dislike the schedule. The Sun Circuit has great show conditions and management and the numbers are there because of that. They keep the arena in great condition, the management keeps the show running smoothly and therefore people show up and it makes it where you can get points on a consistent basis without having to be the winner day after day.

Nicole Barnes
Glenview, IL
First of all, Brad and Valerie, my horse trainers, will send all of the customers a list of the shows that they are going to and then I choose from that list where I want to go. Location and size are two huge factors in my decision. The Arizona Sun Circuit is one of my favorites because you get to go do all the classes so many times in a row and I think that makes a huge difference. The fact that I get to do four showmanship runs this week is huge for me especially because I have my green horse with me here at this show. But I do have to go to some shows close to home. I’m a big girl now and I have a job that keeps me busy until 4 o’clock on Friday night so the ones that I can drive to within a reasonable distance helps.

Debby Brehm
Lincoln, NE
We like to see how the classes were size-wise the year before. We want to travel and get the maximum number of points that we are able to get. It also makes a lot of sense to go to a circuit that is four to six days long instead of just showing to a couple of judges over a weekend. We choose our halter horse shows differently than our riding horse shows. Denny (Hasset) didn’t bring the halter horses to Arizona. It’s a long way for him to come all the way from Kansas and the halter is okay here at the Sun Circuit, it actually turned out to be pretty good, but we brought several riders and we knew there would be a lot of riders in those classes and we’re trying to get as many points out of the way as we can early in the year.

Christina Drake
Cowgirl Diva
First and foremost it depends on the size of the horse show entries-wise and horse numbers-wise. Second is going to be how much they are going to charge for a vendor space and the length of time you are going to be there, can you make that amount up? For me, it’s a little bit easier because I can stay in my trailer where others have to pay for hotels and things like that. Lastly, it’s all about location. Are they going to put me in a good spot where everybody is going to visually see us or are they going to put us off the beaten path where people have to make a special trip. If it’s not convenient, they are not going to come. Especially for my type of item which is not a necessity at the horse show. I have to be more selective about the shows at the beginning of the year because most people are more concerned about spending money on their new outfit, getting qualified, and not really too worried about what kind of cute top they are going to want to wear.

Bruce Walquist
Cleburne, TX
We go for a couple different reasons. Sometimes we go around home just for schooling. We go to the big horse shows for prestige and notoriety and to build reputation. I look at who is judging. That is very important to me. If it’s very far away I really take into consideration the expense and I try to maximize the client’s money as much as we can. We go to Florida and Arizona because the numbers are good. We think a lot about which customer is ready to go where. It’s very important to match the ability of the client with the right horse show. Nobody likes to go and get beat so the more success they have, the more they want to go and stay in the business.

Tom Forehand
Erie, CO
For me, it’s all about who is running the show and the facility. If it’s a difficult place to get horses ready or a difficult group of people to work with, we’re not coming. My group won’t want to go because they want to go to a show and enjoy themselves so if it’s a hassle to work your horses and get your horse shown or a hassle in the office, we won’t go. Then we look at the judges and the weather. I think that the show managers who themselves have shown do the best job. The ones that were a parent or involved somewhat but really don’t understand the importance of good ground or how important it is to get numbers in the pen, that hurts a show.

Joanne Garnett
Lincoln, NE
I think the most important thing is I want them to be fun! I don’t want them to run around the clock 24 hours. I pick them now because they’re fun. I love the Redbud and I like Virginia. Those are my two favorites. They are both good places to show, they have good people running the show and they give good prizes.