Posted 2011-09-09 9:55 PM (#137370) Subject: Anyone go to the MFTHBA show this week in MO??
Elite Veteran
Posts: 690
Location: missouri
Just wondering if anyone is at the Foxtrotter show in Ava, Mo, this week. We watched the versatility arena events for a while yesterday... then the front ring last night... it seemed to have fewer attendants, and fewer vendors... Any comments?
Posted 2011-09-13 1:27 PM (#137499 - in reply to #137370) Subject: RE: Anyone go to the MFTHBA show this week in MO??
Regular
Posts: 93
Location: ark/ok border
CJ, it was the same at Clinton Chuckwagon races, about 800 less equine and 4000 less campers this year. I also noticed 2/3 less vendors on the hill this year. Economy is really bad, hay supplies are low, feed is high, you could tell ppl werent spending as much this year either. Hopefully it will get better.
Posted 2011-09-14 8:45 AM (#137513 - in reply to #137370) Subject: RE: Anyone go to the MFTHBA show this week in MO??
Expert
Posts: 2614
THey have jacked up the rates for the vendors so much that nobody can afford to be up there,really.Our "bit" man,Williams,wasn't there this year.He told us last year that he probably would not return if things didn't improve.I noticed that Jim's Motors did not have a trailer there,and,they did not have an ad in the showbill any longer.I asked someone in the office and,apparently Jim's pulled their sponsorship.THey said that they didn't feel that it was doing them any good,and,I imagine it was just too expensive and not justifiable to bring a display trailer up there for a week.Scott takes trailers to the big QH shows,anyway,that was small potatoes for them and getting smaller.
I for one,am glad that their beer garden didn't do them much good.They never heed how the majority of members feel about an issue,they just go ahead and do it,D the feelings,full steam ahead,is how it's been and that kind of thinking has begun to show results.
Yes,the economy is still really bad,but,there are a lot of other World shows that are doing well.The association is in trouble and they've not helped themselves one iota and I don't care who doesn't like what I'm saying,either.Our breed of horse is suffering in part because of all of that crud.