PrintWork with the in-gate staff, not against them, for a drama-free day at the show.
Like any good circus, a horse show needs a ringmaster.
And, fortunately, there’s one for each ring.
Your friendly in-gate person—usually seated in a little tent or shelter adjacent to your gateway into the ring—is a maestro of time management. It may seem like all he or she does is call out the order of go for the next few horses in the ring and inform the judge of the number entering the ring. But, in reality, they’re the traffic directors of the entire showgrounds.
As a competitor, you have enough stress on a show day. The last thing you need to worry about is being late for your class. What’s the easiest way to make sure your day goes smoothly and promptly? Make friends with the in-gate person at your ring.
The key to winning your in-gate personnel’s heart is really quite simple.
“Be on time and be courteous,” said Pat Dunkin, who has controlled the ins and outs of the Grand Hunter Ring at the Winter Equestrian Festival (Fla.) for eight years. “All I really like is people showing up on time. Call me easy to please, but that right there is one of the things that makes my day. In the long run, it’s so easy to be a good exhibitor. It’s simple courtesy to the rest of the exhibitors.”
A ring without a horse in it is exactly what the in-gate personnel try to avoid. Keep in mind that while your two minutes in the ring is very important, there are also more than 100 other people who want to stake their claim on their time in the ring. With 150 to 200 rounds, or trips, to usher through a ring on any given day on a winter circuit, your in-gate person sees every minute as crucial.
Think of it this way—if you and everyone else in your ring adds 30 seconds to your round by being tardy to the ring, that means an extra 75 minutes added onto a day of 150 rounds.
It’s The Key To Any Good Relationship
You can apply the advice of any marriage counselor to your relationship with horse show in-gate personnel—communication is the key to happiness.
“The biggest priority is the exhibitor communicating with us,” said Dina Happy, who has worked in-gates at HITS Thermal (Calif.) and HITS Indio (Calif.) for nine years. “They need to communicate to us that they’ll be ready to show at a certain time, or that they’ll be at another ring for a while but they’ll get to us. If we get to the end of the class, and we haven’t seen nor heard hide nor hair of them, that gets us a little nervous.”
If you’re new in town and showing somewhere for the first time, go visit the in-gate of the ring where you’ll be showing.
“I’m lucky enough to know probably 80 percent of the exhibitors, but there are always new names and faces,” said Happy. “Walk up and introduce yourself—that’s the best way to go. Then, we have a visual on you and know who to be looking for when you’re close to showing.”
If you have a spot on the posted order and are all ready to show, but your trainer calls you and says he’ll be late to help you, it behooves you to alert the in-gate person as soon as possible.
“The sooner the in-gate knows, the more time you give us to find someone to fit in that spot,” said Dunkin. “A lot of times people are worried that we’re going to freak out and yell at them, so they wait until they’re three trips out and their trainer isn’t there. Then, we’ll really yell at them.”
