(“Mobile homes did not get that name because they have wheels under them.”)

I’m always hearing about how deathly serious and without humor dressage riders are. This may be true at some rarefied level where ego and fortune hang in the balance. But I am quite cheered at how hard some show managements try to make a pastime that is supposed to be fun, FUN. Several cases in point—I am sure you can add others…

Back in the day the NEDA summer show, engineered and masterminded by Beth Jenkins, tried to outdo itself each year with rider-friendly touches. Hospitality tents with copious delicacies are, of course, always delightful. Her amenities also included floral bouquet-wrapped toilet brushes in the Porta Johns. Each year the committee also created and sponsored a “Mysterious Award.” What made it mysterious was that no one knew the rules or the goal until the award was announced at the end of the day. One year it was the competitor whose ride had drawn the most words of comment from the judge on her test sheet—an award which required one or several staff members to count every word on every test of the hundreds of rides performed that day! Another year the award was given to the most mediocre test of the day—determined by adding up all the scores in all the rings, calculating their median, and identifying whose ride was closest to that number. An even more fanciful Mysterious Award one year went to the horse with the longest tail—and no, it did not belong to an Arabian!

Another show management that performed beyond all expectations to amuse and entertain everyone was the dearly departed Bay Area Dressage Association or BADACT. The bay in question, by the way, was not San Francisco’s, not Green Bay, not Chesapeake or Hudson or Mobile but Tampa Bay.

A digression: did you know that mobile homes did not get that name because they have wheels under them? In fact after World War II the first company that produced manufactured homes on a large scale was located in Mobile, Alabama. As recently -returned veterans clamored for inexpensive and readily available housing, they referred to them by the location of the factory, pronounced as the city’s name is. Later, the pronunciation changed and “mobile” came to apply to the entire genre.

But, back to BADACT– Each June their show was theme-oriented. The volunteers’ T-shirts, the show office decorations, the exhibitors’ parties, and gift bags all reflected that year’s choice. The cowboy motif show was “The Best Little Horse Show in Tampa.” “Dressage Gone Wild” was BADACT’s African safari show. The Hawaiian luau-themed year’s shirts proclaimed: “Get Lei-ed at Hot Summer Nights.” There was “Let It Ride” for the Las Vegas show which included chances to spin the wheel for prizes. And for the Sixties: tie-dyed shirts and the bold imprecation: “Make [Half Halts], Not War.” For all this, you could thank the BADACT(resses) Mss. Bollenback, Ripa, Caruso, and Barrera. In your own neighborhood you may have just as clever a set of organizers whose aim is to put on a top notch show that, at the same time, doesn’t remind the participants of a trip to the dentist.

If you don’t have such influences, you really should!