As I was taking pictures of the dog show, it occurred to me that I don't have many pictures of horse shows. I'm usually too busy. I made an exception for one show: the 2015 Arabian Sport Horse National show in Raleigh, NC. My young mare Bella competed at that show and came home with honors. As a national-level show it has a lot more going on than a local show, but it provides a comparison.
The covered arena at the Meadow Farm horse show grounds is almost as large as the exhibit hall where the dog show was being held.
Here that space is being used for one horse rather than 400+ dogs. This particular class is dressage, so there is only one exhibitor being shown at a time.
The judge and scribe are seated at the far end of the arena. There is also a paddock person responsible for the smooth coordination of entries. There are two volunteers in addition to the judge for each class.
The scribe writes down the judge's remarks and scores so that judge can keep an eye on the performance without worrying about making notes.
Horse stalls are much larger than the dog crates, and grooming stalls are much larger than small tables.
The friends who come out to support the rider in the ring take up rather more space as well -- especially when they bring a horse along.
This type of under-saddle class is designed to have multiple entries riding at the same time, but in this class there is only one.
The judge and ringmaster are standing in the center of the ring and the announcer is in the booth at right. There is also a person responsible for operating the gate to allow horses in for their class and out when the class is finished.
Dressage may have only two volunteers, but a Sport Horse Under Saddle like this one has three: paddock/gate, ringmaster, and announcer.
I don't know if there were any volunteers needed at the dog show. It didn't look like it.
There wasn't a crowd of spectators.
I couldn't tell if there were any spectators at all at the dog show, but the Rau folks told me that the Westminster Dog Show sells out Madison Square Garden. If there are any horse shows that gather that number of spectators, I don't know what they are; they certainly aren't Arabian shows.
At one time our show offered "over fences" classes that would use the materials on the trailer behind the spectators, but the entries didn't justify continuing it.
I'll end my show comparison by summarizing: dog shows are a lot like horse shows, but more compact.
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