How Many Shows Do We Really Need?

I know there has been a lot of discussion lately about how people feel there are too many shows being created for the number of horses that actually show. While it seems to be the consensus that it is time to lower the show entry cap from where it currently is at 25 horses per show to a significantly lower number, we don't know when or if that will happen. In the meantime, I feel it would be beneficial to get an idea of how many shows we actually need, as things stand with our current entry cap.

The two methods we already have at our disposal for counting what horses we have in what division are not useful for this task. The statistics page can tell us, for example, how many Novice Dressage horses there are (currently 5370) and if we have any International horses or not (currently only 2 each, in Endurance and Show Jumping.) It does not tell us how many of these horses are actually in need of shows. Many are locked, and others are under the age of 3. If we were to create shows by this template, we would assume there were about 1000 Dressage horses in each Novice division. That's a total of 10,000 show entries, which would need about 2,000 shows to get 5 entries per show, enough to fill each show enough for horses to win stat gains.

Obviously we don't actually need 2,000 shows per Novice Division. That is ridiculous.

The other method we can use to count horses is the Horse Search. I can search by specialty and grade, and eliminate horses under 3, and locked or Rescue Center horses. I'll do a search for Dressage Novice 1 horses. At 50 horses per page, I find 13 full pages, and 3 horses on the 14th. That's a total of 653 horses. That would require 1,306 shows to get 5 entries per show.

Obviously, the Horse Search is also not helpful in determining how many shows we need. I can see that we have active horses in the game up to National 3, but beyond that, no useful information.

So, then, how do we figure out how many shows we need?

Last edited on 2016-07-31 at 02:32:57 by Confessor

Happily, I am able to announce that I have formed a partnership with Timbergray, and I think we have figured out a way to get a ballpark figure of how many shows are currently being used.

Timbergray has the arenas available to return show creation to its old, somewhat overabundant levels, for the next few days. I will record the show numbers before Cron starts running for the day, since I am usually up before then.

What we need from you is for people who enter shows later in the day to let us know how many shows are still empty in each division when you are done showing. You would have to pay attention to when you were about to show your last horse per division, say, when you were down to only one Local 3 Western horse left to enter in shows. Before you enter that last horse, go to manual show entering, and take a look at the shows that are left. There are 30 shows on a full page.

Record that number, and, when you are done showing, I would love to have you post those numbers on this thread. Don't worry if someone already posted the same divisions. The most recent numbers will be the most accurate.

This will take a few extra minutes, of course, but the information would be most helpful and very appreciated.

After a few days, when I feel I have an accurate count, I will compile the data and post what seems to be a good number goal for each division to aim for.

From that point on, Timbergray will check the show creation numbers towards the end of the day, to make sure everyone has a chance to make shows if they want to. Timbergray will fill in the gaps to make sure any low counts are up to the levels they need to be, and fill them in with $20 shows.

I will commit to creating 20 $100 shows per active division, for those who prefer the more expensive shows.

If it becomes apparent that our show numbers need to be adjusted, say, if we get a lot of new horses that are flooding the divisions, or if show entry caps are changed, we can re-evaluate and come up with updated numbers.

Hopefully this will remove some of the frustration involved with excessive show creation. We won't have to make blind guesses anymore.

Thank you in advance for everyone who chooses to participate in this project.

A few things I failed to mention earlier -

When you check the shows to see how many are left, make sure your Maximum Fee is adjusted to $100. If you leave it at the default $50, you will get an inaccurate, lower count of empty shows.

Also, I would ask that, when you show on data collection days, please be as self-centered as possible. Enter the shows you want to show, what you think is best for your herd. Please don't try to save shows. We want to know how full the shows are when everyone is happy.

Timbergray is going to start creating the shows for the project today, so Data Collection will start on Tuesday, August 2nd and will end when I feel I have a comprehensive view of our showing needs.

I am asking for data from late afternoon - evening show entries. The closer your entry time is to the time the next Cron starts running, the more accurate the information. Cron starts at 5 AM Game Time. If I had someone from each division give me the information an hour before that, it would be ideal.

Again, thank you in advance!

I will TRY to participate in this, however, I have terrible memory so I may forget D:

I plan on showing very late today, I'll try to remember!

This is excellent! I tend to show at around 6-8pm game time and at 3-3:55am game time.

Also, I THINK shows switch over to the next day's at 3:55-4:00am game time. I remember within the last week or so I was up and frantically entering shows and my list of available show horses reset around that time (much to my dismay, lol). I could be wrong though... Not fully caffeinated at that time.

Yeah, you're right, Ducky. I messed up the numbers in my head. It switches at 7 AM my time, and I am 3 hours ahead of game time, so it would be 4 AM, not 5. Thanks for catching that.

I'll post a reminder on Tuesday, when the shows made today will come available. My test will run for a few days, so if you forget on Tuesday, there will be other chances. I want to get as many divisions as possible, and I preferably want at least a couple of days worth of data, just in case one day is an anomaly.

I'll try to help y'all out with this.

Thank you.

What divisions do you guys show in?

N5-R3

Western, Driving (I should have some N1 Driving horses that turn 3 on Tuesday as well)

i have endurance horses; but they are all foals (or retired) right now.

I just created a bunch of shows...not sure which ones I just tried to even out the playing field for all specialties...meh lol

I'm N1-R5 in Dressage, N1-R5 for Driving, and N2-Na1 for Show Jumping. I have some oddballs in N2/N3 for Endurance, Racing, and Western also.

Just N3 right now.

I'll try and help with this, as well since I show late in the evening usually.
I have endurance horses ranging from novice to national, and dressage horses ranging from novice to regional (I don't know if that's any help or should be mentioned, but I thought I'd throw it out there just in case).

Alrighttt, I'm currently showing my horses and it is 1:51 AM where I am, or, 12:51 AM Equiverse time.

(For right now I am only posting the shows my horses are in. If I get bored I will go back and count all of them.)

For N3 show jumping I counted 17 empty shows.
For N4 show jumping, there are 0 empty shows.

EDIT:
Also decided to enter my N1 horses too, there were also 0 empty N1 shows for show jumping.

Last edited on 2016-08-01 at 01:02:10 by wey™