Shows - risk vs reward

Sorry if the information is listed somewhere else, but I would like to know how many horses can enter a show, and how far down the listing does the prize money go?
Specifically, what placing do you need to be profitable?

I'm beginning to think shows may not be worthwhile.

They are, but you need to be strategic about it. Fully upgraded tack, only treating discipline-specific treats, enter when the horse is over 50% to its next stat level, hand-show so that horses are in shows with at least 5 entries (for stat gain) but hopefully not many more.

Currently show max is 25 horses, and 1st-3rd place gets money. This will be changing, ber the 2nd most recent news article from Abbey. Shows will have a max of 10 entries when she revamps showing. :)

Thanks Ducky! Are you a fan of NCIS by any chance?

Showing is very much worth it - by far the fastest way to gain stats, and a good income source - but as Ducky says, you must be very strategic about it, and, if you have a lot of horses, those strategies can be very, very time consuming. However, if you do it right, you can raise a foundation to above 1,000 stats. If you don't want to spend the time, however, or are having difficulty with the strategies, then riding schools are a perfectly valid choice.

Last night my bank says I spent $1,930 on shows, but the Amount earned in shows yesterday was $7,135. And thats only with 15 horses showing. I hand pick all my shows though

Right now showing is almost a risk, because there's a huge bug that Abbey doesn't quite know the fix to, however, she has been trying to run the shows for us; Still, we don't know the fix nor do we know how long this will continue for, so it is a risk when the shows decide not to run.

Thanks for the heads up guys, I'm slowly starting to get to grips with everything. :)

Hmm i don't know about the Showing.
I never, like never get stats... meaby 2/100 times.
My horse won 8/10 shows and gained... zero stats!

I put them in the Training Centre every day now >> 5/6/7 stats a day !
I get a lot more stats with the TC than Shows.

@Maan horses only gain stats if therr are 5 or more entries in the show. So if a horse places in 8 out of 10 shows with no stat gain ay all, it's likely there weren't enough entries. :(

Hope you don't mind me asking another question, but how do you hand-pick or choose your shows? Trying to learn the best way to gain stats and such.

You simply go in and enter in shows by hand instead of using auto show.

@ｗｅｙ---> Oh, well that was simple. Kinda feel a little dumb right now...lol. Reading other comments, is it best to have fewer entries to help gain stats? Also, if a horse just went up a grade{Novice 1 to Novice 2}, should I put them in a riding school until their stats increase or selectively pick shows and put them against my horses of similar stats?
Sorry for all the questions. Still getting the hang of things

I would recommend having exactly 5 entries per show to help your horses gain stats.

To answer your second question, it really depends on what the horses Discipline Stats are i.e. if they are specialised in driving and have 40 STR and 45 END with 12 AGI, INT and SPD then they will most likely do well in shows. The opposite, however, would definitely need to be placed in the Riding School.

Showing cam very much be a trial and error process so do not worry if yiyr horses do not do well or not. :)

What I've been doing since there's a bug going on with showing, is entering my horses in 5 shows with at least 5 entries to that if they DO run, they may gain stats, but using the other 5 spots in riding schools, that way if the shows don't run, they're still most likely to gain a few stats.

I always place them in Shows myself with more than 5 entries.
But no stats, its like 2/100 last time.
If me horse wins 8/10 shows and gain none stats im done xD
They all had 5 entries or more so that can't be the problem.

I do school lessons every day now and my horses gain stats, freeking much every day!
So no shows for me, less work and more stats :D