On-line horse show entries? Love them or hate them: they are here to stay.

Here are six tips for making the online entry work smoothly.

1.  Find your glasses, or readers, then open your browser. If you can’t see using your phone, try using a computer, laptop or tablet. The public Library has several computers and printers and most school children have a laptop.

2. Find the website* for your chosen show.  READ THE SHOW RULES. Make notes on paper for rules that will apply to your class selections.

3. Read the showbill. ALL of it. Do not skim, there will be a test. This part is important: on paper, write a list of classes to be entered and keep it.

4. Open the entry form, from Facebook or the club’s website. Read ALL of the instructions, scroll through the entire form to familiarize yourself with it. 

5. If you are using a back number you already have, be certain that you will have it with you on show day. Write the numbers you will use on the same paper referenced above. If you will be using a number assigned by the show, check with the office to pick it up and write the horse/rider combination for which it will be used on the back. Changing a back number after it has been recorded must be done before showing by coming to the office and submitting the request in writing. (there may be a form or list)

6.  READ the instructions for every section then complete each section. If the instructions are difficult to understand, ask for clarification on the club’s face book page, or phone a friend. Check classes entered against your written class list BEFORE hitting Submit. A conformation e-mail should be sent, mark it as a favorite so it can be found again. Adding or dropping a class should be done by opening the confirmation e-mail and changing it yourself if allowed by the show committee.

General information about computer functions:

A computer doesn’t know what you intended, it just does what is is told to do.

A unique back number is required for each horse/rider combination. If you use one number for multiple riders (or a rider using the same number on multiple horses), all results and payback will recorded for the first combination listed. We will leave it to you to sort it out on your own.

A begining 0 is ignored, so if you enter with number 045 it will be read as 45 which could give your payback to the rider who entered as 45.

Words in a numeric space are not recognized.

*How to find a club’s website: Find the club or organizaton by opening the browser and typing the name of the club, then choose the best match. It may give you a website or a facebook link. Use that link. If you get a website, use the menu (3 lines in a stack) to find the relevant pages. If you get a Facebook page, look in the About box to find the website. If you want to find a specific post on Facebook, type in the name of the group and read from their page instead of scrolling through your page looking for a post you saw a few days ago – you will save a lot of time