Every time I share pictures of my collection Instagram and Facebook and talk about their average points I get questions about my points system, so I thought I should do a quick blog post about how I work out the points for each of my horses.
The Points
Let's start off very simply with the points. Each placing that a horse can get is allocated a number of points. The points get higher the better the placing. Below is how many points each placing is allocated.
Overall Champion = 100
Overall Reserve Champion = 85
Overall Reserve to Reserve Champion = 70
Section Champion = 50
Section Reserve Champion = 40
Section Reserve to Reserve Champion = 30
Champion = 25
Reserve Champion = 15
Reserve to Reserve Champion = 10
Top 10 = 25
Best of Breed/Group Winner = 8
1st Place = 6
2nd Place = 5
3rd Place = 4
4th Place = 3
5th Place = 2
6th Place = 1
Points are doubled for shows which the horse had to qualify for (BMECS/BILS/MECS/LEMS/Southern Champs/Northern Champs/NAN)
Here is a handy image that you can save/pin/print off for quick reference!
Keeping Records
So how do I keep the records?
All placings are written into a PowerPoint presentation. There is a slide with basic information about the horse and then a slide for all of their placings. Here is the one for CRS Fiery Rose:
In terms of keeping a record of points I have this recorded on my massive horse spreadsheet.
You can see the points in the end three columns:
First Column = Total Points
Second Column = Number of shows attended
Third Column = Average Points (Points/Shows Attended = Average)
The formula you will need for column three is very simple it is just: =AF30/AG30 (enter the columns you are actually using)
I use filters on the top of each column for sorting which allows me to sort the average column from highest to lowest. This lets me know who my best horses are.
It's worth noting that my records have been developed over 20 years, if I was starting from scratch now I probably wouldn't have the PowerPoints and would instead record individual show records on Excel and have it work out total points for me, but I'm not re-doing the whole thing! I already don't have every horse in the massive horse spreadsheet because I only started this about 10 years ago!
Average or Total?
The next point is whether you work out your best horses by average or total. I used to use total points but increasingly it meant that horses that had been to more shows were obviously always classed as the best. This works fine for your first few shows as a new hobbyist but I recommend going for average long term.
If you look at the list above you can clearly see this, the second horse down has over 1000 points total but I've owned him for quite some time! The one above only has 128 points but I only got him 2 years ago. That's why average works out as a fairer and more accurate record of how well horses have done.
If you want a template for the massive horse spreadsheet please just shout. Free downloads don't work on the new website but I'm working on a category of free downloads that you can 'order' the same way as a paid for digital product but obviously it is free!
