ASHBA and WCHS kerfluffle

[Alterration]

Are any of my ASB friends here keeping an eye on this?

For those not in the know, the main championship breed show for saddlebreds is called the World Championship Horse Show and it is owned/run by the Kentucky State Fair. The Kentucky State Fair Board decided to drop USEF and go with a different organization. I’ve heard that it was in light of what happened to the kid whose horse collapsed and it took too long for the ambulance to get the kid, but that doesn’t seem to make any sense.

Anyhow - the main saddlebred association, the ASHBA is now considering severing ties with the WCHS because it can’t maintain USEF membership and still have classes at the WCHS due to USEF rules about memberships and associations.

It’s a cluster.

Most of us in the saddlebred world welcome a change of leadership since many of the classes that competitors want are NOT at the WCHS and it has dragged its feet on others, causing harm to the breed, but it is so totally up in the air about which way the whole thing is going to go that it is going to make for a very odd show season.

My hope is that it shakes some things loose for the sporthorse side of things, but it’s weird to go through. Anyone else following it?

[luvmyhackney]

Following it with a bag of popcorn, my guess is ASHBA will be moving the “World Championship” from Kentucky to a different venue. It was the incident that caused this, thank heavens the child wasn’t killed.

I wish they would follow Morgan’s and offer a place for every horse to have value. But the older crowd will have a fit.

[Alterration]

@luvmyhackney

I wish they would follow Morgan’s and offer a place for every horse to have value. But the older crowd will have a fit.

Agreed. I keep seeing “well they can just show at the sporthorse shows”. At least they can accumulate CH points now in some of the sporthorse disciplines. But it does take you “out” of the saddlebred eye, and that brings fewer spectators and competitors to shows.

I know it’s more expensive to have judges, jumps etc but seriously…

[swmorse]

I’ve been getting the emails but haven’t read all of them. It’s pretty late in the season for them to find a new home for the show this year, isn’t it? I know the season has just started but I’m sure there’s a lot to do to put on a show of that size/caliber.

[Alterration]

@swmorse

I’ve been getting the emails but haven’t read all of them. It’s pretty late in the season for them to find a new home for the show this year, isn’t it? I know the season has just started but I’m sure there’s a lot to do to put on a show of that size/caliber.

I think this has caused a real pickle. ASHBA cannot have those sponsored classes at WCH if they aren’t affiliated according to the USEF rules of affiliation according to the last letter. And I’m not sure how that affects things like points to qualify for either the WCH or the ASHBA CH status. I’m not sure anyone knows yet, it just seems like everyone is like “ack, this is a mess”.

Right now I think the ASHBA is trying to force the hand of the WCH board with these strongly worded letters, but since they’ve already dropped USEF and gone with…whatever that organization is (CHF? maybe?) I’m sure there are ramifications of shifting back. Plus the bad blood that now has to exist - I can’t imagine it doesn’t.

What’s still stranger is that ASHBA is claiming that they weren’t consulted, despite having a member (Hoppy) on the KHSB board. Was this to see if the membership had a taste for a shift away from USEF? Or was there truly some political manuvering by Hoppy or by the ASHBA board?

Now that I look deeper into how all of that works…the KY Governor picking the ASHBA member that sits on the WCH board is a little wild.

The whole thing sounds like it will make a really good novel - I just want to know how it ends!

[jvanrens]

@Alterration

The Kentucky State Fair Board decided to drop USEF and go with a different organization. I’ve heard that it was in light of what happened to the kid whose horse collapsed and it took too long for the ambulance to get the kid, but that doesn’t seem to make any sense.

Doesn’t make any sense to me sitting on the outside of the Saddlebred world. Why would it be USEFs responsibility if the ambulance was slow to get there?

[Alterration]

It wasn’t. The WCH had like 14 violations of USEF rules because they didn’t have the ambulance on site (among other things). It’s a puzzle to me too and it seems like the opposite of what they’d want to do.

[jvanrens]

Okay, that is a little more understandable. The show management effed up and doesn’t want to play by USEF rules anymore because they can’t follow common sense in some cases. I can see why the ASHBA would consider severing ties.

[findeight]

@Alterration

Now that I look deeper into how all of that works…the KY Governor picking the ASHBA member that sits on the WCH board is a little wild.

That is a surprising choice from the son of a pretty good Eventer back when.

[luvmyhackney]

Have ya’ll read the letters floating around. Breed is going to be ruined by the good ole boys club.

Melissa Moore’s letter was fantastic. https://www.saddlehorsereport.com/news/letter-to-the-editor-melissa-moore

Hoppy’s letter was a condescending pile of horse poop. He can go shove it. They need to rid the organization of him.

[Alterration]

I didn’t see Hoppy’s letter, but I agree with Melissa. This is a bad move overall. I just can’t see how this will do anything positive for the breed.

[Alterration]

https://www.saddlehorsereport.com/news/from-the-desk-of-hobby-bennett

Found it, for those who haven’t read it.

There are some valid points amidst that bunk but I feel like it is missing the forest for the trees. It is true that the Saddlebred folks somewhat used (for lack of a better term) by USEF. I keep asking what that means and they want better representation for saddleseat and defense from other disciplines in the USEF. That is a valid feeling (witness threads on COTH that show a lot of the misconceptions) - saddleseat riders are routinely attacked on social media - but I’m not sure USEF can really do much about trolls. Attempts to educate are often met with blatant disregard.

That being said, for Hoppy to equate it to other horseshows within the breed is disingenuous at best. It’s the World Championship Horse Show not some rinky dink smaller show. It is the show that saddlebred people aspire to - the Olympics of saddlebred saddleseat riding. To make a change of that magnitude without working with the membership and breed association is shocking.

We’re already losing numbers of registrations. Many horse shows have 1-2 horses in saddleseat and driving classes (I will note that the hunt seat and western classes fill easily and typically split in my area).

This isn’t good at all.

[Angela_Freda]

@luvmyhackney

It was the incident that caused this, thank heavens the child wasn’t killed.

Any links to this?
Thanks

[Alterration]

I don’t know if there are useful links to the incident - but what happened was that the child’s horse had an aneurysm in the lineup and fell over on the child as it expired. The ambulance was too far away and they had trouble getting the kid out of the fairground.

It is a hard place to maneuver - it’s packed and busy.

Somewhere the Dad’s statement exists.

[Alterration]

https://www.saddlebred.com/application/files/5217/1148/0353/10.19.2023_-_Compliance_Report_Worlds_Championship_Horse_Show_335.pdf

This might be helpful - down further in the report it explains the violations related to the horse’s death.

[bamboopole]

Such a bad decision. The ASB industry is crumbling and this split won’t help.
When “pleasure” was introduced, the purists were horrified. Then country pleasure, then (omg) hunters and western.
Fill the ring, make the customers happy.
Look at the Arabian industry and AQHA. Huge multiple shows. ASB, Hackney, Roadsters can barely fill a class. What gets split? Never performance, always pleasure or park.

Y’all are shooting yourselves in the foot, again.

[Alterration]

Here’s a note from the Dad. https://www.facebook.com/share/LyQuoXQmS1etSgkq/?mibextid=WC7FNe

I wish I could find the post I read when he explained all the events. I know I read it and I thought it was after convention but I can’t find it.

They did a necropsy and found the aneurysm and also tried to harvest eggs as I believe the mare had old very good bloodlines. No drug violations or any evidence of anything nefarious - just one of those sh*t things that sometimes happens with horses.

But it does go to my earlier point that even at the WCHS, with hundreds of horses, there are so few incidents that this one caused a fracture in the breed.

[Alterration]

I keep saying the same thing. Individual shows add classes and divisions but until the WCHS has them it’s hard for a competitor to justify the cost of showing etc at our shows. The association did make a move to take points from other USEF shows to give sporthorses CH designations but that still kind of makes us with sporthorse types feel like the red-headed stepchild.

[luvmyhackney]

This might answer some questions about Nosey Rosey.

Lone Star Saddlebreds

[Alterration]

Ugh. They confirmed the decision.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/4317EU1u163A9xUP/?mibextid=WC7FNe

So, now we either have two shows, or ASHBA switches allegiance. On the one hand, it’s an opportunity to have the show under the control of the membership, OTOH…