I genuinely love this. An AO championship is exactly what we need, for exactly that reason - because after pony finals then JHF, what is there to look forward to? Not all of us can afford to qualify for / go to indoors. Some of us loved pony finals and JHF for the experience, and didn’t go to win. (I personally was quite successful in my endeavor to go for the experience only 
, and maybe the food.) So a week or long weekend dedicated to the weekend warriors who simply love this sport and want to enjoy our community together? I say yes!!
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And just having it exclusively about us.
I feel like other than the under saddle or if trainers go out to dinner… I rarely get to meet anyone outside of my barn.
Activities that bring us together and get us to mingle would really be fun. Even if it’s just a wine and charcuterie reception or kareoke night.
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You had me at charcuterie and karaoke 
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Yup. @Mohan, I’m in at charcuterie and karaoke too. Good charcuterie. Good food, good activities (yoga, animal communicators, sports psychologists for ammy anxiety, wine tasting, costume derby…), good vendors. Let’s celebrate us.
@Tha_Ridge and I were chatting about this last night. I think it has to be somewhere central, accessible and where there are lots of fun things to do when not at the horse show, too. Which more or less leaves Kentucky as the best option. You have the whole Horse Park, Lexington, race horse things, stud farms, bourbon, etc. All the major shippers come in and out of Lexington as a hub, making transport easy. Tons of hotel options nearby.
While I love WEC Ocala, no one is going to ship all the way down there off-season and there’s not room in the schedule during winter circuit. Hard pass on all things Ohio (sorry midwest friends).
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As I imagined all the fun things, I imagined them happening at KHP. It’s top choice in my book as well. And you raise and excellent point about shipping.
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Another vote for Kentucky as the location. And I agree, well planned events (with GOOD food and drink) that bring amateurs together to mingle would be so fun! I hate that at most shows you have to buy a $5k+ sponsored table to have access to decent food, it’s ridiculous! Maybe just sell reasonably priced tickets to cover the catering?
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Do they ever do pro-am classes where the pro and the amateur go around the same course (on the same horse I think) then scores are combined? Nothing like my trainer putting down an 80 something and me giving a 60 at best to feel good about myself 
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Plus, you can schedule a “horse show husband” bus trip from KHP to Bourbon Trail. Talk about an epic marriage highlight… “that time my wife spent a boatload of money, but I actually got to go hang out at Woodford!”
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Yes yes, so much yes!
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HAHA… I hear that… but here’s the thing… do you do the first round and risk screwing it up for the callback, but do the safer course, or trust your ability and do the traditional hunter round and then let the pro really get “handy”? It’s a gamechanger… but you’ll have people really debate it.
Adore this idea. Do want to mention, dates in Kentucky are going to be hard to get, it’s got every discipline under the sun in & out of there all year. But there’s some beautiful/notable horse parks across the country and it should totally rotate each year. Upperville. Lake Placid. Colorado. Traverse City. Devon. Kentucky. Aiken. Del Mar. Make it like an ongoing Bucket List of special venues Amateurs can tick off. Or otherwise tourist-friendly towns so it can be really family friendly.
Then make the kids be the grooms 
but seriously though, what if there were a whole slew of educational horse clinics for the horse kids of horse parents?
I don’t even qualify to show in this darned thing but I love it 
And I miiiggghhht foresee I a whole lot of leasing opportunity for the popular venues at the far edges of the country… or just in general. Maybe 10 days with an AA weekend and an AO weekend. Could be opportunities for ammies that maybe do pay to own a horse, but not one that would be competitive. Or the shipping to get to Venue X is astronomical but they’ve always wanted to show at Venue X.
If anybody goes anywhere with this send me a note! I’d be curious about helping it happen
(I do worry that involving USEF will suck the fun right on out of it though lol)
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Colorado Horse Park is too shaky. It’s also not one that many pros will gravitate towards bc there’s literally nothing else going on unless you go during SIR.
If you do a Cali/West Coast location, then you have to find an east coast spot too… much like JHF.
I would say 7-10 days… and make it a money-maker for USEF too. Maybe offer a 2-3 EAP-style clinic at the start… that includes vets, farrier, and general horsemanship, as well as focus on gridwork and under saddle, as well as jumping courses. Bring in a few World Cup/pro riders and break it out into focus groups: jumpers/eq/hunters. I would gladly do a Sat-Sun clinic. Have 2 days off. Then jump into a fun finals from Wednesday-Sunday.
There’s a lot of ammys that would like to learn more about what is happening with their horses but aren’t privvy to the conversation. Having vets and farriers talk about some of the common challenges and ailments that they see from circuit showing gives everyone a better idea of what to talk aobut with their pros and their specialists.
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Yeah. I was really struggling to come up with some west of midwest options 
If I trusted HITS to do a nice job, I’d say maybe Lamplight for a mid-west option… but yeahhhhh… we know how that goes. Honestly, I’d like a balanced approach of the traditional A Show along with some fun classes… do some for charity and some for enrichment… and build it out to a more community and less of a financial money grab that just feels sterile.
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I love this idea and would definitely work towards attending!
Get Lake Placid on board and I am 1000% in and can be boots on the ground. Such a fun idea!
I’ve often thought a “team” of an eventer, dressage, and hunter or jumper would make a really fun and cool event. Highest score wins when they figure out a way to handicap them. Would be a super fun way to meet new people, and almost create an atmosphere like young riders will all the different disciplines going on.
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Lake Placid is a dream show of mine. Just love the area so much.
Now I know this isn’t a destination type but as for facilities and a nice East Coat location you have PG County equestrian center, has in indoor a covered and 2 outdoors, a lot of stabling and I think room to add temporary.
It’s no Devon or Lake Placid or KHP but probably has a lot more availability. Personally I’d love Tryon. Never been but it looks lovely. However, Devon is 30 min down the road, so that’s my vote 
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That’s hilarious, I love this idea.
And yes, I’m all in for KHP—no way in hell I can get my husband to either WEC, but he likes Lexington.
