http://www.pleasurehorse.com/latest-news/aqha-equipment-rules
I think it’s official that AQHA has lost their friggin minds…
First two questions that come to mind:
They can’t enforce the hundreds of rules already on the books, so what makes them think that these will be any different?
Who is responsible for enforcing these rules? Show managers who are already getting pulled in a million different directions if they are doing their job correctly? Are shows going to have to now have a steward, which will increase the cost to exhibitors?
It will be interesting to watch the warmup ring at Congress.
Why would this be so hard to enforce? This stuff is prohibited at dressage shows and I don’t recall a problem with enforcement.
I wish the Arabian shows had the same rules. I have seen Arabian western pleasure horses being warmed up in a bumper bit with draw reins hooked between the front legs at U.S. Nationals (then switched to a regulation bridle just before the amateur got on and went into the ring).
I had no idea AQHA recognized shows were not required to have a steward on the grounds. All USEF shows do, and IMO that is how it should be, a person present on the show grounds with no other interest but enforcing the rule book.
[QUOTE=HappyTalk;6562288]
It will be interesting to watch the warmup ring at Congress.
Why would this be so hard to enforce? This stuff is prohibited at dressage shows and I don’t recall a problem with enforcement.[/QUOTE]
Right now only a select handful of shows have a steward on the grounds paid by AQHA. That is where $4 of the AQHA Processing Fee paid per horse/judge at shows goes towards. (The other $1 is the Drug Testing piece of the fee) It will now have to become the Show Manager’s job to police the warm up rings for this now illegal equipment. Bigger shows basically run 24 hours a day over 4-7 days…so that means more people have to be hired to fill this role during the show which will increase the costs passed onto the exhibitors.
When what allegedly happened at the Reichert Celebration recently with reportedly AQHA and NSBA stewards on the show grounds, what hopes do we have to police all of this at smaller shows that cannot afford the staff? A Show Manager cannot sit at a warm up pen 24/7 while the show is going on…and many shows have multiple warm up pens.
I guess all I see with this change is something that sounds good, but in real like is not totally enforceable…to me it would have made more sense to look at the rules already out there and find a way to enforce them rather than just add more.
I sent a letter to the Show Committee and Prof Horseman’s Committee years ago that resulted in one Prof Horseman on the grounds at each show being asked to act as an ‘exhibitors rep’. That was not exactly popular with the Prof Horsemen, as they had to grow a pair. But that is who should police their own shows and speak to people riding with illegal equipment.
My personal opinion is that AQHA needs to correct what is being placed at the shows (young horses being allowed to act like young horses, for starters) instead of making rules against all the little ways people achieve what is now being placed.
I would gladly pay a few dollars more to make it tougher on the abusive trainers. I wish AQHA would hire some of the battle-hardened USEF stewards along with the current ex and current judges newly approved as stewards, many of whom also still show and need to not make enemies. Sigh.
When what allegedly happened at the Reichert Celebration recently with reportedly AQHA and NSBA stewards on the show grounds…
What allegedly happened?
if it costs a little more you can blame everyone who ever warmed a horse up in a metal bosal on a metal headstall in draw reins. At least padded horses are only ridden for about 20 minutes. The QHs get ridden and drilled into the ground.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7ryGEljjz0&feature=player_embedded
[QUOTE=katarine;6562788]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7ryGEljjz0&feature=player_embedded[/QUOTE]
What is this? What am I watching? Besides the obvious, of course … I can’t even fathom. When did trantering and not going forward become the “norm” for WP?
Wow. Just … wow.
That is a warm up pen at the 2011 Reichert Celebration. Disgusting.
that’s the best name for it- Disgustering.
And no one would ride like that if the results weren’t WINNING.
Like Charlie Sheen.
WINNING.
Videos like that are why I’m amazed that anyone is ever shocked at abuse stories coming out of the pleasure world (or TWH world etc). That’s what’s happening AT THE SHOW. Imagine behind the barn.
Ugh! If you can make it through this whole video you’ve got a stronger will than I do.
http://horsetrainingchannel.com/clinics/free-training-lateral-exercises/
Watch the little 2 year old… poor filly.
But these are the normal training schemes for some trainers…
Haven’t looked at either video, but both seem to be addressing riding issues. What is AQHA doing about the stuff that [used to] goes on in the stalls/barn area?
Carol
I’m surprised as well that there is not a steward on the grounds at pointed shows. I don’t understand all the pulling on the horse’s mouth to get the head down. The trainer I ride with has the horses in the bridle with the head up in a normal position with a snaffle bit, as if you are doing advanced dressage or equitation type flat work (which we do). When you drop the head, the horse naturally wants to stretch his head down and out. If you are constantly yanking the horse’s head down, it wants to pick it up.
Watching the Reichert Celebration video makes me feel sore just watching those poor horses. :mad:
The problem with competing 2 - 3yr olds is that everything has to be a quick, mechanical fix instead of building up muscle in the youngster so he/she can properly carry their own body mass/rider weight.
This sh-t absolutely disgusts me. Why do the rated shows reward horses that look like they’re going shovel their heads into the ground and collapse dead? Or reward crappy, unbalanced 4-beat canters where the horse looks like it’s barely able to pick up and move its back feet more than an inch?
I get that WP is supposed to be slow – its to show off how comfortable the horse is to ride (or at least that’s what it used to be) – not to show off how LAME you can make your horse look.
You can have slow, CORRECT, and collected by allowing the horse to use its full body and help him develop the carriage it takes to do so.
[QUOTE=propspony;6563443]
Ugh! If you can make it through this whole video you’ve got a stronger will than I do.
http://horsetrainingchannel.com/clinics/free-training-lateral-exercises/
Watch the little 2 year old… poor filly.
But these are the normal training schemes for some trainers…[/QUOTE]
Well, duh, that’s Cleve Wells of broken-jaw-and-bloody-infected-spur-tracks fame. Who is surprised? Yet he is still a hero in the AQHA world and makes tons of money. AQHA is not trying to stop abuse - they are trying to hide it so that the public doesn’t have a cow. The owners who put their horses with people like Cleve, who have a well documented history of horrific abuse, are to blame and they don’t want anything to change.
exactly! What’s so sad is that these are his “toned down, acceptable” training methods.
Well, maybe dressage will have a further positive influence on western showing and teach them how to do bit checks. We have people at shows who do nothing but check the bit as the horse enters the arena. If we can have such a person at our local shows, surely great big Congress or whatever shows can get a volunteer who isn’t under the influence of someone in “power” who has a hidden agenda.
I don’t know why it’s such a big issue. Get a volunteer to check each bit.
No big deal.
Now, if we could just get someone to do something similiar at Big Lick “celebrations” …
bit checks are required at reining shows, they usually do a full bridle drop
and while it is very rare they can do bit checks at AQHA shows and they do have illegal bits as well
At each AQHA show judges are required to drop bits in at least one class (rule 438a (11))…many times they pick one Western and one Huntseat class to check them.
