The indoor finals are a goal of mine in the next couple years with my hunter. Watching the livestream today and thinking about what I need to do to prepare and qualify. It’s a bit overwhelming and I was wondering… does anyone have a sort of master list on how/what you have to do to qualify for each of the major finals with a hunter? Capital Challenge, Harrisburg, Washington, and Kentucky.
Capital Challenge you do not have to qualify for.
Harrisburg: points from your 15 best shows from August 16th, 2021 to August 14th, 2022; 25 per section
Washington: points from your 15 best shows from September 1st, 2021 to August 31st, 2022; see prize list for how many per section
Kentucky: points from your 15 best shows from August 31st, 2021 to August 30th, 2022; approx. 15 per section
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Far as preparation, you need guidance from a good trainer who has BTDT. Not just for at home coaching but to help you pick the right shows and classes to get you trained up and qualified.
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Thank you this is super helpful! I think if I’m remembering correctly Washington requires a separate membership? Do any of the others?
WIHS only needs membership if you are trying to quality for the Adult Hunters. If that’s the case, join, show in the WIHS classics, and be top 30ish in the standings. You can do this the same way for NAL finals, which are hosted at Capital Challenge.
If you are going for AOs, then no, no separate membership.
If you are going for the Adult Hunters, one possible goal is to qualify for NAL Adult Hunter Finals held at Cap. Challenge, Qualifying comes from how well you do in the NAL/WIHS Hunter Classics at regular horse shows. If you are able to win several classics with a good number of entires, that would probably be enough. A friend qualified and did well in the finals with only going to 7-8 A shows. In terms of the AOs, it is more difficult. It requires a lot of showing all year long. You don’t necessarily need to be champion at all these shows or most of them, but you need to be in the mix at a good number of shows 13-15 something like that in my experience.
Regarding Washington, it may be a little more difficult to get in there going forward. Now that they have relocated the show outside of the city to a more horse friendly location, there may be more people who will want to attend.
In previous years, there have been a lot of exhibitors who passed on that one due to the logistics involved in the downtown location.
I agree! Though it is curious as to why they took so few Amateurs this year, for instance. They took only about 12 olders, but many junior hunters, for instance. Does that have to do with taking a certain proportion of those applied? I haven’t been able to figure it out. Some have been saying that this is nice in terms of having a better chance of getting a ribbon, a chance to jog (I agree!), but a little strange nevertheless.
Thanks, you’re all very helpful. Since there is no qualifying criteria for Capital Challenge, are entries literally first come first serve? If so how early do you have to send in entries to get in?
There is a date that the entries open for Capital Challenge. If I wanted to go, I would certainly submit my entries online on that date.
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I heard there was a lot of issues over entering this year. Sounds like they opened entries 24 hours in advance to trainers/barns/individuals that had sponsored something related to the show - division, class, etc. Issue was that they didn’t advertise this early entry policy. There were quite a few notable trainers who were waitlisted despite entering quite early in the morning on the day entries opened.
It’s a pretty big deal to host WCHR finals but then create this pay-to-play entry system. It locked out people who had qualified for WCHR finals…WCHR isn’t really a national final if you don’t permit everyone qualified to attend, eh? Not sure who all got involved but they ended up letting in a lot off the waitlist, possibly all. I think we’re going to see a different entry policy next year.
Yes, some from the PNW didn’t get in because they didn’t sponsor. Sure this happened to others. Cap Challenge took their entries/money and didn’t alert that them to a waitlist. Lots of people had already booked hotels, flights, flights for horses, etc, then found out on very short notice that they didn’t get in. I am taking about top named trainers that go every year. Total fiasco. My friends trainer in SoCal got in because they sponsored an ice cream social LOL.
It’s really important to know what division you intend to qualify for, that makes a big difference.
