I think you need to switch to a discipline that is not judged solely on your horse then. I hear what you are saying but there is a reason the AA hunters are nicknamed The Checkbook Olympics.
Try the jumpers. It’s more fun anyway.
12 Likes
Truer words rarely spoken 
Who’s faster or closest to OT and are the rails up = winner.
4 Likes
I really like how you worded this. I’ve been mulling over a similar response but the words were just not coming out right. Divvying out more ammy divisions/restricting classes based on the resources you have (be it time, talent, or money) that make you more successful in the ring seems pretty counter to the point of competing. If we all only compete against people who are exactly at our station in life, what’s the point of a competition at all? I don’t really understand the impulse, tbh, and I’m one of those scrappy workaday ammies trying to make it work on a limited budget.
10 Likes
The “level the playing field in the AA hunters” or “get rid of the pro am in the AA hunters” has been argued and screamed about for so long. I had a very cheap thoroughbred in the early 2000s who won everything for me. Seattle Slew baby, so he was all Tbred. He moved beautifully and jumped a ten (but only at 3’). I beat the rich folks in the hack and over fences a lot. At the end of the day, you have to find 8 fences and get the lead changes to win. Do that and you will. You could be riding Tori Colvin’s International Derby winner and if you don’t get the leads and make the jumps, you just won’t win. Dividing it by pro rides or rider income isn’t going to fix the fact that you have to get the leads and jump the fences. Years ago, the mom of the local BNT rode her daughter’s 3’6” hunter (who won everything in the pro divisions with the daughter), in the Long stirrup. She won, she lost. Depended on whether she got the leads and did the jumps. It is helpful to have a gorgeous horse that the judge loves, but there are lovely horses at every price, you just have to find them. Just saying. . . . .
9 Likes
It’s funny that I never hear that the pony/junior hunter/childrens’ hunter moms have similar complaints.
2 Likes
Hahaha, you may be right. I have known some big eq moms who were outraged that they couldn’t buy the 6 figure big eq horses for the kids, and even more outraged that they couldn’t have a string. The kids were much less concerned over it, oddly enough.
2 Likes
It’s entirely possible that I’m missing the point entirely. I’ll admit to only having read some of this topic.
I do understand what you’re saying that if a rider is trying to qualify for 3’ AA championships that the horse should only show 2’9 to 3’3. Do any limits exist now where an AA can only qualify for 3’ championships, or can they also qualify for 3’6 (if such a championship exists)?
I think at the end of the day there are a still a lot of discrepancies that can’t be remedied simply by adding more rules. My OTTB mare, while she is fabulous, isn’t going to place against a group of nice WBs. Some people only have a budget for 1-2 lessons a week and a handful of shows a year. Some horses are getting no training rides. Some people are in full training, plus they show multiple weekends a month. I just don’t think there is a way to make a level playing field in equestrian sports in general and sadly, I don’t think in this economic climate, it’s possible to make horses more accessible in general. I think horses are going to continue to become less accessible to your average person and the gap between the top and the bottom of the sport is only going to become larger.
11 Likes
