I heard a rumor that there has been a shake up at ACTHA. I was planning on getting involved in doing some rides with them this year, but I don’t want to get into something on shaky ground either. Specifically I heard that the Biltmore in North Carolina would no longer be associated with them. And that there was an apparent shake up with the board/officers in which everyone was fired except the president?
Has anyone else heard what’s going on with that organization?
Nope, but I did an ACTHA ride at Frying Pan Park once and it was the most disorganized and poorly run event ever.
I think they’re the organization that doesn’t allow boots of any kind, except of course hoof boots. I was actually told that since my horse had an over stride and needed bell boots to ensure that he didn’t injure himself when he got going, that he was an inferior specimen. Unless of course I purchased hoof boots, to serve the same function. Then he was no longer inferior somehow.
I have never heard the bell boot thing, and you can even win bell boots at some of the rides, although they do have the hoof boot Cavallo as a sponsor.
I do know that the property I went to for ACTHA rides had some issues with money not being paid to them and separated from the organization. Organizers all over have not been paid for hosting some of their rides, and riders have not received last year’s awards. There is a big shake up in the organization and right now its future is up in the air. The original founder of ACTHA separated from the group and has now started ETS, Equine Trail Sports, and they are allowing ACTHA riders to transfer points over.
I’ve shown successfully for a few years with ACTHA, even won a state division year end award back in 2012. I have enjoyed it - there has been some discrepancies with the judging and scoring, but nothing that kept me unhappy enough not to continue to compete. I just haven’t had the horse for it anymore. I didn’t know you couldn’t use bell boots - I swear I’ve seen people use bell boots before…
I think the president is the founder and runs it with her husband.
The concept of what they do always sounded interesting to me, but I will not participate with ANY organization that sponsors HSUS, which they do.
I may be thinking of another competitive trail organization. This was a few years ago. There is one that doesn’t allow any boots aside from hoof boots.
[QUOTE=Hampton Bay;8509672]
I may be thinking of another competitive trail organization. This was a few years ago. There is one that doesn’t allow any boots aside from hoof boots.[/QUOTE]
I looked on the website and it doesn’t say either way if bell boots are allowed. But it does say that Protective Sport Boots are allowed.
It’s probably ECTRA that you are thinking of that doesn’t allow boots.
This is an excerpt from the ECTRA rulebook:
“All types of sole of hoof protection are permissible in all sanctioned divisions; attachment strap, keeper or gaiter MAY NOT extend above the pastern. The judges may request to observe the area covered by the attached strap, keeper or gaiter at any time.
Devices which serve strictly as leg protection are not permitted (a leg being defined as all structures above and including the coronet band). Examples of these devices include, but are not limited to, bell boots, splint boots, wraps or any device that was not manufactured to hold the sole protection in place.”
How very strange, why would they not allow bell boots or anything like that?
[QUOTE=classicrocky;8509985]
How very strange, why would they not allow bell boots or anything like that?[/QUOTE]
In NATRC, which is another competitive trail group I’ve competed in, they prohibit boots because a horse that strikes itself would get points off. Theory being that you’re looking for long-term soundness – a horse that interferes would have a harder time with that.
I’m sorry to hear there are problems with ACTHA, I hope they can be resolved. I just joined last year and did three arena challenges and I was hoping to do more this year. They are a little expensive but it is nice to have results online with judges comments. There aren’t many events like this near me but it seemed like they were increasing.
I also have seperate events run by the NY horse council and they are much cheaper and just as fun.
I just noticed that on top of their FAQ page on the website it reads,
"ACTHA LIVES! Details later today (1/20/16)
But I haven’t seen them publish any details. Weird.
I belonged for a couple of years and did some rides. I was dissatisfied with the scoring system and lack of feed back. It is hard to learn or improve if you’re not sure what you are doing wrong. The riding club I belong to tried to put on a ride and there was some kind of problem to the point that the club nixed the ride.
I just looked at upcoming events at both the ACTHA and ETS website. What is interesting is both websites reflect rides for the same venue and dates.
In my area ETS is picking up the dates vacated by ACTHA.
[QUOTE=Hampton Bay;8509672]
I may be thinking of another competitive trail organization. This was a few years ago. There is one that doesn’t allow any boots aside from hoof boots.[/QUOTE]
NATRC does not allow any boots besides hoof boots.
Recently heard ACTHA was finished.
[QUOTE=airhorse;8520362]
Recently heard ACTHA was finished.[/QUOTE]
Where did you hear this? I can’t tell anything from the website. On a side note I wish there was a general website that listed any and all obstacle challenges, something like hunter paces have. I only just recently realized that the PA Horse Expo does a trail challenge.
I did an ACTHA ride once- that was more than enough to turn me off on them.
Now ECTRA and NATRC are totally different animals than ACTHA and neither of them allow boots other than hoofboots for their competitions.
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