Here: http://www.iequine.com/events/2015/10/all-american-quarter-horse-congress/video_feeds/south-celeste
Currenty, it’s quite bad. These are the novices. I show Quarter Hoses, and this is embarrassing. Hoping it improves.
Eh, I don’t know. The ride I just saw wasn’t much different from those I’d expect see at our local A shows at a similar height. And some of the horses I’m seeing are quite nice. What I notice (even given the lack of a 2- gate system) is what a lag there sometimes is between horses. Total opposite of watching the Medal Finals yesterday. Yesterday, as the rider was exiting, the next was already in (I suppose 280 entries in a single day has that effect). Even with just a single gate, waiting 60 seconds here for someone to spin in trot circles a few more times in warmup would annoy the mess out of me. Again, not so different from the average A-show.
And the music!
It isn’t a huge surprise honestly, local shows many of these riders qualified in don’t offer courses like this. They are often under the program size and not really decorated so it’s easier to qualify. Your winning riders will have spent time on the open circuit showing hunters and will be more prepared.
You don’t have to qualiFy for the QH Congress, you just have to pay. A lot of underqualified people just go to say they went. That is why the classes are so big. The ones at the top are very good.
You do have to qualify to be on the youth teams (NYATT) but they don’t send over fences horses, just hunter under saddle. At least they didn’t when I was involved in that program in the nineties and I doubt they do now. The divisions used to be HUS, Western Pleasure, Horsemanship, Showmanship, Reining, Barrels, maybe Poles? Something like that. I went in Reining one year. Still have my jacket, wore it this morning to feed!
Whoops on my part then! You have to qualify for my breed circuit and I got it mixed up.
No worries! You do have to qualify for the AQHA World Show. It’s easy to get all the breed stuff mixed up, all the shows have different requirements.
Are you sure? I know with the APHA you have to qualify, but qualifying is extremely easy like enjoytheride pointed out. We put on an APHA show about 2.5 years ago and only one or two kids even entered. All you have to do to qualify is be “seen” by a number of judges. One kid had a refusal and the other fell off, but it still counted towards qualifying for APHA World Show.
The courses we had were maybe 2’3 and just a bunch of plain jane verticals. Nothing like what you see at Congress.
Yep. I took a five year old there and won the jumping once, he’d never showed at a quarter horse show before. The prizes were wonderful, took home a Crosby saddle. I wish I had made it back again but the horse is retired now.
http://www.quarterhorsecongress.com/download-the-congress-entry-book
Congress is not like the World Show. You do have to qualify for the World Show and it is not extremely easy because you have to get points, which means people have to show up and you have to actually beat them. There just aren’t that many shows that even hold over fences classes, much less fill them.
The flip side is that Congress is typically much bigger than the World Show. It’s an enormous show. My Reining class when I was a kid had a couple hundred horses in it. It’s just HUGE. The only class at the whole show that isn’t huge is…drum roll…the jumping. Woo hoo! Lucky for me, since my horse was young and not ready to be fast. We had the only double clear round.
My friends that show AQHA over fences know where everyone is going to be, though, and just go to those shows. It’s a small world. I think we have a few people here that are very experienced AQHA over fence people that can speak much more to the point than I can.
Dang, I wish I could pass off my solid paint as a QH! The APHA pretty much never has SPB over fences classes so we stick to open H/J shows.
Not a good thing to watch if you watched the Medal Finals yesterday. And, oh, the tails…
There are some very nice horses that go around at the World Show, some that even cross over and ribbon at the A’s. This is riding I’ve seen at lower level shows. A lot of it isn’t awful, and comparing this to medal finals is just silly.
For the love of Pete. It’s a Novice Rider Equitation class you’re discussing people! Taking that into consideration a lot of these riders at a non-qualifying show have not likely ever ridden over fences at a big show like Congress I’m not surprised you’re seeing some less than stellar rides. You’re very likely to not see top quality riders in this class unless it’s somebody sandbagging from the “real” hunter world going for the loot.
My daughter showed in the 13 & Under Youth Cutting in 2011 and ended up catch riding a horse and placed 3rd (yes I was very proud 
) but she was exhausted by the whole experience. Ride times in the arena are at all sorts of hours, so these kids might have been out at 3AM riding a couple night in a row just to really work their horses. There’s a lot to take into consideration.
[QUOTE=Madeline;8354823]
Not a good thing to watch if you watched the Medal Finals yesterday. And, oh, the tails…[/QUOTE]
I don’t mind watching the kids go. But I agree with the tails. I’m sorry, I know it’s touchy. But when they walk in the ring and the tail hits the horse’s belly every other stride, something is not looking right. But I don’t mind watching the kids, they’re trying their best.
I want to take some of these kids’ stirrups away :no: I did see a couple kind horses go around and they would make good pre child/adult and ch/ad hunters
Also…I have seen a ton trotting into the ring. Is that allowed? Not per USEF but I was curious as I don’t know a lot about the AQHA world in general
They look like beginner kids who are having fun riding at a bigger show. I hope they’re having a good time.
Surely none of us are perfect.
[QUOTE=reay6790;8354955]
Also…I have seen a ton trotting into the ring. Is that allowed? Not per USEF but I was curious as I don’t know a lot about the AQHA world in general[/QUOTE]
Once again, you just can not compare to two. Some horses and riders cross over into both, but most of them don’t. Their rule books are also very different. AQHA you have the option of what gate you want to enter in…
http://services2.aqha.com/iphonedev/www/sections/sectionIV/rules/464-483/476.html
I have no room to judge anyone’s eq or way of riding on a horse I don’t know and have never ridden. My horse looks easier in videos than he actually is. I’m sure a ton of people could arm-chair ride him until they actually attempted to get him around a course.
A ton of these people are ammies like us. Don’t compare apples to oranges.
The horses all look like packers that are in great condition, and the kids are obviously still learning. I think it’s great that they have the opportunity to compete in such a nice venue.
[QUOTE=Belmont;8354971]
Once again, you just can not compare to two. Some horses and riders cross over into both, but most of them don’t. Their rule books are also very different. AQHA you have the option of what gate you want to enter in…
http://services2.aqha.com/iphonedev/www/sections/sectionIV/rules/464-483/476.html
I have no room to judge anyone’s eq or way of riding on a horse I don’t know and have never ridden. My horse looks easier in videos than he actually is. I’m sure a ton of people could arm-chair ride him until they actually attempted to get him around a course.
A ton of these people are ammies like us. Don’t compare apples to oranges.[/QUOTE]
That’s why I asked if it was legal or not 
I am only familiar with USEF rules, not AQHA eq. I figured it would be relatively similar.
I am an ammy who doesn’t do eq anymore. My equitation in the ring is not very pretty. I also figured a lot of these people are using this as a warm up for the hunters. I just see some unstable positions which makes me a wee bit nervous. Not trying to compare apples to oranges. I’ve seen some lovely horses and some solid rides.
Considering the first class was the Novice division and the 13 and under just finished, you all who are being judgmental can cut them some slack right? I just caught the last 4 of the 13 and under, and while none of them will likely be winning pony finals, they didn’t do all that bad from what I saw. Keep in mind a lot of them haven’t been riding the silver spoon circuit since lead line with a top hunter trainer. 
