Sonoma Park Ceases to be under USEF
Interesting. Wondering if they’ll join WEC and do Snaffle Bitt Assoc? Will USEF care?
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I didn’t realize the mileage rule was different in different parts of the country. How is all of Northern California only allowed to have one show when there are A shows scattered 3 or 4 hours apart every weekend on the East coast?
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Good for them. It’s nice to see USEF have to sweat a bit and maybe actually have to listen to the competitors and competition venues instead of just ignoring everyone.
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I understand their frustration as we have a few hundred miles to get out of the state, but when talking numbers it is best to have the data correct.
there are more than two states with greater populations than the Northern California Megaregion
Northern California Megaregion comprises 164 cities, 21 counties, and four regions — the greater San Francisco Bay Area, the Monterey Bay area, the Sacramento area, and the Northern San Joaquin Valley. The Megaregion accounts for 31.5% of California’s population, totaling 12.7 million people .
- California (Population: 39,613,493)
- Texas (Population: 29,730,311)
- Florida (Population: 21,944,577)
- New York (Population: 19,299,981)
- Pennsylvania (Population: 12,804,123)
with number six right there in the ball park
6. Illinois (Population: 12,569,321)
Uh, there are more than 48 states in the US (they state 46 states smaller than their ares). Based on your numbers, they were off by 1.
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https://www.usef.org/forms-pubs/_wkXxv2A1WA/gr3-competition-licensing
and scroll down to GR 314.
Different in zones 1 and 2 vs 3 thru 12 vs FL in winter.
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From what I understand, they didn’t have much choice since their current show dates shifted with show runner up to Sacramento, which would block them out.
I agree that mileage rule in CA seems rather ridiculous. Having 1 A show option for that whole area seems quite radical. California is expensive enough without forcing people to trek all over the Northern Region for weeks at a time. There are more than enough barns and horses to keep 2 shows going up there, given that you can still get Oregon, Idaho, and NV people to also come over, as well as Southwest folks from Utah and CO.
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I applaud them. Being in Oregon there are very few quality shows available and nice shows sell out early. There is a need for more quality shows and a need for some level of competition that stimulates improvements.
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Based on the Chronicle article, https://www.chronofhorse.com/article/ceo-sonoma-wont-run-usef-shows-until-mileage-rule-changes, it appears that the now-former SHP show manager decamped to Murietta (near Sacramento) with “her” dates.
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decamping with dates is not a new ploy, saw that in the 80s in my region
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Wow, that will change the landscape quite a bit. I do think there are enough barns in each of those areas to fill out a show the same week as the other, easy. I also wouldn’t mind some more unrecognized shows in the area run well at nice facilities, if that’s what we end up getting.
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There are definitely enough horses around to support two big shows, and indeed, if you want to grow and support horse sport here in Northern California, having both those venues offering shows would be a great way to do so. There are mountains between them and people in the Central Valley would love to stay in their region and people in the north coast would love to stay in theirs. Not forcing local people to travel would probably increase equestrian participation overall.
On top of that, both venues are strong enough to draw people from southern California or out of state.
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I agree that No Cal can support two shows but where are the mountains between SHP and MEC? Pretty flat between Sonoma and Sacramento….
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Only because you’re driving around them. 
Admittedly I come from the north so they’re a much bigger barrier to me. If you’re going to Murietta from Santa Rosa, for example, you have to drive past the Sonoma Horse Park.
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Ha, I wondered about this too. I guess from Santa Rosa it could be a straight shot if it weren’t for the hills where Lake Berryessa is. But yeah, from SHP proper to MEC is pretty flat.
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They’ve announced NSBA affiliation going forward
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I would go to these shows. Are they close, well run and fun? That’s for me.
Federation rating counts , to me, if I felt I was good enough to consider myself HOY /zone/regional champion potential etc etc.
The true reality of myself and 75% of the others is that we are the great unwashed in the middle.
Just want to have fun
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Good. It’s been proven over and over competition is good for business and good for customers. USEF is a ‘business’ and for a long time they didn’t need to do anything to keep their customers. The customers (competitors) had one choice. Now there’s two choices, and it should, in theory, make it so both listen to us more and actually focus on the issues the client base cares about. And possibly drive down costs. Though that one is probably a pipe dream in horse sports 
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Oh I’m so happy USEF is gonna have some competition
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Sadly, it isn’t just about the USEF. It is also about the IOC and FEI. They created rules that required a single National Governing Body for the entire sport (remember it used to be separated USET and AHSA). This resulted in massive creep away from local/regional governance to one that is predominantly focused on international competition and teams.
Given the size of the US and the variations of regional competition, they lost sight of what the base competition really is about. As this progresses, there will come a schism that will probably put the entire international competitiveness of the US at risk, e.g. they lose control of being the NGB. I’m good with that. I would prefer the FEI also get burned to the ground too.
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