Just curious to see what everyone opinions were.
Splitting the Amateur classes will give some breathing room for the newer exhibitor but will not exclude the horses that are handed off from the trainer to the Level 1 or 2 exhibitor. I've noticed more and more trainer horses in Amateur classes in the past few years. The same horse can compete in Amateur level 1 as well as Amateur level 2 with a different handler.
Adding AOTE will keep out the trainer conditioned horses and anyone else that uses non-family members to condition or prep their show horses. Policing it is difficult and has to be run more on honor system then anything. Already there are some eyebrows raised by a AMHA AOTE exhibitor showing horses for someone else at AMHR Nationals.
Keeping it the same has it's benefits and it's costs. Either above option will add something like 42 classes to Nationals, that's more than a day. On the other hand there are plenty that growing tired of getting swallowed up by the vastness that is Amateur classes. Few classes are larger than Amateur. Amateurs endure no height breaks as well as no age divisions for the Jr horses. I've watched plenty of horses get the gate in Amateur that went on to win Grand or Reserve in their Open division with their trainer on the lead. That's how tough amateur is, a huge compliment not a complaint.
There is no sour grapes, no wailing to the bleachers here. I've placed in both Amateur and Open (and AOTE) and was thrilled. It was just a curiosity thing more than anything....granted if I can make the poll thing work.
Splitting the Amateur classes will give some breathing room for the newer exhibitor but will not exclude the horses that are handed off from the trainer to the Level 1 or 2 exhibitor. I've noticed more and more trainer horses in Amateur classes in the past few years. The same horse can compete in Amateur level 1 as well as Amateur level 2 with a different handler.
Adding AOTE will keep out the trainer conditioned horses and anyone else that uses non-family members to condition or prep their show horses. Policing it is difficult and has to be run more on honor system then anything. Already there are some eyebrows raised by a AMHA AOTE exhibitor showing horses for someone else at AMHR Nationals.
Keeping it the same has it's benefits and it's costs. Either above option will add something like 42 classes to Nationals, that's more than a day. On the other hand there are plenty that growing tired of getting swallowed up by the vastness that is Amateur classes. Few classes are larger than Amateur. Amateurs endure no height breaks as well as no age divisions for the Jr horses. I've watched plenty of horses get the gate in Amateur that went on to win Grand or Reserve in their Open division with their trainer on the lead. That's how tough amateur is, a huge compliment not a complaint.
There is no sour grapes, no wailing to the bleachers here. I've placed in both Amateur and Open (and AOTE) and was thrilled. It was just a curiosity thing more than anything....granted if I can make the poll thing work.
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