AMHR 10 Years and Older Senior Halter Class

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JMS Miniatures

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I think this is a interesting proposal and can't wait to see how it will be decided.

Section XIII 1.7 PG 9

Add or Delete: Add

Veteran stallions, geldings, and mares, age 10 and older may be shown in either Veteran class or the appropriate Aged class. First and second place Veterans are eligible for the Senior Championship class. If a veteran goes Senior Champion or Reserve, it then is qualified for the Grand Champion and Reserve Class.

Effective Date: 01/01/2013

Committees Referred: AMHR, Rules
 
We have talked about this idea before, might encourage people to bring out older horses and keep showing them.

Jan
 
I usually only show older horses...

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This yr I showed a 14 yr old sr broodmare. Did ok at fun shows, but not AMHR.

Even with conditioning, she was out of shape (not pencil thin) and even had a foal this yr. She had no chance up against younger more fit mares.

Would be nice if older horses go against their own age group.
 
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Hope they add this as I have a 10 year old gelding I'd like to continue showing and he enjoys it too, would love to have a more level playing field to show him against.
 
In general, I don't go along with more classes, but in this case I think it is a great idea. I plan to show a former broodmare (9 pregnancies, 6 live foals) next year and I think ti would be great to encourage more older horses. The plan is for her to be my next all around mini! Of course, I also LOVE the AMHR Golden Age classes for us older humans!
 
I, too, hope this passes. I've always bemoaned the fact that a 3-year-old is considered senior in AMHR/AMHA, and that most horses "disappear" after that age. Even a well-conditioned mature horse has a different body than the young whipper-snappers, so I think this would encourage many to keep their horses in the show ring -- especially with geldings.
 
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lnteresting and a really good proposal that hopefully would pass...
 
I guess I'm different. The only place I see this as a good idea is for mares because the more dials they have they less body control they have. However I don't see the class being that big. I think it's just more added time. I have seen many senior horses kick the young guys butt then not.
 
I am actually for this class. The older horses (over 5 yrs for example) just look more mature than the 3 yr olds. I think more people would take out the older horses (many people don't show performance for whatever reason) and show them at halter if they had a class geared towards their older halter horses.
 
Why 10? Seems a tad old. Full size horses mature halter is 5 or 7... I'd say a seven year old looks just as mature as a ten year old... But should show against a three year old instead in this case?
 
I love this proposal! Great idea! But, I agree Disneyhorse, age at 5 or 7. But, even at 10yrs, I would still support it!
 
I'm with Ashley on this one. We really don't have the ability to add much if any more classes to Nationals - we can't add extra days beyond what we have right now from what I'm told - the facility just doesn't have them available. Plus as Ashley said the older horses can and do win in Halter. Look at JC's Jenga - National Grand as a 3 year old and then again as a 12 year old. Rhapsody's Absolute Elegance was National Grand as a 6 year old AFTER raising a foal. And these are only the ones I can think of off the top of my head, I'm sure there are many more.

I also think 10 is a tad old - if it were in line with the Shetland option which is an optional 3&4 year old and an optional 5 and older class it would make more sense to me.

Just to put it in perspective a little that older animals can go national grand the Congress Grand Champion Modern Under Mare this year was 21. The Congress Grand Champion Modern Stallion Over this year was 13. The Congress Grand Champion Modern Over mare in 2010 won as a broodmare with a foal at side at the age of 17. Same mare turned around and won it again in 2011 at age 18. So I don't think it isn't that older animals, even older breeding animals can't be competative. I think it might be more of a mental roadblock for a lot of people.
 
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To no disrespect to the horses who have won that you mentioned but it's hard to compare the winners of those classes when we are talking about the size class difference. Under Moderns there were only 2 in 3 years and older, 1 in 1 year old, and 2 in foal of current year. The one who was Reserve was a yearling. The Modern Stallion, Over classes 3 in 3 years old and older, and 2 in 1 year olds. Both Grand and Reserve Modern Stallions were Sr. horses.

Now lets compare those numbers at AMHR Nationals:

Gelding, 3 and older, 30" and under - 7

Gelding, 3 and older, 30" to 32" - 17

Gelding, 3 and older, 32-34" - 26

Gelding, 3 and older, 34"-36" - 19

Gelding, 3 and older, 36" to 38" - 17

Mares, 3 and older, 28" and under - 5

Mares, 3 and older, 28" to 30" - 7

Mares, 3 and older, 30" to 32" - 16

Mares, 3 and older, 32" to 34" - 28

Mares, 3 and older, 34" to 36" - 12

Mares, 3 and older, 36" to 38" - 23

Stallions, 3 and older, 28" and under - 6

Stallions, 3 and older, 28" to 30" - 10

Stallions, 3 and older, 30" to 32" - 19

Stallions, 3 and older, 32" to 34" - 22

Stallions, 3 and older 34" to 36" - 18

Stallions, 3 and older, 36" to 38" - 13

The only problem I see with this rule is you see all those height classes going to have to add another class for each height class. That might be more then what we could handle. My thinking was oh boy this would be great but after typing all those classes down we may be going over our heads lol. I also see 10 might be a big number, 5 years and older sounds reasonable to me and 5 years is considered Sr. horses in the full size horse world. IMO what we are facing isn't a age issue it's more so having halter classes available to those who don't have the shetland factor. Like you mentioned above the 2 horses that won National Grand that are older horses are shetlands. I would personally like to see a type division class before we add a age class. We do have something in front of us and that's the draft type halter class which was introduced at Nationals this year and I think it did very well with entries.

Gelding Draft Halter - 8

Mare Draft Halter - 4

Stallion Draft Halter - 2

Yes those classes aren't huge but you got to remember you have to show in a draft driving class and it would be hard to show multiple horses unless you can show them in a team set up, but it was also last minute planning, you have your wagons your harnesses and that of course is money some people didn't have. I think the class could do better if driving in a draft driving class wasn't required but I understand why but you are still limiting your entries. I would like to see these classes be placed before another age class. But thats JMO. Being at Convention I will listen to all arguments but after typing this out and thinking about it before I was for it but now I don't see the reason to have it as we aren't fighting an age issue it's a type issue.
 
I honestly dont see a need for it. Around here it is offered as a non rated class at some shows and the horses that won in it also did extremely well in the regular classes, one was even res grand, and our class sizes were very good size. Our older stallions generally look just as good or better than our younger ones simply because they are matured and done going through growth stages. I would rather see Broodmare (wet) made as a required class as they actually carry foals and lose their figures from that and have a much harder time competing than a breeding stallion would. Not all mares can get their figures back as quickly as others especially with older broodmares.
 
I like the idea! It keeps the older horses out showing longer I think. We could also as a test pilot just have 2 classes - do a 34" and under and an over 34" to 38" and see how the entries fare. If there is a need we could always break it down a bit further. I am sure we can accomodate that.
 

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