JWC sr.
Well-Known Member
I started this thread from a thought provoked by another thread.
What is the general opinion of the importance of Youth and Amateur classes to the overall success of the two registries in "Your Opinion"?
No wrong or right answers on this one, I would just like to know what you think!!!
I will go ahead and give you mine to get it started:
1. Youth classes are the most important part of shows as this is where the majority of growth can be attributed to.
As an example Grandma/Grandpa or Mom/Dad want little Betty and Johnny to spend time with them and animals. They are introduced to small equine an buy 1 or 2 to get the kids going and thru whatever programs they can find on a local club or registry basis they start exhibiting. A win for breeders who sell the horses, a win for the respective registry, a win for the kids, a win for the grandparents/parents and a win for the local club in my opinion.
2. Amateur classes are the second most important in that the same group of Grandparents/Parents& kids, the adults think it looks like fun and start to show. In the AMMY ring they run into stiff competition from "professional amateurs" and decide to try and become competitive, so they need better horses in some cases and acquire horses for themselves. Again a win for all concerned.
I personally believe a large amount of the advertising budget of both registries should be spent on things such as Youth programs/awards, ammy awards and promoting new shows in virgin or forgotten areas to attract these type people. We need them and the only way we are going to get them is to have a strong local based well thought out program for them to participate in and then we have to scour 4-H clubs, FFA chapters, other breed functions and anywhere else we can think of to get them. The other breeds are doing it and we need ot fight fire with fire so to speak by putting money where it will benefit the overall industry as much as possible.
I also think we should have grands for both divisions madatory at each and every show that is sanctioned. Additionally, the classes need to be broken down as per age for the kids and levels of experience of the amateurs. I knwo we have some break down now, but it needs to be more difinitive.
If that means beacuse of the number of other classes we offer we have to delete some of the ones that are not used regularily then so be it. For instance the model classes could go away, they are seldom used at most shows except as an afterthought by most exhibitors.
Yes the open classes are always going to hold the honors for being the most competitive and toughest place to win. But they by no means should overshadow the importance of the Youth and Amateur classes.
What is the general opinion of the importance of Youth and Amateur classes to the overall success of the two registries in "Your Opinion"?
No wrong or right answers on this one, I would just like to know what you think!!!
I will go ahead and give you mine to get it started:
1. Youth classes are the most important part of shows as this is where the majority of growth can be attributed to.
As an example Grandma/Grandpa or Mom/Dad want little Betty and Johnny to spend time with them and animals. They are introduced to small equine an buy 1 or 2 to get the kids going and thru whatever programs they can find on a local club or registry basis they start exhibiting. A win for breeders who sell the horses, a win for the respective registry, a win for the kids, a win for the grandparents/parents and a win for the local club in my opinion.
2. Amateur classes are the second most important in that the same group of Grandparents/Parents& kids, the adults think it looks like fun and start to show. In the AMMY ring they run into stiff competition from "professional amateurs" and decide to try and become competitive, so they need better horses in some cases and acquire horses for themselves. Again a win for all concerned.
I personally believe a large amount of the advertising budget of both registries should be spent on things such as Youth programs/awards, ammy awards and promoting new shows in virgin or forgotten areas to attract these type people. We need them and the only way we are going to get them is to have a strong local based well thought out program for them to participate in and then we have to scour 4-H clubs, FFA chapters, other breed functions and anywhere else we can think of to get them. The other breeds are doing it and we need ot fight fire with fire so to speak by putting money where it will benefit the overall industry as much as possible.
I also think we should have grands for both divisions madatory at each and every show that is sanctioned. Additionally, the classes need to be broken down as per age for the kids and levels of experience of the amateurs. I knwo we have some break down now, but it needs to be more difinitive.
If that means beacuse of the number of other classes we offer we have to delete some of the ones that are not used regularily then so be it. For instance the model classes could go away, they are seldom used at most shows except as an afterthought by most exhibitors.
Yes the open classes are always going to hold the honors for being the most competitive and toughest place to win. But they by no means should overshadow the importance of the Youth and Amateur classes.
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