Special Needs showing/AMHA rules

[nootka]

A friend of mine who shows special needs sent me a report of their experience at a Championship (AMHA) show.

I, for one, am embarassed about how they were treated:

"Thursday was open halter, then Ammy. I felt a little braver after the last show, and my horse and I showed our hearts out. All season I've had a second handler go in the ring with me, to assist with teeth and setting up. Well, I guess two of the judges questioned this AFTER we were done and waiting for placing. They radioed (I do not know WHO they radio'ed but was told it was NOT the president) and asked if this was okay AND HE SAID NO!!!!! So, instead of disqualifying me, they just knocked a few points off. So, my horse lost to horses we've been beating AT AMHA-SANCTIONED SHOWS all year! It was humiliating, hurtful, frustrating, and bewildering to leave the ring with a seventh when we would've gotten reserve or third.

Ammy was a few classes later, and we got seventh again... my horse wasn't standing properly because no one was allowed to assist me.

Then another "person" tells me (in a 20 minute rant) that I shouldn't be showing in open or ammy, only special needs. When I pointed out all the Grands my horse has gotten with ME showing her AT AMHA-SANCTIONED SHOWS, she ignored me.

I spent $1500 for THIS????????

Got to the show on Friday around noon and joined the circle of chairs/people at the barn, and D nonchalantly mentions he spoke with the complainter. At this point, I'm not really listening and just want to get this show over with. I still had special needs, and took champion in that. Go figure.

THEN it comes out that that morning my friends went to bat for me, pointing out that the AMHA rulebook says someone with a physical impairment CAN have a second HANDLER in the ring with him/her. The complainer ADMITTED HE WAS WRONG!!!"

So how do you all feel that my friend was treated this way? What would you think should be done? What if it were you?

I even found this old LB thread that is related to this topic from last Winter:

Entering Amateur Halter Classes in a Wheelchair?

I am so disappointed in some people's behavior. Would you not think there could be some sensitivity as well as thought put into even making sucha protest, and then to realize you're wrong? Some people don't even GO to the Championships (this was their first EVER) like many go every year, and what are you supposed to tell them? Oops. Sorry. I'm mad.

Mad enough to cry over it and I wasn't even there.

That moment was taken away forever because someone was VERY thoughtless and then to have a second party tell them they should not be showing in any of those other classes is the epitome of "NO CLASS."

*sigh*

Liz

 

[Devon]

:no: Some people at these shows think they know evrything and their word goes.. People.. they can be so heartless sometimes not to mention it says you can have 2 handlers in the rulebook :nono: :ugh:

Im so sorry what she had to go through she did not deserve that treatment I also would like to have a chat with those show organizers :bgrin

 

[Miniv]

Liz,

If your friend (I know who) knows who that idiot was who complained, it may be nice to inform certain people that idiot's name. This may help your friend in the future and allow others to watch out for the idiot.

A person (the idiot) like that needs to be watched and delt with accordingly.

Tell your friend she deserved MUCH better treatment.

MA

 

[Crabby-Chicken]

This made me sick to my stomach.... it has taken this friend YEARS to get the nerve up to get into the ring. And she has been do EXCEPTIONALLY well. She has done nothing wrong. And my opinion is,,, it should be taken up with someone who is a lawyer and know the rules about people who are challenged that need help in their lives. This was wrong. She should not have been punished for fulfilling a lifetime dream. Our friend is the nicest sweetest, low key person you will ever meet and this was mortifying for her.

 

[Sue_C.]

If your friend (I know who) knows who that idiot was who complained, it may be nice to inform certain people that idiot's name. This may help your friend in the future and allow others to watch out for the idiot. A person (the idiot) like that needs to be watched and delt with accordingly.

Although I agree that this person WAS in the wrong...were there no others there with a rulebook? lIKE i SAID, this person was wrong..yes...but cannot take all the blame...have you all missed THIS??? :new_shocked: :new_shocked:

They radioed the AMHA Pres. and asked if this was okay AND HE SAID NO!!!!!

THIS is the part that concerns me the most... :new_shocked: :new_shocked: :no:

 

[Devon]

Liz,

If your friend (I know who) knows who that idiot was who complained, it may be nice to inform certain people that idiot's name. This may help your friend in the future and allow others to watch out for the idiot.

A person (the idiot) like that needs to be watched and delt with accordingly.

Tell your friend she deserved MUCH better treatment.

MA

LOL at how many times you used Idiot in a paragraph

 

[Hobbit Horse Shire]

: I would like to add my apologies to your friend as a member of AMHA .. I was not at the show but I can still see that she was treated that way because (imho) - the person complaining felt threatened by your friend & her entry

What I'm reading the past few days makes me question why we joined an organization that condones misbehavior .. falsification of records .. apathy on the part of AMHA to correcting wrong information on documents and now this! If you did this at your place of employment you'd be fired! If you did this as a business person you'd loose clients .. If you discriminated against a person of special needs in the REAL world you could be sued! Why do members of AMHA put up with this?

We are new to AMHA and as such our opinion carries no weight .. The membership needs to stand up and speak & let the powers that be know that this kind of behavior is not acceptable .. I know we will probably NEVER win in the show ring because I've voiced my opinion but if winning comes at such a price - I'd rather not .. We bought our horses for the joy of them .. I think some people forgot why they got into the mini's in the first place - For the LOVE of the horse!

NO ONE has the right to take another persons joy away .. I would make me very sad to be called a member of AMHA if they do nothing to set this straight

 

[Boinky]

I agree sue..thats the first thing that came to my head... "why didn't they look it up in the rulebook" .. i admit i missed the "president" connection but he of all people should have known the rules or looked them up before making a judgement. Pretty unfair and really should be looked at closer by AMHA officials.

 

[liltnt]

Personally I think the idiot was afraid of being beaten by the handicapped person. Just my personal opinion. Also it should have been the show stewert that was called. That is their job. Although the president should know all the rules it is the stewart that is responsible for what happens. As it was explained to me anyway.

I feel bad for your friend but I would not stop showing. She should be proud of herself/himself and keep going It is people like your friend that is going to make things easier for those that have a handicap. They have every right the non handicapped persons do.

 

[dtdminis]

Hi

I know the individual involved and will respond to them personally.

I am no expert on AMHA rules, and I wasn't there to be able to make a judgement call on how this exhibitor was treated ... but my 1st question would be - did anyone have a rule book??? And if the answer is no ... why not? Our stewards always have one!

I co-wrote the PMC rules currently in use by the AMHR - so I think I can address this issue and offer an educated guess as to what the AMHA rule book says.

The AMHR PMC rules state that an attendant may accompany a disabled exhibitor into the ring. They may assist the exhibitor with any physical needs they have - help balancing, guiding the legally blind, even pushing a manual wheelchair. They may not, however, touch the horse unless the handler has a situation they cannot handle - and in that case they are DQd. The disabled handler must set up their horse on their own.

Cross entering IS allowed - A "Special Needs Exhibitor" is treated the same as a youth or ammy going into Open. And ammy is open to anyone old enough who is not a pro - even the disabled.

As far as teeth, we usually do not show them in AMHR - but in the rules we allowed another individual to show the bite IF and only if the PMC Exhibitor is physically unable to do so.

I am a quadriplegic - I LIVE in a power chair and have limited use of my arms and no use of my hands/fingers. I cannot "hand set" a horse - so the horses I show must set up when I give a tug on my lead. I have shown PMC, Ammy & Open at the local, regional and national level (AMHR). I have used attendants. They usually followed me into the ring and then either stood against the wall or positioned themselves a good distance from me. I was on my own when it came to showing. The object - especially in Open & Ammy is to allow a disabled exhibitor to show how well they can compete against everyone else. As far as getting your horse to set up ....... it isn't just the disabled who could use help with that ... I personally have seen a lot of "Able Bodied" (ABs) people that could use a hand!!!!!! But it just isn't allowed.

It's not easy, but it can be done ... here is a picture of "Seamus" and I. I handled Seamus all by myself - and he showed his heart put for me! He also was a total flake (went crazy if people applauded, etc) - but you'd never know it watching him show for me:

Bottom line, as far as AMHR goes ..... the "attendant" can touch YOU, but not your horse. I'm fairly certain the AMHA rules are similar.

Showing is supposed to be fun - it can be fun ........ but you always have to be ULTRA prepared, especially when you have a disability (unfortunate but true). My best advice - KNOW the AMHA/AMHR rules by heart - and ALWAYS bring your own, current copy of the AMHA and/or AMHR rule books!!!

Good luck in your future shows ... and keep smiling!!!!

:

:

:

Nan

 

[PrestigeMiniHorses]

How horrible for your friend to go through this....People really need to read up on things before they open their mouthes. Makes me very upset with the nerve some people have to tell someone they can't compete in a class because of a disability...I would have died biting my tongue if I were there. That's just not right...In my opinion,,,,,,what kind of organization are we harvesting behavior like this...People these days...GRRRRR I am terribly sorry for your friend since this is simply unacceptable to me.

 

[Boinky]

well if the rules state the helper may not handle the horse i can understand that..but i CANNOT understand why a rulebook was not had by any of the show management ect to look it up and set things straight. I've been at AMHR show's where some "questions" about certain things came up and happend to be in the office when they were looking up things while a class was in progress to make sure everything was fair and on the straight.

 

[dtdminis]

well if the rules state the helper may not handle the horse i can understand that..but i CANNOT understand why a rulebook was not had by any of the show management ect to look it up and set things straight. I've been at AMHR show's where some "questions" about certain things came up and happend to be in the office when they were looking up things while a class was in progress to make sure everything was fair and on the straight.

Exactly - that's the way it is at our AMHR shows (as I mentioned in my post)

I went and looked through the AMHA Rule Book online. There were several references to what is allowed in Special Needs driving clases, but nothing specific for Halter classes - just the following:

Page 80

"GR-045 RING PROCEDURE

The same exhibitor must handle only the same horse hrough an entire class ... (yada yada yada) Exceptons: (yada yada) ... Should additional handlers be required due to physical limitations or emergencies, approval must be obtained from the judge(s)."



Don't they have a Special Needs Committee?? Looks like the AMHA needs to get on the ball and write up

a SECTION (like Youth, Ammy, AOTE) with specific RULES listed so that everyone can get on the same page!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Man, If I showed AMHA ......... grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

If anyone can find more than I did in the rule book ........ PLEASE let me know!

Nan

Personally I think the idiot was afraid of being beaten by the handicapped person. Just my personal opinion.

PS [i did have a few people complain ... but MOST of the time I deserved my wins! I was very fortunate

because the show management was REALLY good about sticking up for me.]

 

[nootka]

The thing that bothers me is that the judges were the ones concerned about the "rule being broken" and when they asked the "president" he is the one that said "NO" but later backpedalled and said he had been wrong...why did this even HAPPEN?!?!?

Next of all is that a fellow club member, previous club official as well as AMHA official complained and told her straight to her FACE that she should NOT be allowed to show in Amateur NOR Open! THat p*sses me off to no end.

I don't even know if this person that complained had a horse in the same classes, but that is simply WRONG and to come from a person who has been part of the AMHA since it's inception is even more wrong.

Overall, it was handled very badly and I don't know what would even make it right, knowing who it is, and what was done to her needlessly. Yeah, nobody killed anyone or anything, but it's no small amount of money not to mention effort to get there in the first place even if you are able bodied.

It was a Championship show, a "big" show, too. Why was it not brought to light before this (this would be her third AMHA show I am sure and probably several where the secondary complainant was also at!). Why did it happen at this show ?

L.

 

[Boinky]

Well from the "rules" nan posted for AMHA... doesn't sound like there's a rule AGAINST it..so i would say she was within her rights to have that helper (unless there are other rules that she missed somewhere else). I also agree in that if she is NOT new to showing nor having a handler help her that it should have been brought up long before this one show or at least should have been researched more by show officials! Considering i'm sure she probably pre-signed up for the PMC classes you'd have thought the show management would have had some "foresight" and took the time to learn the rules for that division to be prepaired!

Ok let me ask this..how did she know where she was supposed to have placed before the dispute? Was the class already placed and then she was knocked down in standings AFTER the class was run? If that's the case i would say it should be like other DQ's and they should give her back her placing or at least tie her with whoever was in the place she should have orrigionally been in.

 

[dtdminis]

The thing that bothers me is that the judges were the ones concerned about the "rule being broken" and when they asked the "president" he is the one that said "NO" but later backpedalled and said he had been wrong...why did this even HAPPEN?!?!?

Next of all is that a fellow club member, previous club official as well as AMHA official complained and told her straight to her FACE that she should NOT be allowed to show in Amateur NOR Open! THat p*sses me off to no end.

I don't even know if this person that complained had a horse in the same classes, but that is simply WRONG and to come from a person who has been part of the AMHA since it's inception is even more wrong.

Overall, it was handled very badly and I don't know what would even make it right, knowing who it is, and what was done to her needlessly. Yeah, nobody killed anyone or anything, but it's no small amount of money not to mention effort to get there in the first place even if you are able bodied.

It was a Championship show, a "big" show, too. Why was it not brought to light before this (this would be her third AMHA show I am sure and probably several where the secondary complainant was also at!). Why did it happen at this show ?

L.

In MY opinion it should never have happened at all! Not at ANY show. :no: :no: :no:

If the rulebook they have online is current, the AMHA is seriously behind the times as far as "equal opportunity" goes. Someone needs to light a fire under their collective a**es and get some REA:L rules written up - AND, when that happens, EVERY steward at EVERY show should be REQUIRED to have a copy of the current rulebook and know how to use it should ANY questions arise!!!!!!!!!

:

It sure sounds like the "officials" involved had no clue ... and were rude on top of it. That's always unnecessary and uncalled for. In my opinion, however, the bottom line goes back to the rule book and the need for clear and consise rules!

In this case, from the rules I saw (or DIDN'T see) - I'd protest it if possible. I'd make a BIG stink about it! I'd write to everyone I could think of ........ put a letter to the editor in the MHW. Be the squeeky wheel!!!!

This definitely NEEDS to be addressed at the national level.

As always JMHO.

Nan

 

[Bluewater Minis]

How very sad that in this day and age of 'sensitivity' & being politically correct regarding race, age, religion, sexual orientation, disability, etc., that something like this has to happen from this level of authority at an AMHA Championship Show. I think a formal apology is certainly in order, but that will not restore the lost points/show achievement (but hey, that's an idea!!!) or, more importantly, help your friend recover from their embarrassment.

As much as it kills me to admit it, I'm "special needs" myself, having been an amputee for years. I've worked with 'disabled' people for 28 years, and I have to say that for many of us, getting up the courage to walk/hobble/wheel or whatever method of locomotion it takes to get us and our horse into that ring in front of other people is a leap of courage. For others of us, it can be yet another humbling experience to swallow our pride to even enter a "special needs" class, since in our hearts, we are NOT disabled/special needs. I think many special needs folks realize that with whatever limited capabilities we have, those classes provide many of us the means to show our prized/beloved horses, and we can appreciate the opportunity should we choose to participate. But for those who had to work up the courage and/or swallow their pride to even enter the SN classes, this experience could be simply crushing.

Shame, shame... :no:

As for the idiot who thought SN exhibitors be restricted from amateur and/or Open classes, what's next? Want to send us "special needs folks" to special schools, homes or boot camps? Are you afraid that we'll beat the pants off your horse, and you will somehow be embarrassed to lose to a cripple or whatever you think of us? Grow up! Some people's special needs aren't physically visible, and apparently, this insensitive fool falls into this category (having been born without a heart or any trace of compassion for others).

 

[nootka]

But for those who had to work up the courage and/or swallow their pride to even enter the SN classes, this experience could be simply crushing.

Yes, indeed. The person who was involved (the wronged party so to speak) is the most gentle and retiring person in the first place. They are neither a big name trainer, breeder, nor do they have "big dollars" or big bloodlines they are promoting.

VERY much a shoestring budget and while I myself admire their courage, I understand how difficult it must be considering the challenges. It's HARD enough to do it just starting out, but to have all the other cards stacked against you.

I guarantee that if any of you knew who the person was that had the nerve to come up after the fact and tell them that they should not be allowed to show in those other classes, well, you'd be half shocked, though I guess I'm not.

They have no room to talk, IMO, if that's how they would have someone treated. There was NO CHEATING going on here and that's how they made it seem, at least how I perceived it.

No, it should not have happened at any show, but why now when they had all the past four months worth of shows to figure it out? I would say they should refund the money for the classes if nothing else though that would hardly put a dent in it, it's just disappointing that it would have been handled that way.

I too agree about the letter to the editor and CC every one of the AMHA officials. Figure it out, people, and if you're wrong, own up to it.

I intend on being heard about it as the rules DO need to be more clear.

Liz M.

 

[Miniv]

Liz,

If your friend (I know who) knows who that idiot was who complained, it may be nice to inform certain people that idiot's name. This may help your friend in the future and allow others to watch out for the idiot.

A person (the idiot) like that needs to be watched and delt with accordingly.

Tell your friend she deserved MUCH better treatment.

MA

LOL at how many times you used Idiot in a paragraph

Sorry..........

: I was trying not to start using words that I'd be BANNED for!

:

 

[StarRidgeAcres]

Liz,

I'm so sorry this happened to your friend. :no: I don't know what the rule states and actually I don't care. The point is, regardless of what the rule is, this was handled poorly from beginning to end! :new_2gunsfiring_v1: It's just wrong!