| |
 |
May 25,2010
For Immediate Release:
Halter Meeting Leads To Positive Changes
Many Improvements Effective in 2010
In January, members of the World Conformation Horse Association board of directors spent a day in Amarillo, Texas, meeting with leaders from the American Quarter Horse Association to talk about ways to
improve participation in and the perception of the halter discipline. During the meeting, topics ranging from developing a conformation "casebook" to the AQHA Incentive Fund were discussed.
While there were many supporting topics under each action item, the five primary areas of focus for the two associations are:
- Establishing a working group to study the possibility of developing divisions of halter competition based on both exhibitor experience and horse accomplishments
- Specialized halter judges
- AQHA World Championship Show improvements
- Enhancing the AQHA Incentive Fund
- Overall image of the halter horse
"We couldn't be more pleased with the direction of this meeting and the overall tone of it," said Wayne Halvorson, WCHA President. "Everyone came to the meeting with an open mind and desire to do what is best for
halter competition. We truly had a productive and positive meeting."
For the FedEx Open and Bank of America Amateur World Shows, WCHA and AQHA agreed to eliminate the serpentine jog, starting with the 2010 shows. Exhibitors will jog down the center of the arena similar to performance
classes. Additionally, in halter classes with 12 or fewer entries, exhibitors will not line up under all five judges. Drug testing of weanlings also will be implemented at all AQHA World Shows.
Also related to the World Shows and effective with at the 2010 Ford AQHYA World Championship Show, the group agreed that because AQHA's World Championship Shows mark the highest point of competition for American Quarter
Horses competing in their respective events and annually attract tens of thousands of visitors, as well as corporate and community sponsors who look forward to touring the stall areas, AQHA is adopting a policy regarding
the use of intravenous fluids that has become almost commonplace in the stall area.
In short, AQHA and WCHA want to encourage people to tour the barn area as well as enjoy the competition itself. The collective goal is that people leave with a long-lasting, positive memory of horses that are healthy,
well-cared for and perfectly capable of competing at the event. The group believed that IV bags hanging in stalls did not give this impression and as such passed a rule limiting or curtailing the use of them in the stall
area. The complete rule will appear in AQHA's World Show Handbooks.
During the AQHA Convention, the show committee recommended not disqualifying weanlings that fall in a halter class at the World Show. That recommendation was approved by the AQHA Executive Committee at their April
meeting. The fall of horses in other halter classes will continue to be cause for disqualification. A horse is considered having fallen when he or she is on its side with all four feet extended in the same direction.
Additional enhancements to the AQHA World Championship Show are being jointly pursued by AQHA and WCHA, and will be announced once those plans have been finalized. Plans are underway for WCHA to conduct a judge's
exam on the Thursday immediately prior to the Ford AQHYA World Championship Show. WCHA and AQHA cooperated on the exam so that applicants have the opportunity to review some of the world's best American Quarter
Horses in halter. The exam will take place Thursday, July 29 at 1:30 pm in barn three.
In other developments, during AQHA's Convention, the judges committee recommended and the executive committee ultimately approved specialty halter judges. AQHA's judges department will begin working with WCHA to
develop the specialized halter judge program. The goal is to implement the program in 2011.
"Halter is widely considered the foundation class for American Quarter Horses where balance, structural correctness, movement and manners all should be considered," said AQHA President Johannes Orgeldinger,
who attended the meeting. "With AQHA and WCHA working together, we can once again emphasize the importance of this most fundamental class."
|
|
|
|
|
|
