AQHA Green Horse Classes New for 2008 - horses must have earn less than 10 points or be in its first year of showing in that event.
I have been chewing on this for awhile and a lot of people have different opinions about it - but I am just now reaching my final end opinion of the class.
It seems to be going well enough at the shows I have been to - there have been just as many horses in Green Horse as the other Jr or say Sr horse classes so there is definitely a demand for it. I just had thoughts in my mind on whether AQHA needed to add yet another class to its ever growing class schedule. It was hard enough before Performance Halter to hold an AQHA show and keep it affordable. The other issue I needed to wrap my mind around is who is the Green Horse class benefiting?
Well the answer to the second question according to AQHA is its benefiting the horses under 10 points in a specific event (amatuer or professional) - from what I have seen, its basically benefiting the trainers - now before you jump to conclusions I am not saying this is bad - I am just stating what I have seen. It benefits the trainers by keeping horses in thier trailers. Clients will be more inclined to send thier horses to shows if they know they will get shown. I see that most of the trainers had a Jr. Horse to show, a Sr. Horse and yes now a Green Horse - three different horses, even if the Jr. Horse was technically a green horse the trainers I saw were using three different horses. Of course as time goes on this may change and it also may be different in different areas of the country. Our shows have gotten pretty smaller up here (but show costs have gone up just as much as other areas) so one has to work twice as hard to collect up those points. I would imagine that as the year goes on they will rotate those horses down into the Jr. Horse Class as thier Green Horses point out.
As an amatuer this also benefits me because if I have a horse that's not quite "JR Horse" material my trainer can still hop on him and take him into the Green Horse class and put some show ring expirience on him, without irritating the client whos horse is usually in the "JR Horse Class. But as an amatuer showing an inexperienced hrose this class does very little to nothing for me. Packed with trainers you have to have a horse that is just a "knock out" mover to place above the trainers in Green Horse just like any other Open class. Regardless of whether it's true - as an amatuer you feel like you need to have a horse and a ride that is twice as good as all the trainers put together to place and then even still you may not win. It feels alot like a glass ceiling - once all the trainers that have had good rides have placed then they reach into the pool of amatuers that have had good rides.
I don't know - I am just being honest in what I see and how it feels to be there. You get to feeling that if they have created this class to give horses a chance at getting some expirence without all the "super tough" horses in the class then they ought to do the same for amatuers but at the same time I don't think AQHA needs to add any more classes until show attendance goes back up. Also the class was created for the horses right? So what better class for them than an Open class? To give amateurs more experience without "super tough" competition AQHA offers Novice Amatuer classes. So there lies the conflict.
Do I think Green Horse taking away from the Jr Horse numbers?....Maybe slightly for now - not much though
Do I think that Green Horse is benefiting anyone other than the trainers? Yeah but the bigger benefit is for the trainers
Do I think that Green Horse is a benefit to the shows? Yet to be determined
Do I think Green Horse benefits the horse at all? Not really - a good talented horse will raise up through the ranks of Jr. or Sr. Horse without a Green Horse boost, they did before. A weaker horse may have a chance to pick up some points where otherwise it would not have.
Would I compete in a Green Horse class? Maybe if I had a super good horse I knew was up to the competition and my trainer didn't or couldn't show him.
What benefit will Green Horse points bring to the market? Yet to be determined. One has to ask why would there be any benefit at all if the horse is only ever good enough to pick up a couple of Green Horse points once in a while? He will eventually point out of Green Horse, be unable to place in Jr. or Sr. and be right back to where he would be with without the Green Horse class. Committed to novice & youth ranks & pattern classes. So how exactly does this help a horse's value?
Any thoughts on the subject anyone?