yes but Its a bit of a cinderella class
winner not even mentioned in the uk journal...

Unfortunately there was only room in the journal to print the Rambo Championship and Blue Profile Futurity Class winners. There were of course a lot of other winners who didn't get printed in the journal - and well done to everyone.

On the note of dressage or anything else that any AQHA.uk members may do with their horses - it would be great to put some stories in the journal - after all it is a breed society and I appreciate that not everyone does only western with their QH.

Roland, sorry, I have to ask (in the best possible humour!).... In an earlier post you mentioned that you weren't a fan of dressage... and then in another you note a lack of dressage coverage in the Journal.... are you a closet dressage fan?!

Post edited by: Belle, at: 2009/01/06 20:13

Belle, Um yes I do like it realy done well its great Anky and the other top people,
nearly as good as reining well till you see someone like shawn flarida on top form then it looks a bit tame just my heart sinks when I read posts saying giving up western because of lack of shows,too far to travel, no local trainers etc you have to be very comitted to do western.. i can see why its easy to drift off and do dressage instead, heck they have shows within a few miles of just about everywhere lots of trainers and help easly come by , just its a well worn path not very exciting and some people which fit the steotypical tuppeny bit snob catogrey not all, but not the friendly people you find at western shows..

Oooh yes, do come and join us in the dressage classwes at the breed show, so nice not to be flattened by huge warmbloods in the warm up although scherie and I did have an interesting moment with one of Sovreign famous whirlwinds!
Great surface to ride on, madam is positively pointing hher toes in Nathan's pix and that doesn't happen very often!

I am concerned that with four new shows added to the season all carrying AQHA and BR classes, and two special AQHA events (the Youth World cup and an All-Novice show), we may end up with a situation of quantity over quality. I am not talking about the quality of management here but, with people choosing the few shows they can afford, there is a risk that the attendance and atmosphere of the others will be diluted.

The most fun for me in attending these larger shows is that you can usually be sure of decent size classes and a busy, buzzing show ground. There is nothing more depressing than spending lots of money getting to a show only to find it poorly attended. Also, if you are chasing points for an end of year award you need competitors in the classes to make it worth turning up.

I would wish for every one of the shows below to be as good and as fun and as exciting as last year’s East Coast Gala Show. It was fantastic. However, we now have 16 larger shows to choose from and four are running over 4 days – some onto a Monday. I just don’t see this working for many people and I REALLY hope that this doesn’t mean shows end up making a loss especially as trade stands and sponsors will start having to make decisions about which events to support. Certainly, as a competitor, I just don’t relish the thought of spending £100s to turn up to a ‘non-event’.

I have summarised below – please note I worked this out quite quickly so don't take this info as gospel.

NEW GOE (Kent) 24 Jan
1 day BR, NRHA

NEW GOE (Kent) 21 Feb
1 day BR, NRHA

NEW GOE (Kent) 21 Mar
1 day BR, NRHA

BR Spring (Cambs) 18-19 April
2 days BR, NRHA

QH2000 (Cambs) 1-4 May
4 days AQHA, ??

East Coast (Kent) 22-24 May
3 days AQHA, BR

NEW Fenland Show (Cambs) 5-7 June
3 days AQHA, BR

East Coast (Cambs) 26-28 June
3 days AQHA, BR

West Coast (Somerset) 3-5 July
3 days AQHA, BR

GOE (Kent) 22-26 July
5 days AQHA, BR, NRHA, NSBA

NEW Fenland Show (Cambs) 3 - 2nd Aug
3 days AQHA, BR

West Coast (Somerset) 7-9 Aug
3 days AQHA, BR

WES Champs (Warwickshire) 28-30 Aug
3 days AQHA, WES

East Coast (Kent) 3-6 Sept
4 days AQHA, BR, NRHA

BR Champs (Cambs) 19-20 Sept
2 days BR, NRHA

AQHA Champs (Cambs) 24-27 Sept
4 days AQHA, ??

Add to this the AQHA European Youth Cup in August at Bodiam, the new All-Novice East Coast show, also in August in Cambridgeshire.

Think the East Coast All Novice show that was planned for August is now not happening.