Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Ellin McGinley Daum on December 12, 2009 at 6:03pm

My dear departed dressage master and mentor, Jean-Claude Racinet, always said that the American Quarter Horse despite some with down-hill build will always excel at dressage because of their incredible strength in the hind quarters for both push and carrying. My experience with some that I have owned and trained is exactly what JCR said many times. It is about time the AQHA recognized the talent of their breed in dressage!

Not long ago I retrained an aged AQHA gelding from reining to dressage. We had to work a little harder to get rid of the sliding stops and a few other movements that he had been trained to perform, but in his first year in dressage he was 3rd in the region at Training Level. He now helps new riders learn the basic movements and gaits of dressage through Second Level.

Permalink Reply by Mary McGuire Smith on December 12, 2009 at 9:39pm

I agree with slc--I have serious doubts that any USEF/USDF recognized show (manager/secretary et.al.) is going to pay out an extra $50.00 (not to mention the paperwork and planning outside the norm) with no return other than possibly attracting a few AQHA quarter horses who will probably not be competitive anyway (since dressage does not discriminate as to breeds now and quarter horses are as welcome to show as any other breed, the only additional horses who might enter a show would be AQHA circuit horses who are chasing points, and the way they are trained is completely different than the principes of dressage).

In addition, dressage judges are not going to go out of their way to join AQHA in order to judge quarter horses at a USDF/USEF show! Judges' training is already expensive enough, and the memberships they are currently required to hold are enough of a drain on their pockets! Judges do not judge because it is lucrative!! Judges judge to "give back" to dressage. If I were a USDF/USEF rated judge, I would laugh at the suggestion that I should pay to be a member of AQHA so that I could officiate a USDF/USEF show that had a Quarter Horse division. (Please don't get me wrong--I love QH's!!)

I don't see any benefit in this agreement, except to AQHA (big surprise) from fees from both competitions, judges and competitors alike. All the benefit goes to AQHA with none of the work, and none of the financial outlay.

I will say one thing, USDF and USEF should take notes from AQHA on publicity, marketing and business modeling in general! When it comes to making money, AQHA runs circles around USDF/USEF. And this proposal is one example of "why". If USDF/USEF went along with what is spelled out above, they need their collective heads examined.

Permalink Reply by Mary McGuire Smith on December 12, 2009 at 10:16pm

I also just visited the USDF website, and can't find any mention of this program--are you sure that it has been approved by USDF?
I also clicked the linkk to the right, under international news, and it seems that the reporting site is a little unclear. I don't see anywhere that states anything about the judges, and the way I red it on the linked site, it is the competitor who pays an annual fee to AQHA to be eligible for the award and points toward their ROM (an award through AQHA). I also don't read it as the competition itself paying anything, and the points awarded to any individual horse are separate from points awarded through USDF. At least that is the way I read the article. So, what I said above---never mind--I should have read the original article first. :-)