From the Publisher

Shows, Shows & More Shows

By Tom Grabe

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It’s 5:31 AM as I write this column from the luxurious accommodations of Gate F78 at Tampa International Airport. While waiting on my flight to DFW with a connection to Oklahoma City on my way to a show, I am thinking about the number of major horse shows held from the months of August to November. August begins with the Youth World, the next week is the NSBA World Championship, the next week (3 weeks, actually) is the Reichert Celebration, with the AQHA Select World overlapping. Whew! A one week break ushers in the Breeders Halter Futurity and National Halter Championship. And don’t forget the Scottsdale Classic, at the end of September, is thrown in for good measure. Then, just as you get home to take a breath, pay your bills, do your laundry and regain your sanity, it is off to the Congress for three weeks that feels like three months. If you are lucky, you get to come home for a week or two then it’s off to the AQHA World Championship Show. Some of you sandwich the Appaloosa World Championship, some local futurities, and the Paint World Championship into this hectic horse show schedule. So here’s the question… Do we really need to have so many major shows in such a short period of time? There are twelve months in the year, but three or four seem to draw the majority of the big events. It’s hard on the horses; it’s hard on the exhibitors; and it’s hard on the registries who sanction these shows. I don’t want to be one of those who points out problems but doesn’t offer solutions, so here are a few friendly suggestions to lessen the glut of shows in the late summer and early fall months. First of all, I would address the Select World Show. There are two trains of thought on what to do with this terrific show. I think I would combine it with the Youth World show. These two shows, held together, would be a showcase for the sport. The idea of bringing the young and the old together has a certain appeal. It would be a boon to horse trainers, and families who could bring their Youth and Select horses and riders to the same show instead of hauling to Fort Worth then turning around to come back to Amarillo a few weeks later… usually without a full trailer for either event. Furthermore, it would allow for the family atmosphere, which AQHA prides itself on, to flourish. Children, parents, and grandparents could come together to exhibit at the same show during the traditional summer vacation. It doesn’t get much better than that. If I had it my way, I would hold the convention here also, but that’s another issue we won’t address at this writing. Another idea would be to hold the Select World during late Spring, say May, and change the qualifying period to end of the calendar year. This would lessen the glut of shows in the summer months and provide a world class event for all disciplines during a time we have none. The weanling halter classes would need to be eliminated, but that wouldn’t be such a bad idea anyway. Moving this event to May might also help to stimulate sales during a time when the horse market is traditionally slow. The next move I would make (if I were all-powerful) would be to move the Reichert Celebration to the second week of July. The major shows are just beginning with the Paint World and Appaloosa National held right before, and this could continue the major show season for Quarter Horse exhibitors. The color breed exhibitors could come to the show straight from their World and National Championships. Moving these two shows (and leaving the halter shows at their current dates) would leave us with a much more manageable schedule of the AQHA Youth World and the NSBA World Championship in August, then six weeks until the Congress with a finishing crescendo at the AQHA World Show and Appaloosa World Show. My two cents on this issue are worth just that, two cents. But the relief for everyone’s schedule, horses and, just as important, their checkbooks, would be a boon to the horse industry and might allow all of these events to become even better than they already are.