Green Level 1 Classes Make Their Debut at the AQHA World Show
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70 – November/December, 2014
By Lindsay Whelchel
Despite his large size and laidback attitude, Next Ones On Me, aka “Shooter,” is still very much a baby. At three years old, the dark gelding is just beginning his career in the show ring by competing in Hunter Under Saddle classes. He wasn’t shown much this year, being that it was his first season. Nevertheless, he’ll have an opportunity to shine under the bright lights at the 2014 AQHA World Championship Show in Oklahoma City thanks to the addition of two new Level 1 Stakes, formerly known as Green, classes making their debut this year.
New for 2014 will be a Hunter Under Saddle Level 1 class and a Western Pleasure Level 1 class. The Western Pleasure class will be held Tuesday, November 18th, and the Hunter Under Saddle class will take place on Friday, November 21st. A $5,000 added-money prize is being offered for each of the two classes sponsored by High Point Performance Horses’ Hot Ones Only and Hubba Hubba Huntin.
Shooter, who conveniently lives in Oklahoma, will compete in the new Hunter Under Saddle class come November. The Level 1 “Green” classes offer a young horse like Shooter, or an older animal that may have gotten a late start in their showing career, the chance to compete without having to qualify, explains Alyse Roberts of Alyse Roberts Performance Horses. Roberts is currently Shooter’s trainer and will be showing him in the fall.
“It’s beneficial for everyone, really,” she says. “We didn’t show him a ton all year, so he didn’t get qualified, but it’s a great place to show them. It’s a good idea. It gives horses that didn’t get qualified another option. I think it will be fun to take him there.” Since Roberts hadn’t intended to qualify Shooter for the World Show this year, he won’t be able to show in any other classes. For this particular horse, the addition of Level 1 classes has come just in time.
Mark Stevens, a horse industry professional who has been training for 45 years and specializes in Trail, shares Roberts’ sentiment. “It’s a good entry level for horses just starting out,” he says. “In the Green Trail, you can ride any age horse in a snaffle bit or a bosal, which means you can use two hands to help guide the horse through the course, which makes good sense.” He explains that these types of classes began as a way for young or inexperienced horses to compete at large shows without having to test their skills against horses that are seasoned veterans. Essentially, it has helped to level the playing field, he says.
Stevens has seen individual success in the Green, Level 1, in the form of a Superior award. The award is presented if you obtain enough points in the class, but it’s often a race against time. Once a horse obtains a certain number of points, the animal can only finish out the year in the current division and then must move up into the next division for the following show season. Stevens’ horses have achieved the title a number of times. One horse, Investin a Goodbar, has accumulated 113 points in the class and garnered the Superior award as well.
Trainer Brett Parrish of Brett and Candy Parrish Quarter Horses in Georgia, has also seen success in the Level 1 classes. Last year, Parrish won the Green, now Level 1, Western Pleasure class at the All-American Quarter Horse Congress aboard KM One Hot Number and praised the opportunity for his young horse to gain valuable show ring experience.
“I thought it was a great stepping stone for her to get her feet wet without having to compete against the horses that have been shown for several years, already had a reputation, and were already seasoned,” Parrish says. It’s that stepping stone mentality that makes the classes so popular. “It gives them a place to go to get some experience for a year, until they need to move into the Junior Western Pleasure or Senior Western Pleasure. I think the classes have been a great addition.”
Beyond the benefits of gaining valuable show experience over the long-term, Level 1 classes also offer more real-time benefits, explains Will Knabenshue, trainer and owner of Knabenshue Performance Horses in Whitesboro, Texas. “You get the opportunity to have them more seasoned by having the Green classes. By having two runs, if they go in the pen and they see something they’re a little skittish about, hopefully I can get that worked out and go in again.”
The numbers in these types of classes around the country point to their popularity, Knabenshue says. “It adds a lot of young horses and gives horses that maybe are a little slower to get started a place to go and a title to go for.” Knabenshue finds AQHA’s decision to add these two new classes to the World Show schedule promising. He hopes they might consider expanding the class options to include different disciplines in the future. “I hope they go farther with some more Green classes like Western Riding,” he says.
