Inaugural Western Show Team Championship Coming to 2018 NSBA World

NSBA News

The NSBA Western Show Team Championship offers competition for both High School and Middle School riders with awards provided for Individuals and Teams. Competition guidelines allow teams to be formed, providing they are currently part of an organized show team. Organizations such as the Interscholastic Equestrian Association (IEA), Youth Equestrian Development Association (YEDA) or a like organization will be accepted. 

Eligibility

Team Divisions 

High School Division – grades 9-12

Middle School Division – grades 5-8

Individual Classes 

Seven Western Horsemanship and two Ranch Riding classes will be held in a two-go-round format on Saturday, August 18th and Sunday, August 19th. The High School Division will offer four Horsemanship classes and a Ranch Riding class each to compete in a two-go-round format. The Middle School Division will offer three Horsemanship classes and a Ranch Riding class each to compete in a two-go-round format.

The Overall High Point Individual class winners are based on a rider’s composite score for the two days. Team points will be calculated using the Overall High Point results from each Individual class.

Team Requirements 

Teams will consist of at least one Coach and a minimum of two team members. Coaches and riders must be current NSBA members. Each competitor’s membership card from a show team organization, IEA, YEDA or like organization will be used to verify rider division.

Rider Eligibility 

High School riders are any student enrolled in grades 9 – 12. In addition, high school seniors that graduated in the spring of 2018 will be allowed to compete at the level they competed during the 2017-2018 year. Middle School riders are any student enrolled in grades 5 – 8. Exhibitors that normally compete in the Reining will be eligible to compete in the Ranch Riding.

Entry Information 

An entry fee of $75 per Individual class enters the team member in their class for both go-rounds on Saturday and Sunday. Entry blanks must be filled out in their entirety.

Class Procedures:

All Classes 

Classes will be judged following NSBA standards as outlined in the NSBA Rulebook. All decisions of the judges are final.

Classes of more than 10 will be split. Competitors will draw for horse assignment no less than two classes prior to their class. Riders cannot draw a horse their team provided. If there are 10 or less entries then only a Finals will be held. Tied scores will be broken by the judge to determine placings and/or the riders advancing to the finals. Patterns will be posted at least one hour before the start of the event along with a random order of go for each class.

Horsemanship

Horsemanship class procedure will be as follows; after being instructed to mount, riders will enter as a group and do rail work according to the judge’s gait call. At the conclusion of the rail work, riders will retire to a designated location and perform the pattern posted for their division. Regardless of which split a competitor rode in, the top ten scores will advance to the finals.

Ranch Riding Class Procedure 

After being instructed to mount, riders will perform their individual pattern. Splits may be drawn if more than ten entries are shown, however a finals will not be held. Placings will be based on the pattern score received no matter which split a competitor rode in.

Re-ride Procedure 

Stewards will be present during the competition to ensure the safety of the competitors. A re-ride may be requested by either a rider’s coach or the judge. Stewards are permitted to determine if a re-ride request from a coach is valid prior to formally requesting it from the judge. Re-rides granted during the rail work, due to an unsafe horse, will result in the unsafe horse being removed and a predetermined alternate utilized. Rail work will start over when the rider is ready to proceed. Re-rides granted after the completion of the pattern work will consist of a horse already in the class selected by the judge to allow the competitor to run the pattern again on the selected horse. All decisions of the judges are final.

Horse Requirements

Teams are expected to provide enough horses to cover the total number of rides for that team. Each horse provided can only be used a maximum of 6 rides each day. All attempts will be made to only use provided horses less than or equal to the number of permitted rides a team designates for each provided horse. Variables are based upon characteristics of each horse, facilities, patterns and judging. Provided horses cannot be used twice in the same class if there are 10 or fewer entries. Team members are not allowed to compete on any horse they own/lease and compete on in non-show team competitions. On competition days, riders that are showing will not be allowed to warm-up any provided horse. NSBA will provide a stall for each provided horse from Friday, August 17th to Sunday, August 19th. Any additional stalling days will be the responsibility of each horse provider.

Classes Offered

Senior (High School) Division Grades 9-12

Junior (Middle School) Division Grades 5-8

Awards

Awards and Prizes 

Individual classes will be placed through tenth place on both Saturday, August 18th and Sunday, August 19th. First through tenth place each day will receive an NSBA medallion. Overall High Point Individual class winners are based on a rider’s composite score for the two days. Overall High Point class winners will receive an NSBA Bronze Trophy and rosette, second through tenth place winners will receive a rosette.

Prize money will be paid to the Overall High Point class winners as follows:

First – $100
Second – $40
Third – $30
Fourth – $20
Fifth – $10

High Point and Reserve High Point Teams for both High School and Middle School will each receive awards. Team points will be awarded to a team’s highest overall placing rider in each class based on number of entries in finals (see table). High Point Teams are awarded an NSBA Team Trophy with each member receiving a jacket and an NSBA rosette. Reserve High Point winners will each receive an NSBA rosette.

In the event of a tie for High Point and Reserve High Point Team, the team earning the highest number of points in the Open Horsemanship for High School and Intermediate Horsemanship for Middle School will decide the winner.

Points will be based on the number of riders that compete in each class as follows:

1 rider       2 riders      3 riders     4 riders     5 riders     6 riders etc.
1st- 1pt    1st- 2pt      1st- 3pt     1st- 4pt     1st- 5pt       1st- 6pt
2nd- 1pt     2nd- 2pt    2nd- 3pt    2nd- 4pt     2nd- 5pt
3rd- 1pt    3rd- 2pt    3rd- 3pt      3rd- 4pt
4th- 1pt    4th- 2pt       4th- 3pt
5th-1pt         5th- 2pt
6th- 1pt