Anonymous Trainer Poll – How Can We Make Our Industry Better?

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190 – May/June, 2024

By Laura Boynton Jobson

The horse industry has many mixed opinions on what it takes to make the industry the best it can be. As a whole, trainers want positive progress that betters this sport for their own careers as well as the horses we love.

We polled 10 trainers to answer this question anonymously, and some provided more than one response.

What is one radical change you believe would completely change our industry for the better?

1. “Bring back the Incentive Fund with a few tweaks:

•    Every stud that files a breeding report pays a mandatory enrollment fee of $100; at one point for APHA, this approach took the total amount from just under $500,000 to $2.3 million. It also makes every foal eligible.

•    Rather than set a point value at the end of the year, take the total amount and divide equally per event. So, a 10-day-long event with 8 judges would get the same amount as the 4-day show with 4 judges. Each event would divide that allocated amount of money by the total amount of points awarded at that show, so a small 4-judge show might pay $150 a point and a huge circuit show might only pay $15 a point. There would also need to be a stipulation where there would be a mandatory 5-day period between events–that way, events couldn’t just be lumped together to amass more of the money. This would help spread everyone out more so it’s not the same people competing against each other, which in turn creates an atmosphere where more people have a chance to compete come World Show time, but also creates a great entry level atmosphere for newcomers. Then there’s the obvious–that it just makes it more affordable for the average person.”

Click here to read the complete article
190 – May/June, 2024