Reinstate Age Splits at Region 12 for 2016!

Please give young riders a chance, they are the only thing that will keep our breed alive....if we make showing difficult for them, we are shooting ourselves in the foot.

Regional show classes should mirror what is at Nationals.

Crazy to have the ages all together

thank you all for your comments

We just cannot continue to make clearly financial decisions for our organization at the expense of the the Amateurs and youth. Somebody in charge, wake up. It is time to rethink this poor decision.

I will be showing at Region 12... The kids should have their own age groups. They should not have to compete against adults. This can be both damaging to their success and dangerous for less experienced kids. Not all our youth have grown up riding horses...Please reconsider this decision...

It was his hat. He was number one.

The youth of the Arabian Industry are our future. They deserve every opportunity to participate and be involved in Championship shows.

I'm an AHA member planning to compete this year as AOTH and AOTR and I don't feel combining the Jr/youth with Adults is fair to either. And if you're going to have SE classes then they should qualify you for something or don't have them at all and YES I have SE horses.

I don't go to region 12 but it would be a nice option, especially since pretty much every other region has age splits

This must be changed or Region12 will have a lot less exhibitors. Stop adding straight Egyptian classes for halter. ARABIANS ARE ARABIANS. HALTER CLASSES WILL BE BIGGER IF ALL ARABIANS ARE IN THE SAME CLASSES

Support 100 percent

As a supporting parent of a rising JOTR youth, I would like to see the age splits reinstated. Like all exhibitors that attend this show, my daughter, her horse and trainer work very hard to prepare for this opportunity to participate and compete at the regional level. I find it only practical that she along with other junior and amateur riders be able to recognize and sense that they will have a fair and safe judging while participating. I ask again that the board reconsider this change.

The variety and number of Amateur and Junior rider classes offered are critical factors in deciding which regional shows to attend. Region 12 does itself a huge disservice with this decision to forgo AO and JO age divisions. Please reconsider! I'll be spending my showing budget elsewhere for sure if this stands.

Please consider changing back to the age splits. Thank you!!

Rattner Bloodstock has been supporting Region 12 for many years. I think since 1998 consecutively. The group of horses and classes we enter fluctuates with the clients and horses from year to year. This year I noticed a lot of changes when I sat down to figure entries. Good thing I did this before entering our only qualifying show for 2016 Region 12. I have three new amateur riders showing new horses. First what happened to Select Rider SH classes. In past years when I have had at least two riders entered these classes were BIG. Now we will not be showing in the SH division with two horses. There would be no point in going in the open amateur SH classes for these riders. Which was very upsetting since I had already told the customers that Region 12 was a better show than Region 14 because of the classes offered in SH. Region 14 is eight miles from our farm. Next up was age splits for hunter. And finally no amateur Side Saddle and no split between English and Western. This of course all came across after I paid to add a Western Side Saddle class to the upcoming qualifying show. I have both open and amateur riders for these classes. Now first time rider has to show in the Open against trainers and English and Western. The bill for our customers to go to Region 12 is not cheap. More than likely one if not two of my new clients will not be coming to the show with us this year. Very disturbing for me as I was pretty excited to have some new blood. But I can't afford to burn them out financially and have them come home with nothing to show for being there. We have been Patrons and Garland sponsors for many years. We have never been Patrons anywhere else with the exception of Tampa and Canadian and US Nationals. I know the smaller classes take time but you have to remember that just because we do not enter certain classes every year does not mean we don't have horses and clients that come on board who will participate by the next year. We rely on Region 12 to be that show

While I share similar concerns with many others regarding the issues of safety and fairness, I feel the need to also address the apparent degree of discouragement that this decision will have on participants who regularly attend the show. I would appeal to the show commission to please consider allowing the age divisions to remain as they have been and not abandon an industry standard that is a common factor of success for any show. I believe it would be in the best interests of the exhibitors, the horses, as well as the show itself.

This will definitely discourage attendance at Region XII. I thought we were trying to encourage showing Arabian horses. Let's not make it difficult! You need to re-think this!

We sincerely appreciate all of the hard work that goes into planning a show of this size, and we have had a wonderful time every year that we've gone. However, the decision to remove the age divisions will have a tremendous impact on the plans we established for the 2016 Region 12 Show. We will have riders that will be unable to show, etc. This is going to put us in an awkward situation with our clients and even with the points we need for Nationals. Although Perry, GA is 5 hours from where our barn is located (while Region 14 is only 2.5 hours away), we choose to go to Region 12 to support the region our state is in. Unfortunately this will likely determine our future attendance if age divisions are not reinstated because our clients will want to go elsewhere.

This makes me glad I am not going to region 12.