The AMHA Board of Directors recently approved changes to the Open Competition Program guidelines for the 2016 competition year, effective immediately. These changes were made to simplify the program and make it more enjoyable for all participants.
During the past few months, AMHA has asked its members to participate in surveys to get feedback on a variety programs. The feedback heard consistently from Open Competition participants was that the previous guidelines for the program were complex, too much paperwork involved, and the point system was difficult to understand. A new single point system will now be used to score each division for the year-end awards; the number of points is contingent on whether the event is sanctioned or unsanctioned and also by the placing in the event.
The Medallion Award point requirements also have been adjusted to match the new scoring system. In addition, the requirement of needing five scores from four licensed USEF judges and four competitions for year-end points for dressage has been eliminated; dressage will follow the same point system as the other divisions.
The hope is these changes will make the program more inviting to new participants, especially junior exhibitors, since the number of junior exhibitor participants in the program has decreased significantly in recent years.
These changes also will greatly reduce the time it takes for scores to be tabulated by AMHA at the end of a season. Therefore, more accurate verification reports will be able to be sent, the results will be announced earlier, and winners will be notified earlier than in the past.
The new guidelines can be found here. Please contact AMHA at (802) 985-4944 with any questions.
-- via AMHA