The American Saddlebred Horse and Breeders Association Educational Webinar Series continues next week with edition #3, which will focus on the new Youth Division that has been added to the USEF Saddlebred Rulebook. Horse show managers, trainers, charter club leadership, and members are invited to join our Youth Task Force, USEF Licensed Official, and Saddlebred professionals Kelly Kraegle of Cottonwood Ranch and Alicia Owens of Scottfield Stables, who have extensive Youth Division experience from our sister affiliate breed shows, to discuss the details and opportunities available through this new division.
This free webinar will be hosted via Zoom on Tuesday, June 22, at 5 p.m. (ET). Advanced registration is required; please register by Tuesday, June 22, at 1 p.m. (ET). Please submit any advance questions for the panel to Jessica Cushing at j.cushing@asha.net.
Register for the FREE webinar Here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_UXL9QiRzQwmVT75NA8-Epw. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
For background: The full Saddlebred Youth Division rules and letter from US Equestrian President Tom O’ Mara. The Youth Division accounts for exhibitors 16 to 21 years of age in Fine Harness, Five-Gaited, Three-Gaited, Park, Pleasure, Western, Hunter Country Pleasure, Parade, Roadster, and Dressage Suitability for the 2021 competition year. This division does not change the parameters of the Junior Exhibitor division, but can be offered in addition to Junior Exhibitor and Amateur classes at shows. The youth classes are to be judged following Amateur class specifications. If a show offers a youth division qualifier and no youth championship is offered, horses shown in the youth class will be qualified to show back in the appropriate championship for that rider’s age or in the combined amateur/juvenile championship when no youth or separate age division championships are offered at a show.
The ASHA Board of Directors established the Youth Division Task Force in 2020 to look at ways to expand the rulebook and breed offerings to attract and retain junior members. The task force was led by Elisabeth Goth (co-chair), Clif Paulsen (co-chair), Kristen Bagdasarian, and Emily Lee and received additional assistance from Fran Crumpler in developing this rulebook addition. The working group looked at other affiliate youth divisions and created the guidelines, age range, divisions it would be applied, and goals for the Saddlebred rule addition. This Saddlebred youth division aims to keep the juvenile exhibitors involved and engaged in competition through their college years.
Each month, ASHBA will be bringing its members and the greater Saddlebred Community free webinars on a wide array of topics. Each month will be a new topic and can range from Judging 101 to details on member benefits and programs. If you have a topic you'd like to bring to the community, reach out to j.cushing@asha.net to propose a topic.
-- via ASHBA