The general economic forecast is gloomy and winds of change are blowing through some aspects of the West Coast hunter/jumper scene (see The Gallop, page 8) but there were few signs of either reality during the annual PCHA Convention.
Held Jan. 4-5 in Las Vegas, the convention’s main purpose is hosting year-end awards banquets for the Pacific Coast Horse Shows Assn., the California Professional Horsemen’s Assn. and Zone 10. Terrible rainstorms in Northern California prevented many from attending Friday night’s Zone 10 Awards banquet, but the CPHA luncheon and PCHA awards dinner on Saturday featured full houses of gussied-up equestrians whose glamour was rivaled only by the gorgeous trophies and ribbons on display. (See photo spread, page 42.)
Except for the tributes to Talia Klein, the young rider who died with her father in a plane crash in December, the mood was upbeat and optimistic toward this year’s show season. “The industry is strong and the majority of shows are sold out,” noted trainer Archie Cox, as he stepped into new shoes as PCHA president for the next two years.
In between these fancy and, for the most part, enjoyable banquets, these organizations hold meetings to discuss aspects of and proposed changes to the sport’s rules and programs. Most of the meetings are open to anybody, but, as is typical of volunteer efforts, they are attended by the same core of people. In this case it’s trainers and show managers, plus a few officials and exhibitors, who have participated in these sessions, and served on various industry committees, for many years.
Another Great Year
Happily, the Zone 10 forum kicked off with another round-up of how well our area’s riders did nationally. Only gold was good enough for all of our Zone 10 squads at the North American Young Riders Championships and the Prix des States Jumping Championships, and the Pony Jumper crew earned bronze in their showdown. It wasn’t long ago that the Zone 10 meetings were dominated by talk of how to make our jumper teams more competitive.
In the equitation division, Hannah Selleck, Tina DiLandri, Shelby Wakeman, Michelle Morris, Lucy Davis and Mallory Olson held top 10 spots in the prestigious USEF, Maclay and Washington International Medal finals.
The programs and competitions that have led to such success are also making their mark on a national level. West Coast Showbiz’s Kathy Hobstetter relayed that the name of California’s rigorous 12-and-under medal, the Onondarka, had been bought from the Simmington family by a national company with the possibility that it could become a national medal. Archie Cox reported national interest in making the 3’3” “Low Amateur” category a USEF-rated division. This up or down “stepping stone” class was initiated by PCHA’s active exhibitor committee, led by Gail Horrigan, a few years ago.
Many of the rule changes discussed had been proposed at the USHJA annual meeting (see story, page 40) in December and would not be officially voted on until the USEF meeting in early January. But discussions about increasing Hunter prize money, making Pony Equitation point tabulations fair, and devising the best way to mandate appropriate medical support at shows were not wasted. Some of the often-lively discussions would enable USEF-bound attendees to accurately represent our region’s range of opinions. For those few attendees who do not play a regular role in affecting change, the debates were a great reminder of the balancing act between divergent interests that is required to help the sport run fairly and to grow.
After several years’ absence from this convention, show manager Larry Langer returned to participate in discussions, adding color and spice that many laughingly admitted they’d been missing. For various reasons, he was particularly passionate about proposals to tie the number of required emergency medical technicians to the number of competition arenas at a given show. On this proposal and as a general philosophy, he said, “I don’t like making rule changes for 123 (USEF-rated) shows because of a problem at one show.”
E-mail, online renewals and a useful website were Archie Cox’s biggest priorities going into his PCHA presidency.
DVD Debuts
There was seemingly unanimous enthusiasm for a three-years-in-the making DVD entitled Get Connected. Created mainly to educate judges, the DVD details through commentary and ridden demonstration the 19 USEF Hunter Seat Equitation tests that judges can ask equitation and medal competitors to perform. The idea, said Far West Farm’s Nick Karazissis, one of the project’s main shepherds, is to standardize how these tests are judged. The bigger hope is that trainers, exhibitors and parents will use the DVD to build their own knowledge. “It’s basically a text book for flat work,” said Nick.
Dressage gold medalist Debbie McDonald is the rider, judge Cynthia Hankins is the commentator and Mike Moran the emcee. As finishing touches are put on the project, Nick and others are looking for sponsors and even into the possibility of making the DVD available in a downloadable form.
During the CPHA’s open meeting, Northern California trainer and outgoing president Paul Bennett relayed that the benevolent CPHA Foundation had awarded $12,000 in scholarships and $100,000 in aid during 2007. Los Angeles reining trainer Renee Baker was a recipient of some of that aid money and described it as a godsend. “Everybody should join CPHA,” urged the super successful trainer who suffered a punctured lung and big medical bills after being bucked off last summer.
CPHA’s Medal classes are well known, but the benefits of its professional membership are one of the industry’s best-kept secrets. Annual professional dues are $120 and entitle the member to access CPHA’s H2-B Visa program, an excess accident insurance policy and discounted membership in the USHJA and elsewhere. Members may also apply for the CPHA Foundation’s scholarship and aid programs. Junior/Amateur membership is $50, and non-competitive members can pay that fee as a contributing member.
The H2-B Visa program is once again in the industry’s headlights. Begun in 1990, the national program allows employment of seasonal, temporary, non-citizen workers in the United States. Up until Sept. 30, 2007, returning workers had been exempt from limits on how many alien workers were allowed into the States. CPHA’s Ruth Frasier reported that 53 CPHA employers, representing approximately 150 workers, received visas for their grooms through its program, but another 35 didn’t make it. The push now is to lobby for the passage of the Save Our Small and Seasonal Business Act of 2007 (H.R. 1843). The CPHA’s website, www.cpha.org has sample letters to send to Congressional representatives.
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