Once again, the American Quarter Horse Association will activate the Amateur Invitational Program for amateur exhibitors. Through the AQHA Amateur Invitational Program, more AQHA amateur exhibitors are eligible for the 2013 Adequan Select and Bank of America Amateur world championship shows, which in turn increases the amount of prize money awarded by AQHA at each of these world championship shows.
The following are the guidelines that will be used in determining who will receive an invitation:
1. AQHA will invite the top point-earning horse/exhibitor combination per class per affiliate that does not reach the minimum number of points set to qualify.
2. New for the 2013 world shows: The horse/exhibitor combination will be required to reach at least half the points set as the minimum to qualify to be invited as an affiliate invitee in each particular class. (For example: If the minimum number of points set to qualify for amateur aged mares is 9.5, the invitee must have reached at least 4.5 points to be invited. Note that if a class requires points that include half a point, AQHA will round down and require half of that number.)
3. The points must be earned during the qualifying period for each of the world shows. Points do not have to be earned in the state or province in which the exhibitor resides. The points may be earned at any AQHA-approved show, excluding introductory shows.
4. State invitees will not be eligible for the Farnam Select All-Around Amateur or Farnam All-Around Amateur awards at the world shows. For classes to count toward all-around eligibility, the exhibitor/horse must have earned a national qualification in those classes.
5. If there is a tie in points to determine the state invitee from a state and class, AQHA will use the following to break the tie: The invitation will be awarded to the horse/exhibitor combination earning the final point the earliest in the qualifying period.
6. There will only be one invitation per state or province per class sent from AQHA, even if the recipient chooses not to enter a world show to which he or she is invited.
7. An exhibitors earning a state invitation will not be called a world show qualifier and the horse’s record will not state that it is a world show qualifier.
8. This program is operated by AQHA, not the affiliate, and exhibitors are invited based on the state in which they reside, not where they show.
Once the final qualifiers are run (around July for the Adequan Select World and around August 25 for the Bank of America Amateur World), AQHA will run the list of exhibitors who were top in their class but didn’t qualify. Ties will be broken by the exhibitor who won the last point or half of a point first.
AQHA began the Amateur Invitational Program for the 2011 Adequan Select and Bank of America Amateur world shows.
