During its October meeting, the AQHA Executive Committee reviewed entries and the schedule for the Bank of America Amateur and FedEx Open world championship shows. During its meeting, the five-member committee looked at the possibility of making modifications to the schedule primarily for the amateur week of competition. After discussing various scenarios, the committee’s decision was to leave the schedule intact, with the exception of moving a few classes around on the same day they were scheduled. No classes changed days.
“We looked at various options primarily concerning the halter classes during amateur week,” said AQHA President Peter J. Cofrancesco III. “In the end, the vote was to leave the schedule as it has been publicized. People either entered or chose to skip this year’s show based on the schedule that has been out there since April. While the schedule is always tentative to a degree and while we want to be an Association that is flexible and willing to look at making changes, in this instance, it was felt by the majority of Executive Committee members to leave the schedule unchanged.”
The Executive Committee did direct AQHA staff to convene a cross-section of AQHA Professional Horsemen, exhibitors and world show contractors (course designers, footing specialists, etc.) to develop a schedule that most could agree on and that could remain relatively unchanged for a three- to five-year period. Such a long-term schedule would allow exhibitors, trainers and other shows to know which classes would be scheduled on which days through a designated year. This group will meet in Dallas in December, with the goal of having schedules for all of AQHA’s world championship shows by March 2012.
“There are so many factors to consider when developing a schedule and it is no easy task,” said Cofrancesco. “However, we believe our members want to be able to plan and know with a good deal of confidence when their classes will be held. While adjustments to future world show schedules will be inevitable, we want to keep members’ needs in mind and cause the least amount of disruptions to future schedules as necessary.”
Additionally, exhibitors can now move into the AQHA World Show facility beginning at noon on Wednesday, November 2. That is a change from the previous move in time of 8 a.m. Thursday, November 3.
