"Amateur" Championships

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kez07

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I got back from arena Uk yesterday and although i had a fantastic time, i was just interested in hearing other peoples thoughts on the fact that this is ment to be an amateurs show however, there were people there who i know for a fact make their money from horses, and there were also a huge amount of horses that were recycled grade A's and comepeted in both say a 1.20 class and the 90cm class!is this really fair?Or is it just part of competition?
 
The Am.Champs series is not very aptly named. Very few restrictions in it.
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Amateur status is one of the most debated topics in Showjumping...if not all horse sports. Clearly they have to draw the line somewhere and the line they have drawn does allow many 'full-time' riders in. I don't personally have a problem with that as on my day I feel I can give a lot of them a run for their money and I know what i'm going to be up against before I enter.

My gripe this year was more to do with timing of things. As an amateur I have a full time job and a family...so couldn't affod to take the best part of 5 days off work just to compete in the finals. Sad but a fact of life unfortunately.

Are the results up anywhere btw ? I'd like to see who got what
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Yeah I have to say its not the greatest representation! A friend who rides for a living was there jumping someones horses - amateur my a**! (he didnt do very well though!)
Its hard though as how would you decide whats an amatuer and whats not, it is tricky.
 
See at wales and west you are considered an amateur if you do not make a living out of horses, which seems fair enough to me. I feel as though i compete against professionals enough at teh regular shows and it would be nice to be competing against people on a more equal footing. Although saying that im not sure that that is ever true in horses!!
 
So what would you do about the local farrier, or tack shop owner...or perhaps groom...who all make their living out of horses
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I'm not being argumentative, just highlighting the complexity of defining the rules
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I don't think they can really do it any other way but on rankings. The problem comes by the way that the rankings are calculated. You only get points I think in a 1.30 class on a Grade A. That might not be right it might be 1.25. Anyway there are barely 450 people in the country that jump 1.30s on grade As. So get placed once and you are on the list.

But it means all the pros who make their livings jumping Novices are eligble - but then have they got the horse to jump in the class?

The problem with the Wales and West way is that if you are a Farrier, but only been riding a year, you are classed as a pro as you make your living from horses.

I don't mind the way it is done at the moment. You are competing against the 'pros' in normal opens anyway and if you can't win one of those you aren't going to win at the Amateur Champs.
 

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So what would you do about the local farrier, or tack shop owner...or perhaps groom...who all make their living out of horses
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I'm not being argumentative, just highlighting the complexity of defining the rules
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Snap
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What happened was..... phoned the secretary and got them to agree that he could enter as he wasn't that good.
 
I went last year and I am certainly very amateur, however I didn't feel that the grade A horses/full time riders had "taken over" the show so to speak, a "true" amateur still could of won just as easily as anyone else
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(at 90cm/1m, I didn't see much of the other classes!).
 
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Ok then, make their living riding and producing horses?

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I know what you're saying, but remember...any rule would have to be (easily) measured and implemented. It's hard enough working out who is a dealer and who isn't...let alone who makes enough money from their horses, and in what way...to decide whether or not they are inside the rules.

I've actually looked at the results...and although you get the usual names and faces in a lot of the higher placings, I recognise at least two or three people who did very well and who are very definitely not full time riders
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It is a really difficult one to define how to class someone as an amatuer, I think they do it as fairly as they can.

We are trying to campaign for it to be held in the summer then some of us amateurs can at least use it as a holiday!!!
 
Unfortunately the BSJA's thoughts on amateur status is very different to most of the membership! If you jump over 1.30 then you are a 'pro'; everyone else is an amateur.

My view is that those of us who have 1 or 2 horses, work fulltime (or are in education) and only ever jump up to 1.25 are amateurs but I agree that it is very difficult to define. I think Wales have it about right though.

Looking at the results, there are definately some pros (in my mind) in there but also some true amateurs.

My bug bear is why they are allowed amateur classes at weekday shows; surely the amateurs are at work/school??
 
I am an amateur - I work full time and only have 2 horses. I travelled each day to the championships so as not to have too much time off work (bit tiring as we're 1hr 45 mins away). I qualified for the 1.20m final - was over the moon - definately challenging courses but I didn't feel like professionals took over. Had 2 fences down in the final, but I think only about 3 made it to the final round - looked pretty big by then tho! I was dead chuffed anyway, made all the hard work worthwhile!
 
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I am an amateur - I work full time and only have 2 horses. I travelled each day to the championships so as not to have too much time off work (bit tiring as we're 1hr 45 mins away). I qualified for the 1.20m final - was over the moon - definately challenging courses but I didn't feel like professionals took over. Had 2 fences down in the final, but I think only about 3 made it to the final round - looked pretty big by then tho! I was dead chuffed anyway, made all the hard work worthwhile!

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Well done you
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Unfortunately we are 6 hours away from Arena Uk so a daily commute was never really an option...but hey ho
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To even make the final at 1.20m is an achievement..and to qualify for the final even more so. I guess it was up around 1.25m by then ? A great experience for you, and what the 'amateurs' is all about really really
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at the end of the day its done on rider rankings.... so if your not in the top 250 then your an ametur....

ok so if i were riding/jumping competing every day/every weekend id probably be throwing some more consistent results but would that make me a pro.... probably not

as for recycled grade A's well as long as the rider isnt in the top 250 and it hasnt been clocked then unfortunately i think thats what the ametur/opens are alla bout - i have a friend whos daugbhetr is riding a recycled grade a to get her going in that transition from ponies to horses, they are jumping 90-105 at the moment... results are pretty consistent at that level (you would expect them to be with some ok riding and help from the ned) does that make her a pro?
 
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My bug bear is why they are allowed amateur classes at weekday shows; surely the amateurs are at work/school??

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I'm as amateur as they come, but my work allows me to compete on weekdays as well as weekends.
 
I totally appreciate how difficult it is to try to define an amatuer, and no it wasnt completely taken over by pros, i qualified for the 1m final on the saturday so it was a good show for me. I just questioned the status of it when there was for example, somebody who is a professional and could with no doubt be classed as that and had three horses qualified for the finals.Just thought it was a litttle unfair.
 
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