Appaloosa.net

Here is the plan:

1. Eliminate the national point fee, and eliminate the National and World Show Premiums .
2. Instead charge $10 per horse per show (event, location).

There are many positives to this. Many shows charge a flat fee for the weekend package anyway, so this way everyone knows what they are going to end up paying ahead of time. We will get many more entries per show as it does not cost any additional money to add a class or two. We get very little bang for our bucks with the premiums, and this spreads that money to every exhibitor throughout the year, not just the few that win at the big shows. It is simple and easy.

(Remember this is per horse per show, so it doesn’t matter what we do with number of judges in the future the math will still work. )

Some people have asked me some more question on this that I would like to answer.

1. Isn’t this unfair to those rich people at the World Show?The entry fee at the world and national shows would NOT be reduced the $30 even though there is no payback money (no checks based on placings other than specialty awards). That money is used to make the shows cheaper for everyone throughout the year. So yes they are paying a big portion of the cost, but they are also benefiting from cheaper regional shows and more entries at those shows. If we don’t use the premium money and just charge a flat fee the cost would be $25 or so per horse, which might not work for those people only showing in one or two events.

2. What about single judge shows? Currently I have not done anything with single judge shows. They are not included in the calculations. They pay no national point fees now, and could still pay nothing under this proposal if we exempt them. There are not very many of those shows and not very many horses at these shows. As a board we would need to decided what to do with them but the money raised either way does not impact the overall numbers very much.

3. Is $10 doable? It seems way to cheap?  I can’t give you specific numbers, but I can give a hypothetical example that shows you how the math works.

(these are made up numbers for illustration)

Let’s say we currently bring in $200,000 in national point fees, and pay back $100,000 in class premiums each year.  We also have 200 horse shows a year and 50 horses at each show.

So if we elimate the premiums we get $200,000-$100,000 = $100,000

and if each horse pays $10 at each show……  50 horses X $10 fee X 200 shows = $100,000

So at $10 a horse we break even with our current fees.

4. What do you mean by per show? It is amazing how we have twisted things so that people no longer know what a show is. LOL When I say per horse, per show I mean just that the show is the event. Per horse and at one show ( One event, One weekend, one location, no matter how many judges…. you know a show).

5.     If you are a Non-Pro or Youth and pay the $10.00 fee and then go in an Open class, do you have the $10.00 fee for Open classes as well? Nope only one $10 fee per horse per event

6.  What is the revenue from the current point fees we have used for? Everything. That money goes into the general fund that help us do everything we do, the website, the journal, the World and National shows, maintaining the registry, etc.

7.  Regarding World Premiums –What did you mean exactly by this –Payback in the classes?  

At the National Show, we take $30 from each paid entry fee (all horses entered in the class minus those vet scratched) and put that money into the premium payback pot for each class. So if there are 20 entries in a class, the total payback for the class would be $600. At the National Show, we pay back through 5^th place if there are 25 or fewer entries. Or, we pay back through 8^th place if there are 26 or more entries.

At the World Show, we use the same $30 from each paid entry and then ApHC puts $300 in added money into each class. So the premium payback would include both the added money plus the entry fee money (all horses entered minus vet scratches). At the World Show, we pay back through 6^thplace. If there are fewer than 6 entered in the class, any unpaid premiums are retained by the ApHC.

We don’t pay back in youth classes, novice classes or non-pro equitation or showmanship classes. Those non-pro class entry fees are $30 less than entry fees in the classes in which we offer premium payback.

These payouts amount to a lot of money in total (which helps with my plan), but very small to each winner.  I do not believe many people show at these events because of these payouts. We have won some of this money before, and the checks as not big enough to make a dent in what it costs you to qualify for the show. I would rather see this money used to make it easier for everyone to get there rather than be given to a few that win at the World or Nationals. Lower the barrier of entry and we will have more people showing.