The Friends of Windward Farm are sponsoring a $2000 Jackpot in the Amateur Hunter Pleasure Championship at the 2008 Mid-Atlantic Morgan Horse Show. As reported on that AMHA website:

In addition to the regular prize money allocated to this championship class, an additional $1,500 will be awarded to first place and $500 to second place.

Also this year, the Mid-Atlantic Youth Club with also be sponsoring a $50 raffle in the Junior Exhibitor Championship classes and the Mid-A Silent Auction will be held again this year.

The Mid-Atlantic Morgan Horse Show will be held June 25-28, 2008 at the Virginia Horse Center in Lexington, VA. For more information visit the AMHA website and HorseShowCentral.com.

Questions regarding Hunter class judging answered by “Judge 2”:
(2 of the questions are answered together since they were related. Also to shorten the post I have edited the questions. To see the question in its entirety go to “What Would You Ask A Judge?”)

Questions:

1)Some judges judge (Hunter and Park classes) right to the book, and others seem to go more for a stylized Morgan. I would be very interested to know why this happens, and what we can do to gain more consistency between shows? Several of the World Champion hunters over the past two years have been successful English Pleasure horses the season before. Meanwhile, horses such as Zimbabwe who were tough to beat a couple of years ago don’t seem to be as successful against the higher headed bigger moving hunters. Why is that?

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The following post is from the Yahoo group, Positively Morgans, and is posted here with permission of the author, Julie Blair:

It was the usual “sea” of black coats and straw hats. Finding a place to sit was difficult on Friday and nearly impossible on Saturday. In fact, standing room was scarce on Saturday. Also typical, prices were higher on Saturday than Friday.

Generally prices were lower than usual and there were some tremendous bargains to be had. Lot 64 Parkisimo Sensation (Immortal Sensation x Royalton Benn Aida) f. 2005 was driving beautifully and ready for the show ring. A big, black, mannerly stud, handsome and tons of motion. His owner offered $1000.00 for a picture of this horse winning a class at OKC and he looked like he could do it. He sold for $4900.00.

A handsome pair of 3 yo black geldings sold for $6700.00 each. A pair of chestnut mares, Lot 151 and 152, full sisters, shown working together perfectly in harness, sold for $900.00 each.

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The following question was asked in our “Ask A Judge” post. Just below it is the answer from “Judge 2” from the Judge Panel:

Question:

On the subject of saddle seat equitation how important is the performance of the horse? I always felt like equitation should be this great level playing field for the saddle seat riders. Theoretically, if you’re the best equitation rider, you should be able to hop on any old plug from the pasture and beat a not-as-good rider on a $100,000 horse, provided your horse can do all the gaits and workouts, of course.

I understand that the overall picture is extremely important in equitation, but I’ve seen classes judged where that overall picture seems to matter more than the riders’ performances and abilities. For example, I watched a class at an all-breed show where the one rider who had the big-moving, upheaded, gorgeous trimmed Saddlebred and the nice, expensive-looking formal suit won over the riders on Morgans and pleasure Saddlebreds. In my mind, she did not have nearly as nice rail work or pattern work as the riders who ended up with second or third. Obviously the judge may have seen things I didn’t, but it really seemed like she pinned the rider she did because she and her horse just looked the part.

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