NCHA Futurity Age

[nrhareiner]

Are you kidding???? NRHA is going the opposite direction. With the new rull about having to pay up the babies to be able to show in the NRHA futurity and Derby they are only adding presure to the breeders, owners, and trainers to get these horses ready for the futurity. When they added the Derby for 6yo they gave owners and trainers an extra year and if the horse was not ready for the futurity they could hold back and have 3 years in the Derby but by adding this stipulation they are taking a BIG step backwards. Now you can not show in the NRHA futurity or Derby if your horse was not paid up as a foal. This is adding more money invested into a foal so adds more presure to get them into the pen.

[mart]

That is just rediculous !! I don`t care how well bred a foal is you just don`t know when they are babies if they will make the grade or not !! Many are just not good enough !! Some will excell at other disciplines !! Not all are futurity material !! And reining and cutting are two of the toughest disciplines in my opinion !!

[Cuttin74]

All I can say is I had some cow horse & reiners talk to me or vote on the poll as what they want. Personally I know nothing about either.
I have ran barrels, penned, drilled and cut.
Breeding practices, that is now also being discussed. "There is not enough culling going on".
I agree with that. We treat ours as individuals and they will grow up to be what ever they are. We do not train them all to be cutters. We darn sure try them on cattle, but a few just would rather do something else for a living. That's fine with us. Plenty of other things to do horse back, it doesn't all have to be cuz daddy did it.
You wanna know my theory, the members who want the change can't speak out like I do, because they are afraid of backlash. I do care about that only if it gets in the way of my goal to change the age. Meaning it may hurt my cause if I get too carried away and that won't help the horses.
I have been asking and preaching this for about a year and a half now.
More and more are getting on board. I do not have the funds or means to contact every member.
I tried calling them, as fun as it was, I'd only get 2 calls made a day. LOL
Get to talking and and before you know it the day was gone.

Talked to one cutter that was setting right there where Eight Belles went down. Hard call to hang up from.

[nrhareiner]

Thing is in NRHA the big guns are running the show and they do not care about what horse will or will not make the futurity. All they care about is adding to the totel purse of the futurity and that is what that foal registration fee does. To me it is wrong and I have let my feelings known but again they do not care. Look at who wins it is a very select few. Both in trainers and owners. So the reast of us are just padding their pockets. It leaves me between a rock and a hard place in many ways. The foals I produce are of the lines being both sire and dam have done extramly well in the NRHA with Top reining lines and those foals bring good money so to not pay those foals up can really hurt when it comes time to sell. However if I am going to keep them most likely they will not be paid up and that will be my form of protest. There are enough other futurites and derbys closer and cost less money with a very good return. Perhaps if more people protested that way things would be back to the way they where.

[mart]

I can certainly understand that !! But as long as people are willing to pay the fees, there will be no change !! Yes, it is the same ones over and over that win !! They are the ones with enough money to stay in the game !! It makes it extremely hard for others that work just as hard, and have just as good a horse, but are outdone because of the money involved !! If the money didn`t come rolling in, perhaps it would go back to being about the horse instead of the pocketbook !! You would have to mortgage your house to get a horse in a top competition and keep it there !! To use the Texas vernacular "It ain`t cheap" !!

[Cuttin74]

You can start paying in Oct the year before the fut. with penalties for late payments.

We never pay up any of ours. The way we feel if the new owner likes'm
that much, they can pay him up or use a slot.
So many are crippled by the summer, that owners need to find another to fill the slot.

This last Feb we sold a really nice colt to a owner that rasies his own like we do and his trainer and colt get along great. It was nice to see our colt going into a good program. They do plan on hitting the early fut. with him. This colt is so laid back I know he can handle the mental stress, the owner and trainer will be watching for pysical stress. It was a good deal for all. Those are hard to find.
More than once we have sold for less because of the home they were going to. We have been lucky so far, I don't think any have been resold in the 12 years we have been breeding. (knock on wood)

It sounds like we are all in the same boat.
There has been talk of people putting on unapproved (NCHA) shows because it has gotten so elite. Like you guys same winners all the time.

We are now also having the discussion of a trainers fund. They will add 5.00 to every entry fee on the weekends which will go to the trainers retirement fund. I don't know of one member who is for it.
Crazy.........what happened to the 50% of their winnings?
Chubby did say that there would be no trainers union at the convention.
I wonder if he knows that is illegal for a non profit.

[nrhareiner]

NRHA has taken away the ability to sell your slot or put anouther horse in its place. If it is not paid up by the end of the year foaled the late fees are too much to pay especially by the time you know if the horse will make it and you can not slide him in on anouther horses slot. Paid up or pay like $7500. Just a big money grab by the NRHA and I know why but it is only rummer from a very knowledgeable sores.

[Cuttin74]

ColoState@Edu
Subj: RE: National Cutting Horse Association

I do not have the firsthand experience to make specific recommendations for cutting horses. However, I will state some general principles about problems I am concerned about. One of the most serious animal welfare concerns for many species is what I call "Biological System Overload." An animal is pushed past its biological limits and it breaks down. Biological system overload may occur if horses are pushed into performing before their bones are mature. In pigs and chickens, serious leg problems and lameness have been caused by indiscriminant genetic selection for lots of meat production.

Sincerely,
Temple Grandin

[Cuttin74]

Hock Problems and Age
by: Heather Smith Thomas
July 01 2009, Article # 14463

Horses can suffer hock problems at any age. Scott McClure, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACVS, an assistant professor in the Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences at Iowa State University, points out that some horses develop juvenile spavin as foals. "This may have to do with how mature the bones were when the horse was born," he explains. Stress of weight bearing on immature bones might create damage and bony changes at a young age.

During heavy training, inflammation will occur and recur and the young horse may require repeated joint injections. "You see this in some older horses as well, if they are used strenuously," notes McClure. "You see some mature horses with beautiful hock joints, but typically the ones that are used heavily will start to develop inflammation at a young age. Others, you may not see it until their teenage years.

"You see some young ones with ugly hocks, some with good hocks, old horses with bad hocks, and some with good hocks," he summarized. "Problems can crop up anywhere across the board, but they are more apt to occur in young ones being used heavily in events like cutting, reining, or roping, where they use their rear end a lot. The other group where you see sore hocks is horses in their teenage years, used in any sport."

[Cuttin74]

If changing the age wouldn't help our horses. What else could we do?
Any ideas out there?

I am looking for preventative measures.