QUALIFYING

General Qualifying Rules:

● HORSES qualify for performance classes and RIDERS qualify for equitation classes.
● Horses entered in the Grand National & World Championship Morgan Horse Show® must qualify for a class between the last day of the prior year’s show and the day before the current year by:
Placing 1st through 8th in that class or comparable futurity class  at an AMHA Regional Show.
Placing 1st through 6th in that class or comparable futurity class at a USEF All-Morgan show, USEF Morgan Division, and shows with a Morgan division sanctioned by registries that have been granted international reciprocity by AMHA.
Placing 1st-4th in that class at an AMHA Star Show.
● Equitation riders qualify for Equitation Classes by placing 1st through 8th in that class at an AMHA Regional Show, 1st through 6th in that class at a USEF show or by placing 1st through 4th in that class at an AMHA Star Show.
● Dressage and Western Dressage entries must have been shown at a qualifying show. (see above)
● Stallions which have been gelded during the current competition year qualify for the corresponding class for geldings.
● Junior Horses who qualify under the above rules in a class for “Four-Year-Olds and Under” are automatically qualified for the class of their respective age group.
● Maiden, Novice, Limit, Gentlemen, Open, classes with open specifications and classes divided by height qualify horses for Open classes by placing as described above.
● Amateur Ladies Pleasure Driving and Amateur Gentlemen Pleasure Driving are classes for amateurs. Horses must qualify by winning the appropriate placing in an Amateur class.
● Amateur Owned, Trained and Shown. Horses must qualify by winning the appropriate placing in an Amateur class or AOTS Class.
● Gentlemen to Ride/Drive Horses must qualify by winning the appropriate placing in an Open class or a class specific for Gentlemen.
● Ladies, Amateur to Ride are classes for Ladies, restricted to Amateur riders. Horses must qualify by winning the appropriate placing in a Ladies class or a class specific for Ladies Amateur.
● Masters classes are classes for Amateurs, restricted to riders/drivers that are 50 years & older. Horses must qualify by winning the appropriate placing in an Amateur class or a class specific for Amateur Masters except Classic and Park.
● Saddle Seat Classic Equitation riders must qualify in either a Saddle Seat Classic Equitation class or a Saddle Seat Equitation class.
● Walk-Trot riders must qualify by showing in any Walk-Trot class.
● Youth horses must qualify by showing in any class in that division.

Qualifying rules for each section:

CARRIAGE DRIVING – No qualifying required

CLASSIC PLEASURE DRIVING – Horse must qualify by winning the appropriate placing in any Classic Pleasure Driving class. EXCEPTION: Youth qualifies by having been shown in any class in this division.

CLASSIC PLEASURE SADDLE – Horse must qualify by winning the appropriate placing in any Classic Pleasure Saddle class. EXCEPTION: Youth qualifies by having been shown in any class in this division.

DRESSAGE – No qualifying required for Second Level and above. Introductory, Training and First Level horse/rider combination must have been shown at a qualifying show at that level. Musical Freestyle horse/rider combination must have received a minimum score of 63% for Training through Fourth levels in the highest test of the declared freestyle level at a qualifying show.

DRESSAGE, WESTERN – No qualifying required for Level Two and above. Introductory, Basic and Level One horse/rider combination must have been shown at a qualifying show at that level.

ENGLISH PLEASURE – Horses must qualify by winning the appropriate placing in that class. EXCEPTIONS: Youth qualifies by having been shown in any class in this division, any Amateur class will qualify for Masters, any Ladies class will qualify for Ladies Amateur to ride.

EQUITATION –

  • Riders must qualify for AMHA Medal classes by placing 1st or 2nd in an AMHA Silver Medal class.
  • Reining Seat riders may qualify by riding a registered Morgan mare or gelding in an open USEF or NRHA recognized competition or a 1st, 2nd or 3rd place in Reining Seat Equitation.
  • Hunter Seat over Fences riders may qualify by riding a registered Morgan mare or gelding in an open USEF Hunter Over Fences Equitation class and place 1st, 2nd or 3rd.
  • Dressage Seat riders can qualify by riding a registered Morgan mare or gelding in an open Federation Dressage competition and earning a score of 60% or higher in Training Level, Test 3.
  • Riders must qualify for the UPHA Challenge Cup Finals by placing 1st through 4th in a UPHA Morgan Challenge Cup or by placing 1st through 4th in an Open UPHA Challenge Cup class while riding a Morgan.
  • All other Equitation classes must be qualified by winning the appropriate placing in that seat. EXCEPTION: No qualifying required for Adult Equitation.
  • Walk-Trot riders must have shown in any Walk-Trot class to qualify.

FITTING & SHOWMANSHIP – No qualifying required.

FUTURITY – No qualifying required. Horse must be current on all World Morgan Futurity Fees and have a show fee paid to the Futurity for that class.

HUNTER – No qualifying required.

HUNTER PLEASURE – Horses must qualify by winning the appropriate placing in that class. EXCEPTIONS: Youth qualifies by having been shown in any class in this division, any Amateur class will qualify for Masters and AOTS, any Ladies class will qualify for Ladies Amateur to ride, any Open class will qualify for Gentlemen.

IN-HAND – Horses qualify by winning the appropriate placing in that class. Classes with combined age groups qualify for the class of the horse’s age. EXCEPTIONS: No qualifying required for yearlings or two year olds or Specialty In-Hand.

JUMPER – No qualifying required.

LEADLINE – No qualifying required.

PARK HARNESS – Horse must qualify by winning the appropriate placing in any Park Harness class. EXCEPTION: Youth qualifies by having been shown in any class in this division and Two-Year-Olds do not require any qualification.

PARK SADDLE – Horse must qualify by winning the appropriate placing in any Park Saddle class. EXCEPTION: Youth qualifies by having been shown in any class in this division.

PLEASURE DRIVING – Horse must qualify by winning the appropriate placing in that class. EXCEPTIONS: Two-Year-Olds do not require any qualification. Youth qualifies by having been shown in any class in this division, any Amateur class will qualify for Masters, Amateur Gentlemen and Amateur Ladies.

REINING – No qualifying required.

ROAD HACK – Horse must qualify by winning the appropriate placing in any Road Hack class.

ROADSTER – No qualifying required.

SPORT HORSE – No qualifying required.

TRAIL – No qualifying required.

VERSATILE MORGAN – No qualifying required.

WALK-TROT PLEASURE – Riders must have shown in any Walk-Trot class.

WESTERN PLEASURE – Horse must qualify by winning the appropriate placing in that class. EXCEPTIONS: Youth qualifies by having been shown in any class in this division, any Amateur class qualifies for Amateur Gentlemen, Masters and AOTS, any Ladies class qualifies for Ladies Amateur, any Open or Gentlemen class qualifies for Gentlemen.

WORKING WESTERN – No qualifying required.

For any questions, please contact Peggy Hatfield, Show Secretary 316-755-0395 or peggyhat@aol.com