The Saddlebred Industry on the Edge: Where did we make the wrong turn?

I’ve been in the Saddlebred industry since I was six years old and my mom followed the industry since she was a little girl, seeing the greats like My My, Imperator, and Skywatch. She tells me stories of going to the World’s Championship Horse Show on Saturday night to see these horses, saying everyone was “dressed to the nines” and there was “not an empty seat” in Freedom Hall. Today, the upper level is not even half way full. The event used to be “the thing to do” during the Kentucky State Fair. Now it is mostly people in the Saddlebred industry that attend.

WGC CH My-My. Photo from faithfulfriends.asha.net

2014 Saturday night crowd at the World's Championship Horse Show

Not only does the industry need to find a way to get more people involved, it needs to find a way to keep entries up as well. While some classes like the pleasure divisions still see many entries, other higher divisions like three gaited and five gaited are losing entries. It is also becoming harder for the middle class to compete in the Saddlebred industry. While the more expensive horses used to be in different divisions, they have started coming into the pleasure divisions, making it harder for those competing on a cheaper budget. It is not uncommon for pleasure horses to cost six figures now, making the middle class less competitive in the show ring.

Back when the World’s Championship Horse Show didn’t include pleasure classes, top competitors spent their money on horses that were able to show at the World’s Championship Horse Show. Now they can drop six figures on a very nice horse that is nearly guaranteed a world championship win in the pleasure division. The qualifying rules for pleasure classes at the World’s Championship Horse Show, which takes place in August, state that a horse must have shown in six pleasure classes at three different shows by the end of June. Qualifying classes start after the previous World’s Championship Horse Show. Before this rule, people would show up to the World’s Championship Horse Show with a horse that competed in three gaited all season long and show in the pleasure classes for an easier win. Though the qualifying rules changed this from happening, there are now pleasure horses that once competed or easily could compete in divisions such as park or three gaited, giving those true pleasure horses and their riders a smaller chance of being competitive.

All this is not said to discredit the good work that has been started in the industry. The Bluegrass Select Series, for example, started in 2015. These classes are designed for horses competing in Kentucky and not attending the World’s Championship Horse Show. It allows riders to be more competitive because they don’t have to compete against the bigger show horses going to the World’s Championship Horse Show. Similar in its goals, the Carolina Summer Circuit was started not long before the Bluegrass Select Series to support smaller show circuits in the Carolinas.

While these efforts are great, it still makes it hard for riders competing on a cheaper budget and still wishing to show at the World’s Championship Horse Show. As of right now, there is not a way to keep more big show horses from dropping into the pleasure divisions and knocking down the true pleasure horses. I believe that if we want to continue to see this industry grow and stop going backwards, we must find a way to keep competitive showing more affordable and not let the six figure horses take over all the divisions.