THE VISION

We are at a time in our breed that the future can be shaped. Our future can be whatever we dream it to be. I can envision a future that has new owners enthusiastically breeding, buying and showing. Huge prize money will attract new participants and television coverage alike. The judging will be transparent, the results traceable. From this, new projects will be born: The Half-Arabian English Futurity, the Amateur English Maturity, etc, etc. Most importantly, people will begin to brag to friends and strangers about our wonderful Arabian horses and the exciting things they do with them.

The Arabian English Performance Association means to make the vision reality. Our specific goals in order to bring that about are: 1. Create a Futurity class for four-year old purebred Arabians that will pay the most prize money ever in an Arabian class. 2. Develop a judging system that will give numeric scores for the exhibition of an English horse compared against a standard. 3. Include in the class individual performances so each horse can be properly evaluated. 4. Set into place an organization and fund-raising system that will insure the integrity and longevity of the Futurity beyond the involvement of the founders.

THE MONEY

The prize money, as I am sure you know by now, is $100,000.00. $40,000 will be paid to the Champion; $20,000 paid to the Reserve Champion; and, $5000 paid to the remaining Top Eight.

FUND-RAISING

How are we raising the money? Two ways: financial contributions and stallion service auctions.

The financial contributors are people like you - those who love the Arabian horse. They are giving a five-year commitment for $500.00 to $15,000.00 per year. This group of dedicated individuals are a broad spectrum of people that are owners, breeders, amateur exhibitors and trainers. We welcome everyone' s involvement. This really is one of those things that we will all look back on and say, A yeah, I was apart of making that happen. @ For the first five years, all of the payout will be generated by these donations. By doing this we can set into place the second form of fund-raising: the Stallion Service Auction.

The Auction will be held every year beginning in 2007. The services of a stallion will be donated to the Futurity to be auctioned. All of the proceeds will go to that foal crops payout.

Example....Ibn Ali Baba's breeding is donated in 2007 and sells at auction for $2,000.00. It is then placed into an escrow account, along with the auction proceeds from the other nominated Stallions, until it is paid out when the resulting foal crops are four-years old, showing at Scottsdale in the English Performance Futurity. This insures that every year has its own money, no borrowing from Peter to pay Paul. It also insures the future of the program. Currently, there are 40 stallions signed up to the Futurity.

This is not an exclusive club. The success of the program is dependent on the involvement of many people. Likewise, I think the program offers much to the stallion owners. For a single donated breeding, all of the offspring, from the year of the donation, are eligible for the Futurity Class. A breeding must be donated yearly for subsequent foal crops to be eligible. No one has to pay any premiums, or yearly Futurity fees. A stallion owner, by donating a breeding supports the Futurity; increases the value of their foals; increases demand for their stallion; and, offers an added service to their clients who buy breedings.

THE SCORING SYSTEM

The horses will be evaluated in four major categories:

1. Carriage 2. Motion 3. Quality 4. Attitude

• Carriage is scored in the subgroups of: head and neck carriage, body carriage, and the grace and ease which the horse maintains that carriage.
• Motion is scored in the subgroups of front leg motion, hind leg motion and the overall delivery of that motion which includes cadence, impulsion, and beauty.
• Quality is scored in the subgroups of: Arabian type, English Style, and overall quality.
• Attitude is scored in the subgroups of manners and expression.

The class will be scored in both directions of the arena to account for variations in each horse. The beauty of this system is that it gives a balanced approach to judging. A judge that loves a long neck cannot ignore the rest of the horse. Nor will one mistake end the day for a beautiful, talented horse. No more soap boxes to stand on, just standards to stand by.

INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES

Scoring each horse could not be practical without individual works which gives every horse a chance to shine. Almost every riding discipline that is growing, e.g., reining, jumping, dressage, sport horse, halter, has individual performances. Like these disciplines, exhibitors will be able to show multiple horses. The limit for our Futurity is 3 horses per rider.

Horses can show in either a snaffle/martingale or a full bridle. Our goal is to let the horses be their best and show in the equipment they are most comfortable. This applies to the individual works and the final.

WHAT THE CLASS WILL LOOK LIKE

On Sunday afternoon in Wendell Arena the individual performances will take place. There will be a draw to determine the order of go. One by one the entries will enter at a trot and perform a pattern that will demonstrate a walk, trot and canter in both directions. But, more importantly, demonstrate their aptitude and abilities as a purebred Arabian English Horse. They will be given scores by each of the Panel 1 judges. The scores will be tallied and announced. The spectators will be able to fill out their own score cards while following along. They may even have the manifesto of the perfect Arabian English Horse to see the standard that all exhibitors will be judged against. Amid the sounds of a Mariachi band, the hoots and hollers of excited owners and spectators, the aromas of empanadas and marguerites will fill the air. The afternoon will be spent viewing the worlds best English horses in a beautiful venue. At the end of the day, everybody will know who qualifies to come back on Friday night and compete for their share of $100,000.00.

The horses with the 14 highest scores will be invited to compete for the $40,000.00 Championship check on Friday night of Finals Weekend. The class will be run as a traditional English pleasure class and be placed one through ten on the judges cards. While the winner of the individual performance may have an edge coming into the final, one more crucial element of the English horse comes into consideration: who is a A show horse? @ Which horse A lights up in the evening session and is still able to navigate the arena confidently?

OUR FUTURE

We, the Arabian English Performance Association, could not be more excited about the future of the breed. We think that the $100,000.00 Futurity is going to have a great impact on the breeding and showing of our English horses. It quite honestly might be a paradigm shift within the Arabian horse world. There will finally be a true standard that you can look to and actually break down the elements that make up a perfect English horse. Daunting? Yes, but possible. Then, to be able to apply this standard within a judging system to individual works and get a real evaluation, WOW. And, that it will pay huge money, fabulous. This is only the beginning, larger payouts, more classes, amateur maturities. The sky is the limit. This is, however, not the only good news in the business: The Blackhorse.com auction, raising money for English classes to replace sweepstakes, the Las Vegas horseshow, the scoring of halter classes, the reining Futurity, etc. There is definitely something in the air. People want change and are doing something about it. Bravo!

If you have chosen the lifestyle of Arabian horses for yourself, pick one of these great efforts and see how you can help. Or, invent one of your own. There is much to be done.

Thank you for your time

Joel Kiesner
Arabian English Performance Association