It was easily the most attended committee meeting today, with a room packed full of pretty much everyone here attending convention. Committee chair Karen has a job that none of us envy her for, eligibility chair, and after laying out the rules of the meeting (no outbursts, be respectful of one another) Casey Hinton was elected vice chair. The eligibility rules set forth by this committee affect all of the NRHA membership. They are tasked with creating policy that works not just on a regional level, or just at major events, but across all events, places and countries with no crystal ball to tell them the future. The purpose of the eligibility rules is to evaluate and increase participation in our sport. Given all of the elements this is not a simple task.

Today’s discussion focused on Category 2&6 Eligibility Policy for 2019. What is Category 2&6? Category 2 is aged events (futurities, derbies, maturities, snaffle bit or hackamore classes) available for anyone with an appropriately aged horse holding a valid NRHA license. See page 39 in the 2019 rule book for more details. Category 6 is aged events that require nominations, stallion subscription, breed or gender restrictions ( example NRHA Futurity, Derby or NRBC). See page 42 in the 2019 rule book for more details. Find the NRHA handbook online at https://nrha.com/media/pdf/handbook/2019/handbook.pdf

Lots of people had lots of questions. The two that stuck out the most were Why was the cap removed from the L1? There were two main reasons. The first was to allow older competitors who had monied out of the category but were now older and less competitive a place to show to encourage them to come back to the sport. The second was they were seeing the issue of riders who saw success all in one year being level 1 eligible still so there were riders who some years were Levels 1,3 and 4 eligible because they had won their way out of the level 2, but because of the cap were still in the level 1. Why are riders only allowed to move up and down one level per year? The idea is it is not fair to force someone from the lower levels into level 4 only in one year. For an assistant this can often result in their unemployment as professionals need assistants that can show in the lower levels for their lower level horses. It was brought up that given a couple years this system will level out the riders and get people into the level that they should be

The eligibility survey received almost 1100 responses making it one of the most participated in surveys for NRHA. The committee expressed an interest in continuing to survey the membership to get their opinion. The committee plan to post the results sometime soon. Two points stuck out to me though: First- how few people said they understood the eligibility policy Second- how many people wanted the cap put back on the L1 The committee expressed that they will be looking at the policy to see what needs to be changed to keep the disaster of this year’s eligibility results from happening again. The committee explained what happened with the ineligibility lists this year in that when they first came out there were just days before the first show (eligibility must be finished before the first show so that it can be consistent throughout the year for competitors). As we all remember the first lists were (for lack of a better term) crazy. These lists were not the intention of the committee or the EC who approved the new policy. Unable to completely redraft a new policy in the given time it was determined best to simply strike out after factoring (pulling people up from the level below to fill vacant eligibility spots left open by low level riders only able to move up one level). As after factoring was never the intention of the EC, it was an easy vote for them.

Another year, another great convention in the books! Now that I’m home, make up off, and back in my typical sweat pants I’d like to share my thoughts following convention: - I’m so proud to be apart of an association who’s major focus is growing the base. To hear Mike Hancock talk about the importance of a strong base let’s me know that I’m investing in the right sport. - There is growth in our industry right now. Sure it’s not all sunshine and roses all the time, but the board and staff are making strong efforts to move us along in a positive direction - Go hug the office staff. Those girls are working tirelessly on a very outdated system, half the time just in excel spreadsheets. ReinerSuite sounds amazing and I can’t wait to see it come out finally. - Eligibility isn’t perfect, but the committee is trying to get it as close to right for the majority of our membership as possible. No one could have predicted the perfect storm that resulted in this year’s eligibility lists. We can all say we did, we all think we did, but when I went to the Eligibility workshop last year and watched them put this policy through years of data it looked like it finally worked. The ideas for tweaks to the policy that I am hearing from the committee though are awesome and I look forward to seeing the policy that they put forward this year. - Finally, we are apart of a sport that truly cares. If you haven’t had a chance go watch the judging summit and see how passionate this committee is about getting it right. They understand the influence their decisions have on this sport and they want nothing but to make the right decisions. - and last but not least. As much as some will tell you otherwise there is no dragon in the dungeon at NRHA in need of slaying. We don’t need a white knight to come riding in on his horse to save the day. Thanks for the offer, but no thanks. 😜 And with that I am going to go an snuggle my babies who I missed so much this week. And after they go to bed I’m going to be checking my calendars and walking my barn aisle to see which of my horses will get to tote me through the Ride and Slide this year. Pray for my husband y’all, I’m getting back in the saddle 😂