Press Release - Wednesday, August 9, 2000
Contact: Carolyn Vincent 1-516-484-1865 (phone) 1-516-484-1982 (fax)

Responding to refusal by leaders of the National Hunter/Jumper Council (NHJC) of the American Horse Shows Association (AHSA) to recommend continued approval of variations in the AHSA rules for AHSA recognition in 2000, the National Horse Show will suspend the planned activities in the Hunter division for this year only, it was announced today by Chrystine J. Tauber, Executive Director of the National Horse Show at Madison Square Garden. The action was approved at a conference call meeting of the National's Board of Directors held today. Due to the schedule restrictions at the Garden the show has run each year since 1996 with AHSA rule modifications.

"Owing to additional scheduling problems at the Garden," Tauber said, "we were faced with the prospect of further condensing our show into even one less day than we had run on since 1996. To offer a spectacular although shorter show we developed a program which would have greatly increased prize money to over $450,000 in Hunter and Jumper classes, including a $100,000 Hunter Classic. However, to do this, all Hunter classes would have to be held on one day (Saturday) with the Hunter Classic on Saturday evening.

"Working with AHSA staff and legal counsel on the problems this presented in the AHSA rules, we prepared a proposal for the AHSA Executive Committee. We proposed that the National be AHSA recognized, as a Local Competition, but that would have required modifications of the rules for the extraordinary circumstances we are facing. For example, a Local show cannot offer prize money over $500. We also proposed that the exhibitors compete without being awarded AHSA points in the Hunter division, owing to the condensed schedule. In addition, we suggested that the Under Saddle classes be combined into a special event format, which would have been another variation of the rules."

The AHSA Executive Committee met by telephone conference to consider the proposed "Presidential Modification" of the rules on Monday morning, August 7. The AHSA Constitution specifically permits such modifications "under special circumstances." Since AHSA president Alan F. Balch is also president of the National Horse Show, he recused himself from consideration of the issue. The Executive Committee acts for the president in such matters when the president discloses a potential conflict of interest, under a procedure recommended by the AHSA Legal Review Committee when Balch took office in 1997. The procedure has been followed each year since then on rule matters involving the National Horse Show.

At the end of the meeting, Balch said, he was asked to join the conference. "Two members of the Executive Committee made it clear that they did not support granting a modification to the rules as proposed. NHJC president Tom Struzzieri represented that the Hunter and Jumper community did not favor the concept we proposed, and that he and the officers of the National Hunter/Jumper Council unanimously felt that the show could not be AHSA recognized. Eric Straus said that other members of the Executive Committee not from the Hunter/Jumper disciplines ought to defer to the recommendation of the Council leadership. Several members suggested that the proposal be referred back to the entire Board of Governors of the Council, scheduled to meet Tuesday evening, August 8, and all agreed.

Balch said, "I contacted Mrs. Kenneth Wheeler (director and benefactor of the National) Monday afternoon to advise her of the situation. On Tuesday afternoon, after thinking everything through, she reached me just prior to the Council Board of Governors monthly conference call to say that she had decided that if there was such a feeling by the Council leaders and the exhibitors they represent, then there was no point going forward with our plans for this year. I agreed with her." Mrs. Wheeler emphasized that the show was not being cancelled or ended. "We will produce a beautiful show for the Maclay horsemanship finals, and any parts of the schedule other than the Hunters that we can arrange, but the location at this time is undecided. And next year, without the additional scheduling problems we face this year with the Grammy Awards, we expect that we will be able to go back to our previous format at the Garden. We're going to go to work on that right now, and it will be fabulous, as always. But we are not going to have a show which is not AHSA recognized. We need the drug rules and we need the Hunter and Jumper rules and the rule enforcement and the insurance protection, just for starters. I've been an AHSA director for as long as I can remember, and both Alan [Balch] and I would never be involved with a show which is not AHSA recognized, and I don't think any of our other directors would be either. I would never dream of asking favors of people who don't think that the exhibitors they represent would support the format we worked out, or who believe that the AHSA should not approve it."

Balch reported Mrs. Wheeler's decision to the NHJC Board of Governors when called upon on Tuesday evening. He said that lengthy and acrimonious discussion followed, which he described as "difficult and hard to believe." He said, "Mr. Struzzieri never wavered from his view that the show should not be AHSA recognized under the conditions proposed, nor did Leo Conroy or Sue Ashe. They're entitled to their opinions, and we are entitled to our own. Mine is that I think this situation demonstrates that we need more flexibility in several areas of the AHSA rules, to encourage innovative thinking to move the entire sport forward. Many of us seem to have forgotten that compromises in many rules were made over the decades to accommodate the needs of special events like the indoor shows, and particularly the Garden, which is so different from any other show as to be literally unique. Frankly, we did not expect any resistance at all to what we had proposed, and we are surprised by how vehement it is. If this sport is to catch up with the rest of the world, we are going to have to embrace change, and fortunately, most of us are willing to do that."