AQHA Announces New Gate for Trail Classes
![[photo credit: the Quarter Horse Journal]](https://www.showhorsetoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/new-trail-gate.png)
[source: AQHA.com]
To read the full article on AQHA.com, click here.
If you and your horse are used to opening and closing a metal gate, that maneuver will come in handy, as the American Quarter Horse Association is replacing rope gates with metal gates in trail classes at two AQHA world championship shows this year.
Exhibitors can view an example on AQHA’s Youtube channel of the type of gate to be used in trail classes at the 2017 AQHA Select World Championship Show,presented by Adequan® (polysulfated glycosaminoglycan), and the 2017 Lucas Oil AQHA World Championship Show.
Why not have some real obstacles ..like water boxes. Walk over flower boxes..logs..instead of just another class for pleasure horses. Or maybe put the lope overs at max. Bet the results would be different
This is a great idea. No more worry about the kids getting the rope under their stirrups.
A bit of a hassle for some shows, or is a alternate option to the rope gate?
Jo …… trail consistently the largest class at almost all shows ….. why would you fix something that’s not broken . Sound a like ranch trail will be more to your liking.
We should go back to a trail course not a pole class. We used to open mailboxes, put on rain slickers, pulling a tire, etc. we need to show the versatility of our Quarter horses. We used to show and ride our horses out on the trail!
That’s what we did “back in the day,” along with mail boxes, slickers, water obstacles, etc, not just logs, logs, and more logs to trot/lope over!
Trail needs new/old stuff It has become ‘Horse Gymnastics”
Raw animal hides always separated the men from the boys!! and some were hung on the gate! OMG!
In our area (Connecticut), we call it the “Lope-over Class”.