Franklin, Tenn - The SHOW HIO Show Managers' Forum was held on Friday, December 2, 2011 at the Cool Springs Marriott. Rachel Reed, SHOW Secretary welcomed show managers to the meeting. Reed discussed that the affiliation fee for 2012 would remain the same at $50. She did say that the  DQP per session fee would increase to $200, up from $175 in 2011. SHOW cards for the upcoming year have decreased in price, the yearly SHOW card will be $75 and the day card will be $25.

New for 2012 show management will collect $5 per entry on behalf of SHOW. Reed also pointed out that horse shows whose schedules are 80% or greater pleasure classes, those horse shows will not have to require entries to have a SHOW card.
 
Reed, will have a master list the first part of January that will contain a list of judges that will judge a show for expenses only. An incentive to judges for doing this is that they will receive the $100 renewal fee back. 
 
The Foundation for the Advancement and Support of the Tennessee Walking Show Horse (FAST) President, Mike Inman spoke to the show managers and insured them that if there was anything FAST could do to help with their show, to please contact FAST. He did say that FAST had purchased a sound system earlier this year and that it was available for shows to use for free. Any show affiliated with SHOW that is interested in using the sound system should contact the SHOW office and coordinate with Rachel Reed.
 
Dr. Steve Mullins, President of SHOW thanked everyone for attending. He assured the show managers that SHOW is here to protect you. He stated that with the USDA in attendance SHOW had on average 150 horses per show. He also stated that they had very few problems in 2011 and that their main goal was to first protect the horse and secondly, protect the show.
 
Jeffrey Howard spoke to the show managers about the Riders' Cup program. In 2011, 89 shows and 88 trainers participated in the program. This year the program paid out approximately 67,000. Howard did encourage show managers to make any open class a Riders' Cup class. When asked if there were any disadvantages for doing so, "there really are no disadvantages" he stated. "The $100 fee stays the same, if you have  one Riders' Cup class or 10."

Being discussed for 2012 is adding a pleasure division, in order to get all trainers involved in the program. Howard did urge show managers that if they are going to offer Riders' Cup classes at their show, to go ahead and send the $100 fee in to the Trainers' Office and it would be available for trainers to view on the Walking Horse Report website calendar and in its print edition.
 
The meeting was very informative for those in attendance. For more information for affiliating with SHOW HIO, go to www.showhio.com and for any questions to putting together a show or for possible assistance go to www.fastwalkingshowhorse.org.