First things first, WELCOME! We’re glad you’ve joined APHA and chosen a breed that is Marked for Greatness!
APHA has many Regional Clubs and youth Regional Clubs to join. Visit our Regional Club Finder to locate a club near you. Can’t find one close enough for comfort? See what it takes to start a new club HERE!
Use APHA’s Event Calendar to find APHA sanctioned shows near you. Don’t see any nearby? APHA sanctioned classes can be dual-approved with existing shows, visit our Show Management page to learn how to hold your own APHA shows or classes!
For exhibitors who are ready to challenge all comers, the APHA offers classes that are “open” to everyone—professional and non-professional alike. With more than 20 different events in this division, there is virtually something for everyone – from cutting and reining to jumping and pleasure driving.
What you need:
If you would like to show in Open Green classes, you will need to verify that your horse is Green Eligible for the appropriate classes. To determine this, pull up your horse’s Performance Record on APHA Online or submit a Performance Record Request Form to determine their APHA earnings, and consult any other associations’ records that the horse has competed in.
Your horse must have less than 25 points (10 points in zones 12, 13, and 14), $2,500, no World or Reserve World Titles, or a bronze horse medal in the EWU in any division of the green class you are interested in, except for Walk/Trot, as of January 1 of the current show year.
If competition is what you crave, you should check out APHA’s Amateur program.
APHA has three Amateur Divisions that gives people the opportunity to compete comfortably at their skill level:
To show in the APHA Amateur Divisions, exhibitors must:
Please familiarize yourself with the Amateur Rules for eligibility, ownership, and competition in the APHA Rule Book.
READY TO SHOW? Check out the Amateur Division Homepage to see what you need to get started!
The Amateur and Youth Divisions require that you or an immediate family member must own the horse you are exhibiting to be eligible for APHA points, money, titles, and awards. If you or a family member does not own the horse, you can submit a show lease. Only one show lease can be filed on a horse at a time. For Amateur W/T, Youth, Novice Youth, Youth W/T, and Zone 12, 13, &14 Novice Amateur exhibitors, if you or your immediate family does not own or lease the horse your points will be removed in the show results and will not become part of the horse’s performance record, but will count against your novice eligibility where applicable. For the APHA World Shows, the ownership requirements must be met.
Show leases must be submitted and processed before the first day you plan to show the horse. For the quickest and cheapest processing of a show lease, submit through our new online platform, PH Central. Show leases automatically expire on December 31 of the year they are submitted for, but can be cancelled prior to that date if a show lease cancellation is submitted.
It is not possible for an Amateur or Youth owner and a non-related Amateur or Youth lessee to both receive APHA points, money, titles, and awards on the same horse at the same time.
When a horse is show leased, it essentially temporarily “transferred” to the lessee for showing purposes to meet ownership requirements for the divisions they are showing in. That means that for showing purposes, the owner of the horse no longer meets the ownership requirements while a show lease is active on their horse.
For Amateur W/T, Youth, Novice Youth, Youth W/T, and Zone 12, 13, &14 Novice Amateur exhibitors, if you or your immediate family does not own or lease the horse your points will be removed in the show results and will not become part of the horse’s performance record, but will count against your novice eligibility where applicable. For the APHA World Shows, the ownership requirements must be met. So if the owner competes in one of these divisions, they could still show the horse they own while it is being leased and just not receive their points. Or alternatively, if the exhibitor that isn’t related to the horse competes in one of these divisions, they could show the horse without a lease and not earn points, and the amateur owner could then show the horse and earn their points and awards as they normally would.
If you would like to show in Novice classes, you will need to verify that you are Novice Eligible for the appropriate classes. To determine this, enter your membership ID into our Exhibitor Novice Eligibility page.
You must have less than 40 Open/Amateur/Youth points (20 points in zones 12, 13, and 14), 50 Novice Amateur/Novice Youth points (25 points in zones 12, 13, and 14), $2,500, no World or Reserve World Titles, in any division of the novice category you are interested in, except for Walk/Trot, as of January 1 of the current show year. Novice eligibility is determined on a per-category basis, the categories are defined on the above page. Points, titles, and earnings from other equine associations also count against your novice eligibility with APHA and must be reported when submitting your Novice Show Card forms. Non-APHA points are revalued using the revaluation table in the current APHA Rulebook.
That is correct, during the 2023 APHA Convention, the APHA State Directors passed a rule change proposal that will change the way that APHA Novice Eligibility is calculated.
In order to be Novice Eligible for a category starting in 2024, exhibitors may not have (bold text denotes changes):
Instead of your Open/Amateur/Youth points counting separately from your Novice Amateur/Novice Youth points, they will now count together, simplifying how novice eligibility is determined. This could mean that an exhibitor who has pointed out of a category under the current rules would regain novice eligibility in that category if they have a combined total of less than 75 points in that category (excluding W/T).
If youth competition is what you crave, you should check out AjPHA’s Youth program.
APHA has three Youth Divisions that gives kids the opportunity to compete comfortably at their skill level:
To qualify for the AjPHA Youth Program, exhibitors must:
Please familiarize yourself with the Youth Rules for eligibility, ownership, and competition in the APHA Rule Book.
READY TO SHOW? Check out the Youth Division Homepage to see what you need to get started!
APHA has many programs that makes it pay to have a Paint! Check out the following programs!
APHA no longer requires qualifying in order to exhibit at the APHA World Show and Halter Million! Check out the APHA World Show Homepage and APHA Halter Million Homepage to view the show schedule, premium book, dates & deadlines and other necessary forms.
To find performance information on a horse, you will need either the Silver or Gold Access Subscription to APHAonline.org, or you can request a PDF of a horse’s lifetime performance record by submitting a Performance Record Request Form with the associated fee.
Silver Access will allow you to view the awards, titles, current year point total and detailed breakdown, and lifetime point summary for the horse. Gold Access allows you to see all the same information, as well as a detailed breakdown of each year of the horse’s show record, any siblings and their performance records, and any offspring and their performance records.
All of this information can be found with the Silver or Gold Access Subscription to APHAonline.org, under the Silver (APHA Basic) tab.
High-Point Exhibitor and Leading Sire standings can be found under the Public Access tab.
The APHA represents a wide variety of horse-lovers with a wide variety of interests. If you are competitive by nature, check out these programs designed just for you! Get information about showing your Paint horse in APHA-Approved competition, the Paint Alternative Competition program or get involved in our Youth or Amateur programs. Research show records and show results or find a show near you! Get information about sponsoring an APHA approved show, becoming an approved judge or find resources useful for show managers and secretaries. Check out the many ways that you can get show your Paint with APHA below!
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