All North American Contest
ALL-NORTH AMERICAN RULES/PROCEDURES
Eligibility in the All-North American program is determined entirely by placings at the designated shows listed on the next page. The top four Shires in each class at AA level shows, the top three at A level shows, the top two at B level shows and the class winners only at C level shows are eligible to be entered in the All-North American Contest. The horse must earn a qualifying placing in the open class at one of the recognized shows. Placings in bred & owned, futurity or other specialty classes do not qualify. Qualifying placings are the official class placing only, regardless of breed, age or sex eligible to enter the class. For example, in a mixed sex foal class, a stallion foal placing 2nd behind a filly would not qualify as the 1st place stallion foal. Likewise, a Shire placing 2nd in a mixed breed class behind a Clydesdale would not qualify as the 1st place Shire. All nominated horses must be DNA verified and registered with the respective breed association. This includes foals and geldings. CSHA, ASHA, and SHS registered horses are eligible. SHS Grade A females are not eligible. Those SHS Grade B females with a Clydesdale dam are not eligible. Membership is not required.
When entering, be sure that your placing was in one of the qualifying classes at a qualifying show. There are eleven classes which qualify for the All-North American Contest:
Registered Geldings (any age), Stud Foals, Yearling Stallions, 2-Year-Old Stallions, Aged Stallions (3 & Over), Filly Foals, Yearling Mares, 2-Year-Old Mares, 3-Year-Old Mares, Brood Mares, 4 Years Old & Over and Yeld Mares, 4 Years Old & Over. You must list all qualifying placings in ALL qualifying classes. As noted, placings in futurity classes, bred & owned classes, etc. do not qualify for the Contest, however, any championships SHOULD be included. (Why list all the qualifying places? This contest is meant to be an accurate historical record of the year’s events. Inclusion of only the first-place finishes does not accomplish that goal.)
To make a nomination, you will need the following:
1. Access to Assist Expo, https://www.assistexpo.ca/shire-all-north-american
2. An un-retouched, un-altered digital photograph, color or black & white, any size, of the horse standing only, and taken during the current year show season. No photos in harness or in motion will be allowed. Photos altered in any way will cause an automatic disqualification. We cannot use photographer’s proofs. The submitted filename must include the registration number and registered name of the horse and be in tif or jpg format at 300 dpi. 3.
3. You must have the ASHA, CSHA or SHS registration number of the animal in order to enter the contest.
4. The completed All-North American Nomination, which follows the list of qualifying shows. Use one entry per animal There is no entry fee.
Your entry must be in the Assist Expo Entry System by December 15th, complete with photos to be eligible for the contest.
ENTRIES RECEIVED AFTER DECEMBER 15th, AND INCOMPLETE ENTRIES WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED!
Please make sure that your entries are properly completed. We will not hold up the contest and publication of the results for late entries or photo submissions.
Please make sure that your entries are properly completed.
The Shire All-North American Committee will check all the entries and show results. Erroneous entries will be excluded. Any exhibitor or owner that accumulates a total of three disqualifications for any number of infractions will immediately and thereafter become ineligible to participate in the Contest. This means that if one exhibitor has three horses disqualified in this year’s competition, none of their entries will be accepted for this year, or any year thereafter. Reasons for disqualifications include, but are not limited to: use of a photo taken other than during the current show year or a photo which has been altered in any way; the listing of inaccurate show winnings, entry of a non-registered foal, etc. Further, we will bring to the attention of ASHA and CSHA Boards of Directors, exhibitors who habitually claim false winnings in the All-North American Contest. In short, check your entries carefully, and then check them again. If you won the placing, claim it… If you did not, don’t enter it.
All nominees and their winnings will be published in the breed newsletter. Prior to this, the entries will be e-mailed to the judges of the designated shows in the form of an eballot.
Each judge will be asked to place the top half of each class, and submit his/her e-ballot to Assist Expo. The horse in each class with the highest points will be the All-North American and the second highest will be the Reserve All-North American. A reasonable number of Honorable Mentions will also be designated by the All-North American committee, based on the tabulated results. There will be no set number of Honorable Mentions named–Some classes warrant several, others none at all.
The All-North American Committee will present certificates to each All-North American, Reserve All-North American and Honorable Mention (if applicable) winners.
What Happens If You Don’t Follow the Rules?
In 1998, the contest adopted a “Three Strikes, You’re Out” policy which arose from annual questions and complaints about inaccurate placings included in the breed ballots. The questions frequently came from contest judges. They would note that two competitors were claiming the same placing in the same class at the same show. The complaints also
came from fellow exhibitors that were upset that a horse appeared in the ballot with a placing that they did not actually receive; oftentimes that they had won with their animal. At the time this misinformation was discovered, it was too late to recall the ballots as they were already in the hands of the judges. In most cases, the discovery was not made until
after the contest results were already published. Whether or not these inaccurate placings had any bearing on the contest results is unknown, but it did call the integrity of the program into question and, as the ballot serves as an historical record of the show ring for the year, a desire for accurate results was certain. A policy was developed that stated that exhibitors claiming false placings or otherwise not following the rules should have the horse’s entry in question disqualified and that a single exhibitor’s third offense (three disqualifications) would exclude him/her from competing in the contest in the future, or “three strikes, you’re out.” Each breed association accepted the responsibility of reviewing the nomination forms for compliance and issuing “strikes” or disqualifications as they determined appropriate for their breed as it related to inaccurate placings and other instances not in accordance with the contest guidelines.
The best advice is to read the contest rules in the respective breed publications, follow the instructions for nominating horses, ask if you have any questions and, as the grade school teachers always point out, double check your work. Since the inception of the policy, relatively few animals have been disqualified and, to date, only one has “struck out.”
Any entry submitted with a photograph that has, in the opinion of the All-North American Committee, been altered in any way will be disqualified and the person who submitted it will receive one strike against him/her. What are considered alterations? Alterations include, but are not limited to, the following: Removing or manipulating anything, such as the
handler, another horse, halter, or anything else appearing in the photo. Distorting, changing, adding or deleting the color, highlighting any portion of a photo or changing the background is considered an alteration. No matter how we say it or define it, we simply do not allow altered photos in the All-North American Contest.
Submit all entries by December 15, 2021 via Assist Expo:
Kari Moulton
4880 N Highway 33 Tetonia, ID 83452