In a message dated 10/21/2003 2:13:31 PM Pacific Standard Time, kclanin@xxxxxxx writes:
Chapter 1 Section 16. When Titles are Won. After a dog earns a title, it may continue showing in that class for 60 days.
The problem with this is that the dog is the same dog, and will STILL be the same dog and thus, will - or should - be judged as such. In a competitive sport where actual performance and ability are key, the horse is not the same horse 6 months or two years later - age, injury, foaling, new rider - many things change the participant. Theoretically, in a halter class (formerly considered Model/Breeding Classes), the horse's sole criteria is to best exemplify its breed (we'll ignore the notion being espoused currently by some halter folk that it should be re-classified as a performance class. By who, the leaping handler??:)!). If the horse - or dog - is an excellent representative of its breed, it will be so no matter what. But just as a track race horse may not be the same at 7 as it was at 4, an endurance horse cannot automatically be reclassified solely on the assumption that a degree of successful completions, etc., must deem that horse unsuitable to continue or to ever return to that level of competition. It just isn't the same.
