One of the things I love about living in the United States is that we have choices. We have choices about everything in our lives, from politics, to jobs, to food and to horses.

We can decide which discipline fits our needs. And then we can decide what trainer we want to ride with. As trainers or owners, we can decide what division would be best for each individual rider and each individual horse. Over the past 10 years, many new divisions have been invented and have blossomed in horse shows throughout the country.

Before we get to those horse shows, we have many choices of saddles to ride in and tack shops at which to buy horse equipment and riding clothes. Almost every big show now has tack shop after tack shop lined up along its vendor row. Usually we choose the one that suits our needs or offers us the best products for the best price.

We have choices in horse magazines too. If we like what they publish, we subscribe to them. (I\’m glad you\’re reading this one since my column is here!)

And we have many, many choices about where to show our horses. It seems that each year brings a new horse show complex popping up somewhere in the country.

That means you can decide what part of the country to show in. You can decide if you want to show on an unrecognized circuit or go to a USA Equestrian-recognized horse show. Many of the unrecognized shows have beautiful jumps, good judges and high-score awards at the end. These are the shows that have taken the place of the local C- and B-rated shows.

I think these local C- and B-rated shows have lost their appeal because there are so many A- and AA-rated shows now. So, rather than pay all the fees that are required for USAEq recognition, it\’s more cost-effective for managers to offer unrecognized shows and for owners and trainers to attend them. Usually, you\’re getting the same quality of courses, ribbons, prizes and year- or series-end awards, if not better.

At these shows, you can start a young horse or a new rider for half the price, which means you can do so many more classes for less money.

That\’s why USAEq officials need to improve the year-end and zone awards. They need to provide riders with more incentive to participate in rated shows.

Sometimes we choose which shows we attend based on the management and what they offer. An exhibitor can decide which show has the best footing, the best judges, the best trophies, the best prize money offered. And you can decide which nearby hotel fits your needs. Now you can even decide which show has the best town close by to fill your needs of family entertainment, shopping and restaurants.

As a trainer you can decide what shows fit your needs for each customer you have that particular year. The time schedule is something else you can make sure fits the time schedule you have with your barn or your family.

For the first time ever, we now have a choice of which indoor shows to attend. The HITS team put together the National Indoor Finals in Worcester, Mass., which was well attended (see Oct. 10, p. 18) and had lots of hunter money. The children\’s and adult medal finals offered the kind of technically challenging courses that they should have as year-end finals courses.

And the show had beautiful presentations, beautiful trophies and beautiful coolers. For entertainment, they had The One-Armed Bandit and one of the HITS team shooting T-shirts into the crowd each night.

There were certainly issues to be ironed out, which Tom Struzzieri and his team will do for next year. Even though this show wasn\’t USAEq-recognized and didn\’t count toward Horse of the Year or zone points, I think this is a year-end final that will stay for years to come.

Hunters and jumpers can then go on to the Capital Challenge in Upper Marlboro, Md., which has proven over the years to be a success. Then they have Harrisburg and Washington and, then, a choice to be made\’the National Horse Show at the New York Pier or the new Syracuse (N.Y.) show presented by team Madden. Then they could go on to Las Vegas or to Palm Beach (Fla.) for the next two National horse shows. And sprinkled throughout the fall are all the different zone finals.

Equitation riders now have the USET finals (East and West Coast), Capital Challenge Equitation weekend, the USAEq Medal finals at Harrisburg, the New England Medal finals, the Ariat and the State Line medals, the Washington Equitation Finals, the ASPCA Maclay regional and national finals, a host of West Coast equitation finals, the HBO Junior Medal, the Charles Own Adult and Amateur medals, and the Victor Hugo-Vidal finals in Palm Beach, to name just a few.

Yes, we finally have a fall full of choices. That means the managers of the indoor shows will have to try harder to be user-friendly!

Each show\’s management team will have to make choices of what to do better. I know that many of us would like to see more prize money for the hunters. But I\’d suggest that they make an entry fee cap of 10 percent of the prize money offered. The carrot dangling on the stick in front of us for these important shows cannot be the same one it\’s always been.

I know that exhibitors are going to choose the shows that present the best package. The show managers who sit down after their shows this year and try to give back to the exhibitors and owners will be the ones who succeed.