Futurity & Maturity

The goal of the futurity and maturity is to identify and promote the best young horses in a specific class. The futurity classes are for horses up to the age of 5 and maturity classes are specifically for horses that are 6, 7 and 8 years of age. These classes can only be entered by offspring from stallions that have been paid in through the SSA and they are generally held during the NQHA Dutch Championships. The offspring of SSA stallions will also need to be nominated for the futurity and maturity. You can read more about the nomination below.

For both the breeder and the stallion owner it is important to know at an early stage if the offspring is performing well. The futurity allows to test this early on. Besides the honor of winning at the futurity, these classes are extra interesting because they are the only classes with prize money.

The nominated offspring needs to be AQHA registered and the sire needs to be paid in for the year in which the foal was born. It is possible that a stallion is not paid in through the SSA in a specific year. As a result, the offspring that is born 2 years later cannot be nominated, even though the offspring from the previous and next year are eligible.

Nominating foals

To further increase the amount of prize money in the futurity and maturity classes, all the offspring of SSA stallions needs to be nominated. This requires a single payment of the nomination fee, of which the amount is determined by the age of the horse. To nominate a horse, you need to be a member of the NQHA. The current nomination fee is listed in the rules and regulations and in the form below.

Prize money

The money that is raised with the SSA and the nominations is managed by the NQHA. The amount that is received for breedings will be used as prize money in the futurity and maturity the year after the SSA. The nomination fees and 75 % of the entry fees are added to this amount. The total will then be distributed over the contestants according to a distribution table that can be found in the rules and regulations. 70 % of this money is paid to the owner of the horse and 30 % to the person who nominated the stallion. The prize money will never be lower than the entry fees.

The following classes can be entered:

 Futurity

• Halter Weanling – stallion & mare
• Halter Yearling – stallion, gelding & mare
• Halter Two year old – stallion, gelding & mare
• Halter Three year old – stallion, gelding & mare

2 and 3 year old

• Longe line
• Trail in Hand

4 and 5 year old

• Ranch Riding
• Ranch Trail
• Western Pleasure
• Hunter under Saddle
• Trail
• Reining

Maturity

6, 7 and 8 year old

• Ranch Riding
• Ranch Trail
• Western Pleasure
• Hunter under Saddle
• Trail
• Reining

If you want to enter in the futurity and maturity program, we recommend reading the full set of rules and regulations. In case you have any questions, you can send an email to SSA@nqha.nl.