I now hold another American judging card : The American Stock Horse Association .  Whilst at the 2015 CBC International Judges Seminar I  attended the ASHA  seminar/video talk and took a rule book test so I am now the only person in the UK to hold this card.  This Association is primarily based for inter collegiate competitions in the USA and its Collegiate Programme Goals are :

1. To promote education of horsemen in the safety, care and training of the versatile stock horse.

2. To enhance the education of college students interested in the versatile stock horse.

3. To use the horse as a means to teach students how to represent themselves with responsibility, character and teamwork. 

Although a collegiate based competition there are also many open shows with ASHA classes/events so maybe they well be introduced in the UK . There are four classes each exhibitor needs to compete in (although the cow class may be a bit difficult in the  UK !!!) :

1. ASHA Stock Horse Pleasure Class.  This class serves to measure the ability of the horse to be functional and a pleasure to ride while being used as a means of conveyance from one task to another. This horse should be well broke, relaxed, quiet, soft and cadenced at all gaits.   Horses shall be shown individually at the walk, trot and lope in both directions.  The walk, trot and lope shall be extended in one direction only.  Judging based on movement, quality, brokeness, smoothness of transitions. All transitions should be smooth without undue fuss from the horse. Each gait, including transitions, will be scored 1-10.

2.ASHA Stock Horse Trail Class. A horse is ridden through a pattern of obstacles which should nearly approximate those found during the course of everyday work.  Emphasis on judging should be on identifying the well broke, responsive, well mannered horse which can correctly negotiate the course.  The trail course should be conducted on natural terrain outside of the arena if at all possible. Mandatory obstacles are :walk/trot/lope overs, gate, bridge, backing, side pass, rope drag and all three gaits.

3. ASHA Stock Reining Class. This class measures the ability of the western stock horse to perform many basic handling maneuvers.

4. ASHA Stock Horse Working Cow Horse Class.  A versatile western stock horse  this class has been designed to demonstrate and measure the horse's ability to do cow work. Holding the saddle horn is permitted in this class. These cow classes are broken down into Open, Non Pro, Limited Non Pro, Green Horse, Novice, Youth.

The ASHA rules are also different to the main Western performance rules, one being that you can ONLY disqualify horses for illegal equipment, obvious lameness, inhumane treatment or misconduct of riders. Any horse of any age can be shown two handed with a snaffle bit. In the reining class added maneuvers or omissions may be marked a zero for that  maneuver, but the entire run is not disqualified.  Inclusion, deletion or performing a maneuver other than exactly prescribed in the pattern   should receive a Zero (0) for that one maneuver. The judge should continue to score the remaining maneuvers of the pattern. A horse receiving a maneuver score zero is still eligible to place.