Pleasure Driving Achievement Awards

Application Form

The ADS Pleasure Driving Committee would like to announce the implementation of The ADS Pleasure Driving Achievement Awards, a program to recognize driver achievement in pleasure showing.

To keep things simple, there are two categories of pure and simple pleasure show performance: the Reinsmanship Class Award and the Working Class Award. When a driver wins five Reinsmanship classes or five Working classes at any recognized American Driving Society Pleasure Show in whatever time frame it takes, they will send their recording certificate indicating the date of the show, name and location of the show, judge who judged their class, and the signature of the organizer or secretary to verify the result. Some drivers may reach this goal in one year, others in several. Think of this as working on a ‘lifetime achievement’ award. Winning five classes is the starting level of this program. On verification, the driver will receive a certificate, their name will be listed in the Whip and published on the ADS Web site.

The next level of achievement is 10 classes. Once again, these need to be all Reinsmanship, or can be all Working classes. For either award, the same driver can drive different animals. After submitting the recording form and the listing information has been verified by ADS, the driver will receive a commemorative medal or pin. The last level of award will be winning 20 or more Reinsmanship or Working classes. We are including only Reinsmanship and Working classes because they are the most basic pleasure show classes and most ADS shows offer them. Consistent excellence in performance in Reinsmanship (our ‘equitation’) deserves recognition from the driving community, as does the ability to produce horses who give winning performances in Working classes. Had obstacle and miscellaneous classes been included, it would be much easier to reach these milestones in fewer shows, and the reality is that wins in these classes based on ‘clean and fast’ do not always go to the most classically correct driver and animal.

This program is based on a very successful program the USEA (United States Eventing Association) currently has.