The American Sidesaddle Association has a Yearly Points Program. The Points Program is a tally of all the earned Points each member has towards the available awards based on their participation within the ASA. Points are gained through riding, continuing education, social gatherings, and work within the association.
ASA Yearly Points turn into Year End Awards! Members receive recognition, ribbons, and cherished items as rewards for engaging in activities. Members can obtain points by being involved with ASA Chapters and through unsanctioned events, such as joining an ASA Group on a Parade or Riding in a Horse Show.

American Sidesaddle Association Yearly Awards

Overall ASA Awards

Valid point sheets or alternative submissions, such as using the point submission form on the web site, are required. It is preferable for the tally, if the web site submission is used. Pertinent information about the event must be sent to the Points Secretary within three months of the event, or for late events, by the end of the calendar year or by January 5th of the next year. The Points Secretary will do unannounced spot checks throughout the year to validate the honesty of the overall submission process; thus, contact information for officials or persons who can testify as to the validity of the event is required. The Points Secretary will do the year-end tally. Any trained breed of equine (horse, mule, pony, donkey, etc) is acceptable for aside riding.

• Betty Skelton Award: presented to a member or to a club for submission of an archival memory of a sidesaddle event or a piece of information that must be preserved for the good of the club and the art of aside riding. Entries must be submitted by January 5th of the new year that follows the award year. If a submitted entry does not win, it can be saved and sent in again the following year. All entries must be in a format that can be retained in the ASA Library (paper, film, data stick). The PS and persons (at least three) who are not club members, but who are interested in equine activities will judge the entries. Archived information is maintained in the ASA Library.
• High Point Affiliate Club Member: presented to the affiliate club members who have submitted the most points for the year. The intent of this award is to make prizes or awards available to a broader range of ASA members, who would not otherwise have earned enough points.

Nominated Member Awards

Members need to be nominated to earn these awards – this includes a write-up, pictures and/or videos if available, and if necessary a travel log. Any member within the ASA may nominate a fellow member, as well as themselves.

• Helping Hands Award: for going above and beyond the call of duty to help another rider, horse, or event venue, so as to make a performance come off safely and well. Letters of nomination must be received by January 5th. The Points Secretary and another Officer serve as the judges.
• Bottoms Up Award: for the most spectacular unplanned dismount, not resulting in serious injury. This must have been witnessed and an account by a witness must be included. Photos or video are a bonus. Letters of nomination must be received by January 5th. The Points Secretary and another Officer serve as the judges.
• Velcro Award: for a witnessed ‘almost unseated’ type event that did not result in a fall, witnessed and with an account by the witness included. Photos or video are a bonus. Letters of nomination must be received by January 5th. The Points Secretary and another Officer serve as the judges.
• Tom Tom Award: for the best story of heroism, adventure, hardship, or weather extremes while traveling to or from a sidesaddle event. A member can self-report this in writing. Letters of nomination must be received by January 5th. The Points Secretary and another Officer serve as the judges.
• Rookie Award: for the tale of the greatest adventure or progress during the first year of showing or starting a new discipline aside. The rookie can be a member or can be the member’s horse. A member can self-report this in writing. Letters of nomination from the rookie or fellow member must be received by January 5th. The Points Secretary and another Officer serve as the judges.
• Route 66 Award: for the greatest distance traveled one-way from barn to a sidesaddle event, using the most direct route via MapQuest. Documentation of attendance at the event will serve as proof. The member can self-nominate. The Points Secretary will compare all entry miles and determine the winner.
• Sanity Clause Award: for the greatest number of miles traveled to all sidesaddle events in the year, barn to event (one-way). A log, most direct route via MapQuest, must be submitted. The member can self-nominate. The Points Secretary will compare all entry miles and determine the winner.
• Wet Saddle Blanket: a special recognition for members who spend many hours preparing and training, whether or not they actually compete. The member must submit a log of actual aside riding time (time in saddle with forward motion) for the entire year. Motion time in sidesaddle at events of all types and pleasure riding can be counted. This is an honesty award and a simple diary or log will count. This will also be judged by the Points Secretary.

Individual Member Competition Awards

Awards in each of the following classes are given separately for Junior competitors (under the age of 18 as of January 1st of the award year). This age cut-off follows 4-H rules.

• Overall Grand Champion: awarded to the junior and the senior member with the highest number of accrued points for all the types of events.
• Overall Reserve Grand Champion: awarded to the second place junior and senior member as above.
• Show-Off Award (Horse Show): for greatest number of horse shows for the year. One point per day is given, regardless of the number of classes entered. A member who serves as groom or as work crew can also be given a point for the day.
• Street Cruiser (Parade): for the most parade points. One point per parade can be given to a rider aside or to a member who serves as safety walker or working crew (banner carrier, pooper scooper, rig driver, caterer). An astride rider who is part of a sidesaddle group in a parade can also be given a point so long as the astride rider wears dress and tack that highlights or is in congruence to the costume of aside riders.
• Exhibitionist (Demo): for the greatest number of days exhibiting and/or demonstrating to the public, either on horseback, by lecture, show and tell, or in an exhibit hall setting. The program in which the demo was done must have been pre-scheduled. Members who assist in booth set-up, equipment hauling, modeling, booth work, or tear-down may be given a point for the day. Public outreach to promote aside riding is the essential aspect to obtain this ‘demo’ point. Drill team performances are counted as demonstrations.
• Overland and Trail Mileage (Trail): for the greatest number of miles and number of rides on trail-type events. Separate awards are given for the number of rides completed and for the number of miles ridden. These rides include pleasure trail, competitive trail, endurance trail, ride-and-tie (both participants), and pace events. Verifiable participation information with the official person’s contact information is required. No ‘partial mileage’ will be given for any of these events, and if the competitor withdraws or is eliminated for any reason, no miles will be given. Standard rules of trail ride competition apply; however, if the event has more than one section with different mileages, and the competitor is permitted by ride rules to choose one or the other section at any point in the ride, then, actual mileage completed will count. Planned and announced pleasure rides count in this category and exact miles ridden is required. Simply going for a ride does not count. Usually, a club plans a ride as a club event. Hunting (fox, drag, stag, clean boot, mounted for basset or beagle) is counted in this section for each hunt. In order to acquire the maximum mileage (10) for a hunt, the horse and rider must complete either 2 hours minimum or the entire hunt (exception: if the competitor can prove mileage greater than 10 on a hunt, such as via GPS records, the verified total miles will be counted). Planned pleasure trail rides will be assumed to be 5 miles unless otherwise noted.
• Practice Makes Perfect (Practice): for pre-planned practice sessions, such as drill team, parade and other demonstration routines for the public. At least three members must be present for a drill team or parade unit practice. While all the submitted practice sessions are tallied for the Practice Makes Perfect category award, no more than three points/practice sessions total are counted toward the final year-end ASA overall point tally.
• Clinic Care (Clinic): for teaching purposes for aside riding and sidesaddle fitting. Novices or seasoned aside riders who want to improve their skills may obtain one point per day for riding as students. Members who are teaching in the clinic (teachers must have acquired Judge/Instructor/Clinician (JIC) status with ASA or are being evaluated by a JIC for their own JIC certification) will also receive one point per day. Members who assist with the clinic as grooms, set-up, helpers, caterers, haulers, or clean-up may be given one point per day as well.
• Writers Reach (Writing): for members who attain publication of advertisements/fliers, articles, books, blogs, press releases, or marketed audio-visuals can receive one point per publication. The publication must be considered to be of interest to or as a target for the public, in order to promote aside riding. A copy must be seen by or submitted to the Points Secretary or directions to find it must be given.
• Social Butterfly (Social): for the member who attends the most events related to sidesaddle, but not actually riding. These include club parties, get-togethers, business meetings, and tele-conferences.
• Special Heavy Work Load Points: These are given, for example, to the Newsletter Editor and the Web Mistress for such things as creation of the newsletter and major overhaul or additions to the web page. Other work for the ASA can be considered for extra points