I got ahold of Donna O’Connor to see if she remembered where this rule came from but she couldn’t remember.  Both she and I feel that if the horse is a junior horse (5 years old or younger) and they are ridden with either a non-shank snaffle bit or a hackamore they may be ridden two-handed.   I called AQHA because I couldn’t find  western equitation in their handbook.  I thought it must be the same as their western horsemanship.  It is under equipment on pages 144 and 145 under (d), (g), and (h) and is called western horsemanship.  It says that if is a junior horse is ridden with a snaffle bit or hackamore it may be ridden two-handed.  Because we go by AQHA rules we will need to change our rule for next year and instruct our judges of the change this year.  Thinking back it seems that when we started the circuit we probably didn’t visual junior horses being used in anything but junior horse classes.  This is the first time in all those years it has come up – or at least been brought to me.  I apologize for any confusion this has caused.  We try really hard to have everything right but it is kind of by trial and error because sometimes we don’t think of everything.  But thank you to all who have questioned this and we will get it taken care of.  Yes, you may ride your junior horse with a non-shanked snaffle bit or hackamore two-handed in western equitation classes. 

Marge Griebel