JMS—do you know WHY minis have to qualify? A whole lot of the reason they have to qualify was this: they were showing at a facility that could not accommodate the growth of the show. A side benefit was the local shows gained attendance because qualifying was mandatory. But the real reason for having to qualify no longer exists so therefore why do horses still have to qualify?
The cross entering rule is a relatively "new" rule - it did not always exist and it was one of those "reactionary" rules that the AMHR does so well. The cross entering rule was made because of a little gray mare who was ASPC/AMHR and was winning ASPC and AMHR AT THE SAME SHOW weekend after weekend. AMHR people didn't want to compete against her so they made a rule to stop that little gray mare from showing both ways. Wow, imagine that, someone proposed a rule and got it PASSED to restrict their competition so they could win! Need I point out that it backfired gloriously? That little gray mare started showing only AMHR (except at Congress)and that little gray mare kept on winning; that little gray mares relatives came out in droves and kept on winning, and if we all had a penny for each of the blues that little gray mare's family has won in AMHR since this silly (yes, many people do consider this to be silly) rule was passed we'd have quite a pile of pennies.
At the end of the day this is a Shetland BREED issue, not a Miniature SHOW issue. I would go further into the reasons why it is a breed issue but I don’t feel like opening that discussion at this point…
Since history has proven that ruling against cross entry does not keep the small Shetlands out of the AMHR classes, I have to say that I think changing the rule now is certain to have little to no effect on the AMHR shows. I honestly do not see why some AMHR people are so opposed to this rule change proposal.