The Arena

Courtesy Western States Horse Expo

Over the last 12 years, Western States Horse Expo in Sacramento, California, has showcased the nation’s most popular trainers and clinicians. The June 11-13, 2010 event will be no exceptions and eager fans can trade their knowledge of clinician related trivia for free tickets to the expo. Each week, the expo will post clues as to the identity of one of the clinicians who will present at the 2010 Expo. The first Facebook fan who guesses the identity of the featured clinician will win two 3-day passes to the expo.

Always presenting an all-star line-up, Western States Horse Expo president Miki Cohen says she is as excited as ever about the 2010 clinician lineup.

“Posting a clue and clinician a week on our Facebook fan page is a fun way for us to stay in touch with Horse Expo fans. As the weeks go by, fans will see for themselves why this year’s clinician lineup promises to be one of our best yet,” said Cohen.

The Western States Horse Expo’s Facebook page is a place where attendees can not only go for up-to-date info and last minute updates, but it’s a forum for fans to give feedback on the latest expo developments. Facebook also offers the opportunity to visit links of presenters and exhibitors and view pictures from the 2009 expo. To become a fan and get your chance to win free tickets to the expo visit facebook.com and search for Western States Horse Expo then click “become a fan.”

For more information visit horsexpo.com or call (800) 352-2411.

Courtesy AQHA

The Fields Family Foundation and Jackson Land & Cattle Company will continue their support of the Youth World Show Assistance Fund. This will be the fifth year that the Youth World Show Assistance Fund will be available to members of AQHYA who need financial support to compete at the 2010 Built Ford Tough AQHYA World Championship show.

In the past four years, 240 AQHYA members have received financial support so they were able to attend and compete at the Built Ford Tough Youth World Show. The fund helps youth pay for travel and lodging expenses after they have qualified to compete at the show.

Richard Fields of the Fields Family Foundation and Jackson Land & Cattle Company is happy to help today’s youth compete. He realizes the benefits from attending the Built Ford Tough Youth World Show are more than just youth accumulating titles and awards.

“It gives me great pleasure to provide scholarships to young, aspiring riders through the AQHYA Youth World Show Assistance Program,” said Fields. “The children of today are our most precious resource, and Jackson Land & Cattle is pleased to continue to fund the Youth World Show Assistance Program.”

To apply for the Jackson Land & Cattle Youth World Show Assistance Fund, youth need only to fill out an application. Applications are now being accepted, and forms must be in the AQHA offices by April 1, 2010. Requests for assistance can be mailed or faxed. Applications for this year’s event are available through youth advisers or can be downloaded from www.aqha.com

AQHA news and information is a service of AQHA publications. For more information, visit www.aqha.com.

The National Versatility Ranch Horse Association’s World’s Greatest Versatility Ranch Horse competition returns to the Norris-Penrose Event Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado, September 27. The competition is part of the NVHRA’s second National Finals, which runs September 25-27.

Mike Major and his horse Smart Whiskey Doc won the inaugural World’s Greatest competition in 2008. The event is open to “any horse, any rider, any breed” and will feature a $10,000-plus payout. Entries are open until September 15 and fees are $300. Only nine riders competed in the first World’s Greatest Versatility Ranch Horse competition, but NVRHA President Dave Currin expects close to 30 horses in 2009.

“Last year we were in our first year and had just three states where we had held events,” he says. “But this year we’ve had events in 16 states [ranging from California to Massachusetts]. So I think we’ll see a lot more interest. Last year we had 72 horses at our first national finals and this year we expect more than 100. So there should be a pretty dramatic increase in the World’s Greatest competitors, as well.”

After talking with competitors at the 2009 World’s Greatest Horseman competition in San Angelo, Texas, Currin believes several of them will make the trip to Colorado Springs this month.

“Increasing the prize money has also sparked some interest,” he says. “Last year was the first event and we didn’t have a lot of publicity for it, so that made it difficult to draw in contestants. I think we’re in a much better place with all of that this year.”

The World’s Greatest Versatility Ranch Horse event will offer cash payouts to the top six places in all five events—conformation, ranch cutting, ranch riding, ranch trail and working ranch horse.

For more information, visit nvrha.org.