Sizzling Competition, Top Clinicians and Hot Entertainment Mark 15th Youth National Arabian and Half-Arabian Championship Horse Show
RELEASE: July 12, 2007
AUTHOR/ADMINISTRATOR: By Susan Bavaria
The Youth National Arabian and Half-Arabian Championship Horse Show (Youth Nationals) will celebrate its 15th anniversary in Albuquerque, NM, when it returns to Expo New Mexico, July 28-August 4, 2007. This year's show will feature 1,000-plus horses from across the United States and Canada competing in 128 classes in a wide variety of disciplines. Classes run from 8 a.m. through 10 p.m. each day and are divided into morning, afternoon and evening sessions. Admission to all performances is free for the duration of the show. Last year’s event drew 6,000 spectators. Prizes such as saddles, plaques, ribbons and trophies are part of the award mix.
The Arabian Professional and Amateur Horseman’s Association (APAHA) will feature free clinics on Saturday, July 28, from 2-5 p.m. in the Horse Arena at Expo New Mexico. The reining clinic will be presented by Crystal McNutt and guest Shawn Flarida, the top-earning National Reining Horse Association Reiner of the Year. The team from the TV show “NRHA Inside Reining” will be filming the clinic to feature on an upcoming show. The English clinic will be given by multi-national champion professional trainer Joel Kiesner.
Hot young Nashville group Emerson Drive will be the headliner at the first Youth Nationals Concert on Wednesday, August 1. The group recently cracked the Country Charts with "Moments” and their new single, “You Still Own Me" could well follow that into the top ten. They will appear live on the Box Car Stage with Harvard graduate turned singer/songwriter Liz Carlisle.
Competition during Finals Night, Saturday, August 4, features competitors going head-to-head in mounted native costume, hunter pleasure, English pleasure, park and the annual freestyle reining class, which has proven to be one of the most popular spectator classes at Youth Nationals. This class combines fast-paced reining moves, grandstanding and outrageous costumes as exhibitors compete for the loudest applause and a trophy saddle donated by Western Tradition for the high-scoring rider.
The Arabian Horse Youth Association (AHYA), which makes up 10% of the Arabian Horse Association (AHA), has more than 4,000 members in the U.S. and Canada. AHYA will hold its annual convention July 27-28 at Expo New Mexico. This year’s convention theme is “AHYA Goes to Hollywood” and features keynote speaker and Harvard graduate Liz Carlisle, elections and workshops on horse first aid, leadership, teamwork and more.
In addition to the convention and horse show, the event features a shopping expo with more than 50 booths offering tack, equestrian gifts, clothing and jewelry. On Monday, July 30, children up to six years old can build a custom Arabian stick horse creation at an on-site workshop or bring a stick horse from home to compete in a contest at 6:30 p.m. in Tingley Coliseum. Admission to the stick horse contest is free to the public, and prizes will be awarded to all participants.
The fourth annual dog costume contest takes place Tuesday, July 31, and a dog race follows on Thursday, August 2, adding humor and fun to the week’s events.
A hippology contest Thursday, August 2, offers all participants, including adults, the opportunity to test their equine knowledge about horse anatomy, nutrition, physiology and tack.
A novice horse judging contest, Friday afternoon, August 3, is open to everyone, and prizes will be awarded to participants whose scores most closely match those of a professional judge.
AHA’s corporate partners include Arabian Horse Source, Equisure, Inc., Bank of America, Sundowner Trailers, Armstrong Display Concepts, Inc., and Montana Silversmiths.
The Albuquerque Convention and Visitors Bureau, Albuquerque Marriott, Show Season and Zia Graphics are this year’s event sponsors. Youth Nationals activity sponsors include Arabian Saddle Company, Ariat International, Hesten Park and the Hoffman Family, Show Sea