Fort Worth, Texas — The 2024 APHA World Championship Show boasted growth in both APHA-event entries and participating horse numbers this year during its 17-day competition in the heart of Fort Worth, Texas. That growth helped fuel an energized world championship that featured talented exhibitors and Paint Horses vying for more than $1.5 million in cash and prizes.

A truly global event, the 2024 World Show featured exhibitors from 13 countries, thanks to the return of the Youth World Games competition. APHA exhibitors enjoyed expanded recognition opportunities, with championship titles awarded through third place, an expanded Intermediate division, more Junior horse recognition opportunities, and more. The premier Paint show also hosted the National Reining Horse Association-approved Cowtown Classic & All-Breed Slide reining event, the American Rope Horse Futurity Association’s Cowtown Classic roping futurity, an all-breed barrel race and a moving Heroes on Horses parade and competition in partnership with the National Snaffle Bit Association. The championship took place June 21-July 7 at Will Rogers Memorial Center in Fort Worth, Texas.

2024 APHA World Championship Show Facts & Figures

◆ 1,469 total horses (2% increase over 2023)
◆ 5,618 total entries (1% increase over 2023)
◆ Participants from 45 U.S. states, 4 Canadian provinces and 10 other countries: Belgium, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Netherlands, Sweden & United Kingdom
◆ 372 total classes/events offered
◆ 247 APHA world championship classes
◆ 95 Intermediate classes with 186 Intermediate buckles awarded
◆ 108 added-money events (sweepstakes, challenges, stakes, futurities)
◆ $100,000 in Youth scholarships
◆ 250 Paints recognized as champions in APHA events
◆ 432 Paints recognized as champions or reserve champions in APHA events
◆ 551 Paints recognized as champions, reserve champions or bronze champions in APHA events

The 2024 APHA World Championship Show figures don’t yet include numbers and payouts from most halter events—those take place at the APHA/WCHA Halter Million September 21-29, 2024, in Fort Worth, Texas. Learn more about that event at apha.com/haltermillion.

Put the 2025 World Show dates on your calendar now, so you can get a piece of the action:

◆ World Show: June 20-July 6, 2025
◆ Halter Million: September 20-28, 2025

About APHA

The American Paint Horse Association is the world’s second-largest international equine breed association. Since it was founded in 1962, APHA has registered more than a million horses in 59 nations and territories. APHA promotes, preserves and provides meaningful experiences with Paint Horses. Learn more at apha.com.

— Edited Press Release | Source: American Paint Horse Association

Thanks to CareCredit for our spring and summer equestrian coverage.

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What is the Difference Between a Paint Horse vs. a Pinto?

The short answer between the differences of a Paint Horse vs. a pinto is that Paint is a breed based on bloodlines, and pinto is a coat color pattern that can be found in horses of many different breeds. The longer answer is a bit more complicated.

Paints and pintos typically have one thing in common: a flashy coat featuring patches of white and a solid color, such as bay, black or chestnut. Beyond that, there are many differences.

What is a Paint Horse?

For one, a Paint Horse is a breed that, according to the American Paint Horse Association (APHA), “has strict bloodline requirements and a distinctive stock-horse body type.” Paint Horses can only have the bloodlines of Quarter Horses, Paint Horses or Thoroughbreds in their pedigrees. In order to qualify for registration with the APHA, their sire and dam must be registered with the APHA, the American Quarter Horse Association or the Jockey Club (the breed registry for Thoroughbreds). 

What Kind of Horse is a Pinto?

On the other hand, “pinto” is a term that refers to the colorful coat pattern and is not the name of a particular breed of horse. Any horse that displays one of several coat patterns is considered a pinto. Breeds that commonly produce pinto horses include the American Saddlebred, Gypsy Horse and Miniature Horse. Breeds such as the Spotted Saddle Horse and Spotted Draft Horse are exclusively pintos. 

Paint Horses traditionally have pinto coat patterns. However, horses from APHA-registered stock that do not have pinto coloring can still be registered with the APHA as “Solid Paint-Bred” horses, formerly known as “Breeding Stock” Paints.

There are two main registries for pinto horses—The Pinto Horse Association of America and the National Pinto Horse Registry—and each separates pintos into categories depending on their breeding and conformation. The Spotted Saddle Horse Breeders and Exhibitors Association and the International Pattern Sporthorse Registry also accept pinto horses. The Pintabian Horse Registry specifically registers pinto horses with primarily Arabian horse breeding. 

What Are Their Coat Patterns?

Pintos and Paints are described by their coat pattern. The two most common patterns are the tobiano and overo. Horses that display characteristics of both patterns are considered toveros. There are also several other pattern types, but that’s another whole article in itself!

For more information about pintos and their various coat patterns, check out the following sites:

◆ Pinto Horse Association of America
◆ American Paint Horse Association
◆ Spotted Saddle Horse Breeders and Exhibitors Association
◆ National Spotted Saddle Horse Association
◆ International Pattern Sporthorse Registry
◆ Pintabian Horse Registry

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Buckskin Color

The first unique horse coat color is buckskin. If you’ve ever seen the animated movie “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron” or the Netflix original series “Spirit Riding Free,” then you’re already familiar with the most famous buckskin horses of recent history. Spirit’s color is one of the things that makes him so distinctive and able to stand out from the herd.

Buckskin horses are striking with the combination of a light coat and dark mane, tail, ears and legs. Many buckskins are cream-colored, but some are more golden or tan—it’s the dark points that count. Genetically speaking, a buckskin is a bay horse that has a cream gene, which lightens its base coat to that creamy buckskin shade.

It’s easy to get confused by the terms “dun” and “buckskin,” but duns often have additional dark markings called “primitive” markings. These can include a dorsal stripe along the backbone and stripes above the black points on their legs.

Buckskins can be found in many different breeds, but they can also be registered with the American Buckskin Registry Association, Inc. (ABRA) or the International Buckskin Horse Association (IBHA). Duns and grullas are also included. Grulla (pronounced “grew-yah”) is a mousy grayish-brown shade of dun.

Palomino Color

Our second unique horse coat color is palomino. The golden stars of the horse world, palominos always manage to catch your eye with their flashy coats and flaxen manes. It seems as if they were made for the spotlight. After all, palominos have long been a top choice for TV stardom: Trigger was cowboy Roy Rogers’ constant companion, and kids in the 1960s loved to tune in to watch the lovable Mister Ed.

Like buckskin, palomino is not actually a breed but a color, and palomino horses that meet the requirements can be registered with the Palomino Horse Breeders Association (PHBA).

In the olden days, breeders wanted to develop a breed of horse that was always born with a palomino coat, but they discovered that color genes just didn’t work that way. Remember how we said that a buckskin is essentially a bay horse with a cream gene? Well, a palomino is a chestnut horse with a cream gene.

Palomino coats can range in color from light buttery cream to a darker golden yellow. In fact, the PHBA says that “the ideal body coat color is approximately the color of a United States gold coin.” But I think we can all agree that any shade of palomino is a good shade!

Pinto & Paint Coat Color Patterns

Finally, our third unique horse coat color or pattern is pinto and paint. Be careful not to use these words interchangeably—even though pinto and Paint Horse markings look similar, there’s actually a distinction when it comes to bloodlines and registration. The American Paint Horse is a breed of horses known for their striking patterns of white markings that have Quarter Horse breeding, while the word “pinto” can refer to horses of many breeds (including Paints) that display patterns of white markings.

Like palominos and buckskins, pinto horses have their own registry, the Pinto Horse Association of America, Inc. (PtHA).

Pintos and Paint Horses display a variety of beautiful, colored coat patterns, but two of the most well-known are tobiano and overo. A tobiano can usually be identified by minimal white markings on the face, four white legs, and white markings on the body. Overos, on the other hand, often have a lot of white on their faces, sometimes even possessing completely “bald” (white) faces.

The PtHA registers horses and ponies in five different size classifications and six different type classifications, so there’s truly a pinto horse to suit anyone’s fancy!

Learn More About Unique Horse Colors!

Check out the groups that register, show and promote these colorful horses.

◆ American Paint Horse Association
◆ American Buckskin Registry Association, Inc.
◆ International Buckskin Horse Association
◆ Palomino Horse Breeders Association
◆ Pinto Horse Association of America

This article about unique horse coat colors originally appeared in the March/April 2019 issue of Young Rider magazine. Click here to subscribe!

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American Paint Horse History

In 1519, the explorer Hernando Cortes carried two horses described as having pinto markings on his voyage. This is the first known description of such horses in America. By the early 1800s, horses with Paint coloring were well-populated throughout the West.

A favorite among Native Americans, the loud-colored Paint Horses were particularly well-liked by the Comanche Indian tribe. Evidence of this is found in drawings painted on buffalo robes.

Throughout the 1800s and into the late 1900s these painted horses were called pinto, paint, skewbald and piebald. In the early 1960s, interest grew in preserving and promoting horses with paint coloring and stock horse builds. In 1965 the American Paint Horse Association (APHA) formed, and today, the breed is extremely popular in traditional western events as well as a variety of other riding disciplines.

Breed Characteristics

American Paint Horses sport a combination of white and any other color of the equine spectrum: black, bay, brown, chestnut, dun, grullo, sorrel, palomino, buckskin, gray or roan.

Markings come in any shape or size and can be located anywhere on the horse’s body. The variety of colors and markings appear in three specific coat patterns: overo, tobiano and tovero. These horses average 14.2 to 16.2 hands high.

For More Information

• The American Paint Horse Association, www.apha.com

Further Reading:

• Breed Portrait: Paint Horse
• Painted Heroes

This article first appeared with Horse Illustrated magazine in 2006. Click here to subscribe!

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With his looks and breeding, Wally should’ve been a champion something-or-other, but he hated being a show horse. When I plucked him from an auction, he was a ring-sour beast. Since I’d recently retired from showing hunters, I didn’t care. I just wanted a flashy trail mount. Wally’s distaste for group activities was fine by me.

A Door Opens for Western Dressage

Yet after several months of trail riding, I felt lured back to arena work. I devised ways to cajole Wally into compliance. Most involved peppermints. To keep him interested, we worked on lateral movements and transitions, and I taught him flying lead changes. His resentment abated and soon he’d amassed a notable skill set.

A few years down the road, my husband and I moved from Southern California to the high country of Arizona with Wally in tow. The trail riding was spectacular, but about once a week I schooled Wally in the community arena. One day I was joined by a local dressage rider aboard her Andalusian. She watched Wally and me practice shoulder-ins and leg-yields.

Finally, she said, “You really should do western dressage on that horse.”

“Is that a thing up here?” I asked. Most competitions in this part of Arizona seemed concerned with barrel racing or roping cows.

She explained that, yes, there was a local dressage club that sponsored clinics and shows. “They always have western dressage classes.”

I felt a spark of adrenaline when she uttered those words. Did I still harbor some yearning to compete? Could Wally actually hold it together for an entire dressage test?

Learning the Ins and Outs

I immediately went home and researched everything I could about western dressage, from tack requirements to the various levels and tests. I watched countless online videos of high-scoring rides. As a final sign of commitment, I joined the dressage club and set my sights on their upcoming shows.

Unfortunately, in my zeal for this newfound pursuit, I’d forgotten that I’d never ridden an actual dressage test. While hunter courses had a natural flow from one obstacle to another, dressage relied on letters set around the arena to mark where each movement was to happen.

Quite frankly, the placement of those letters made no sense to me. They weren’t in alphabetical order, and I couldn’t figure out why several letters (like I and P) were invisible. So as the shows approached, I resorted to tactics my husband found confusing.

I went into our kitchen armed with a stack of sticky notes bearing the letters and stuck them onto the tiled floor. Then I “rode” my test. About the time I was cantering a 10-meter circle next to the dishwasher, he called to me from the living room.

“What the heck are you doing?”

“I’m practicing western dressage.”

Long since indoctrinated to the silliness that’s associated with horse-crazy women, my husband shook his head and went back to watching TV.

Scraps of paper, book margins and a whiteboard we used for leaving notes to each other were soon besmirched with my dressage test doodles. I drew rectangles, added those confounded letters and then traced the loops, lines and circles of my tests.

Once I had them memorized, I practiced aboard Wally in my neighbor’s makeshift dressage arena. Occasionally I’d go off course, curse, and then ride back to X and start again.

The Ultimate Reward

By the time the show series rolled around, I was confident I knew my tests by heart. I was less confident predicting Wally’s behavior. I was worried he’d succumb to horse show PTSD and become completely unhinged amid the hoopla.

Thankfully, that never happened. Wally trotted up the centerline in both of his tests with an air of relaxed bravado. He was alert, responsive, and—dare I say it—happy to perform.

Our scores from that show, and the ones later that summer, were consistently in the 70s (dressage is scored as a percentage, with most winning tests in the 60s and 70s). By season’s end, we had an armful of blue ribbons, one tri-color championship, and a western dressage high-point award.

The ultimate reward, however, was reading the comments from the judges.

“You and your horse obviously have a special relationship,” one wrote. “The two of you are a joy to watch.”

Those were words I’d never seen on a hunter scorecard. I knew I would treasure them—and Wally, my western dressage horse—forever.

To learn more about western dressage, visit the Western Dressage Association of America’s website.

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American Paint Horse exhibitors pocketed a record $1 million-plus in cash and prizes at the 2019 American Paint Horse Association World Championship Show (APHA World Show), which was held September 16-29 at Will Rogers Memorial Center in Fort Worth, Texas.

More than 1,030 horses were on display with more than 15,600 entries. The American Paint Horse Association (APHA) named 211 world champions over the course of 14 days and held a total of 268 classes. Fifty U.S. states were represented as well as Brazil, Belgium, Canada, Mexico, Paraguay and Sweden.

The show saw an increase in several key areas over the 2018 Open/Amateur World Show including Amateur Solid Paint-Bred Halter (up 16%), Solid Paint-Bred Halter (up 16%), Solid Paint-Bred Performance (up 9%), Breeders’ Futurity classes (up 15%) and added-money classes (up 2%).

The Breeders’ Trust Pleasure Stakes classes saw an impressive total payout of $84,250. The Breeders’ Trust 2-Year-Old Hunter Under Saddle Stakes alone paid over $39,000, with the winner taking home more than $10,000. The Breeders’ Trust Pleasure Stakes consist of western pleasure and hunter under saddle classes in two age categories each: 2-year-olds and non-pro 3- and 4-year-olds.

APHA welcomed ranch work competitors of all breeds to the Ranch Work Championships. The event drew 80 entries, and exhibitors competed in three classes—ranch course, ranch penning and ranch roping—for $6,900 in prize money.

This marked the first year mounted shooting world championships took place at the APHA World Show (previously held at external competitions), and it proved to be a good move. Entries more than tripled over last year. Exhibitors took home a combined $7,300 in this exciting competition.

Halter competition took a surge at the 2019 World Show. APHA once again partnered with the World Conformation Horse Association (WCHA) to offer big money to halter enthusiasts through two premier halter events: the APHA World Championship Show and the (all-breed) WCHA Breeder’s Championship and Big Money Futurities. All in all, more than $640,000 was up for grabs for halter horses—that included more than $165,000 in APHA Platinum Breeders’ Futurity classes (29% increase over 2018), over $47,000 in Gold Breeders’ Futurity payouts (34% increase over 2018), $20,000 in the Breeders Halter Futurity bonus payouts, $10,500 from the Lynn Simons Memorial Halter Futurity, and $400,377 in the WCHA Breeder’s Championship and Big Money Futurities (22% increase over 2018). The WCHA events alone drew 862 entries.

All in all, APHA show entries totaled 14,660 (2,932 x five judges) bringing the total entries for all combined events to 15,602.

APHA World Show Youth Competition

In addition, the knowledge and skills of young judges were put to the test September 19, during the APHA Horse IQ World Championship Judging Contest, held in conjunction with the APHA World Show. Featuring both collegiate and youth (18 & under) divisions, the contest presented both team and individual awards in halter, performance, reasons and overall. Kansas State University took home the top spot in collegiate teams overall while Chouteau FFA captured the overall top youth team victory. The collegiate overall high-point individual was Ariana Horton of Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College; the youth overall high-point individual went to J’Cee Petty of Team COA.

APHA World Show Amateur Competition

With the help of some dedicated APHA partners, two lucky amateur competitors walked away with incredible prizes at the 2019 APHA World Championship Show, just by entering amateur classes at the event. Through a random drawing of entrants in all amateur classes, Tammy Burch of Craig, Colo., won a John Deere Gator courtesy of APHA Xtras partner John Deere. In addition, every entry into all amateur classes qualified exhibitors for a random drawing for a custom Platinum Trailer. The trailer was provided by Platinum Trailers in conjunction with APHA corporate partner Cowboy Trailer Sales. Wendy Hull of Corvallis, Ore., was the lucky winner.

Marked for Greatness

The American Paint Horse Foundation (APHF) also held the Marked For Greatness Celebration on September 23 in conjunction with the World Show. The event—held at Whiskey Ranch just 15 minutes from the show grounds—drew over 100 attendees ranging from World Show exhibitors to business partners, and offered food, fun and spirits while educating guests on the association’s upcoming move to the world-famous Fort Worth Stockyards. Silent and live auctions featured unique, one-of-a-kind items. Proceeds, which totaled nearly $60,000, will benefit APHF’s youth scholarship program, as well as APHA’s upcoming move.

“This year’s show was one for the books,” said APHA Executive Director Billy Smith. “Being able to award over $1 million in cash and prizes to our hard-working exhibitors is a great feeling. A huge thanks goes out to all our exhibitors, staff and sponsors for making this year’s event such a success.”

Watch for more World Show wrap-up information in the November/December 2019 issue of APHA’s official publication, the Paint Horse Journal.

About APHA and the Open/Amateur World Championship Show

The American Paint Horse Association is the world’s second-largest equine breed association, registering more than a million horses in 59 nations and territories since it was founded in 1962. Its mission is to promote, preserve and provide meaningful experiences with Paint Horses. For more information about the American Paint Horse Association, visit www.apha.com or connect with Paint Horse fans globally at facebook.com/americanpainthorse or on Twitter @APHANews.

The World Championship Paint Horse Show features the finest gathering of Paint Horses from around the globe. APHA hosts two annual world-class competitions to showcase the talents of American Paint Horses and their owners. The second in the series, the Open/Amateur World Championship Show takes place at the Will Rogers Memorial Center in Fort Worth’s cultural district.

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Learn about the Paint horse breed and how they came to be, leading to why they are the second most popular horse in the united states.

Once upon a time, all horses looked the same. Their coats were uniform, designed by nature to blend into the world of dark and light through which they moved. Over the eons that followed, their colors changed and their bodies grew, but their coats always contained some irregularity that helped them hide them from the predators that ruled their world.

By the time primitive man became one of those predators, the markings we see on today’s Paint Horses came into being. More than 20,000 years ago, cave dwellers in Europe drew horses with Paint markings on rock walls.

Thousands of years later, Paint markings appeared on the tomb of Menna, a wealthy Egyptian landowner who lived in 1400 B.C. The horse pulling his chariot bears the markings we associate today with the Paint.

Horses so marked were valued not only in Africa, but also by the Eastern cultures of early China, Tibet and India. The Romans, centuries later, also treasured this colorful horse, using it in chariot races and other sports, as well as public ceremonies.

Through the Roman presence in the world, horses with these pinto markings—the Spanish word for “painted”—spread all over Europe. In Iberia, the pinto gene was present in the best Andalusian, Barb and Arabian horses. When the Spaniards set sail to explore new worlds, they took this blood with them.

American Paints

This is where the history of the Paint Horse breed in America begins. Spanish Conquistadors ventured to the New World, bringing some of their two-toned horses with them.

In 1519, according to the records of explorer Hernando Cortes, the first two pinto-marked horses set foot on American shores. They belonged to the men of Cortes’ expedition to Mexico. Cortes’ words suggest that one was a tobiano, the other an overo. Their arrival was just the beginning of what would be a flood of horses—a number of which had pinto markings—to American soil.

On the rancheros and missions of the Southwest, pinto-marked horses lived and worked alongside solid-colored equines. The Pueblo Indians, native farmers who had lived in peace for centuries, were pushed into submission by the Spaniards. Although the Spaniards decreed that the Pueblos should not be allowed to ride, the native peoples took to the horse right away. They raided the ranches and missions and brought the horses to their lands.

As the centuries passed and horses spread throughout the West, tribes from many parts of the country came to know the horse. In these Native American herds, there were many pintos.

By the mid-1800s, vast herds of longhorns had replaced buffalo throughout the West, and horses were needed to work the cattle. When Spanish-bred horses—including those with pinto markings—were asked to move cattle across the range, they obliged.

Many decades later, in the 1960s, a group of dedicated horsemen and horsewomen who appreciated the talent, athleticism and beautiful markings of these working cow horses started the American Paint Horse Association. To this day, the AHPA has registered more than 1 million Paint Horses in 59 countries and territories around the world.

Chrome Coats

Although the Paint Horse has many great qualities, the breed is most well-known for its markings. Tobianos are the most abundant colorations in the Paint breed, with most having white legs and bodies covered with well-formed splashes of color. The white usually covers the horses’ backs and extends over the withers, while the chest and hindquarters are often dark.

Overos are the next most common type of Paint, and have heads that are mostly white; some have blue eyes. Their chests are dark, as are their flanks and rumps. The belly is white and spreads up on the horse’s sides, but it rarely crosses over the back. Paints can be a combination of white and any other horse color, including bay, blue roan, brown, buckskin, chestnut, dun, gray, grullo, palomino, red dun, sorrel and red roan.

The Paint Horse is the second most popular breed in the U.S., and it’s easy to see why. Its combination of athleticism, intelligence and color make it hard to beat.

For more information, visit the American Paint Horse Association at www.apha.com.

AUDREY PAVIA is a freelance writer and the author of Horses for Dummies. She lives in Norco, Calif., with her two registered Spanish Mustangs, Milagro and Rio.

This article originally about the Paint horse breed appeared in the March 2018 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

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No one knows why the horses were abandoned in such a shocking manner and the investigation has not yet turned up the person responsible. But the horse community in Florida’s Miami-Dade county is working to make sure that these horses have the best chance possible at a full recovery. The two horses are now being rehabilitated by the South Florida Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

According to a report on Sun-Sentinel.com, the police were tipped off to the neglected horses by an anonymous caller. They found the animals in small enclosures cobbled together from wooden pallets and nailed shut in such a way that their rescuers had to tear the structures down to get to the horses. The starving horses had resorted to eating the wood that imprisoned them and their own manure to survive.

“There is no excuse for this,” said Laurie Waggoner of the South Florida SPCA. “To lock an animal in a stall and not come back—that is not something a normal, sane person would do.”

The mare, now called Susie by her rescuers, was said to be in critical condition. She has sores on her body that indicate that she may have fallen and struggled to get back to her feet while trapped in the enclosure. The gelding, called Justice, is severely underweight as well, but said to be in slightly better condition than Susie. Both horses are expected to make a full recovery.

The South Florida SPCA is seeking the public’s help in rehabilitating Susie and Justice. Donations of any amount for the “Paint Bucket Emergency Fund” are being accepted at www.crowdrise.com/paintbucket. Photos of the two horses and the enclosure from which they were rescued are also at the link.

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The Appaloosa show will be broadcast live online at HorseSportsNetwork.com

Beyond the usual slate of breed classes from a variety of English and western disciplines, the Appaloosa National and Paint Youth World Championships offer several unique events:

• Horse-against-horse speed classes (Appaloosa): These include Camas Prairie stump race (barrel racing), Nez Perce stake race (pole bending), and rope race (similar to musical chairs). Instead of racing against the clock, as is done in other horse breeds, Appaloosas race head-to-head.
• Champion of Champions class (Paint): This competition will bring back first-place winners in horsemanship and equitation classes to compete against one another. Each participant creates their own pattern and they are encouraged to incorporate music.
• Stick-horse rodeo: Part of the activities lineup for youth, the stick-horse rodeo will be held
  Wednesday July 3rd at 3:30 p.m.
• Challenged Rider Leadline: Set for Monday July 1st, this heartwarming class is for special-needs
  riders mounted on horses controlled by attendants.
• Heritage (Appaloosa): This is a costume class in which contestants display authentic apparel and trappings appropriate to early-day users of Appaloosas-Native Americans, mountain men, etc.
• World of Color Gift Show: Vendors from across the nation will be selling their wares in the exhibit halls daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. (June 24 – July 6, 2013)
• Judging Contest: Paint and Appaloosa youth competitors can compete for individuals and team awards in two age divisions (13 & Under and 14-19).
• Boot Camp: Youth exhibitors can receive hands-on instruction from industry professionals in preparation for their World Show experience. APHA & ApHC Professionals will assist youth participants with feedback and helpful hints for horsemanship, equitation, and showmanship. Space is Limited to the first 25 youth.
• Championship Dog Races: ApHC and APHA are putting their dogs to the test and showing off their
  arena work. This spectator-friendly event will be held June 30 and July 3 in the John Justin Arena.

For more information, visit Appaloosa.com or ywcs.apha.com

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Young riders and their Paints are competing in classes that display the breed’s versatility, from western pleasure and reining to hunter/jumper and speed events. Fun classes like ride-a-buck and costume round out the schedule, along with bareback equitation for English and western riders, a new division added to the show this year.

Another new class on this year’s schedule is the Freestyle Shankless Showmanship. In this division, exhibitors compete one at a time and are not allowed to have any physical contact with the horse or halter once the pattern begins. Entries will demonstrate their ability to communicate with their horses without the use of a lead shank while performing showmanship maneuvers such as walking, trotting, backing and turning.

The competition can be viewed for free at ywcs.apha.com/videofeeds

Additional special events taking place at the show include:

• Youth Team Tournament, a multi-phase event that includes performance classes, hippology, and a knowledge relay
• The American Junior Paint Horse Association (AjPHA) Awards banquet and national convention
• AjPHA Judging Contest
• Youth Member & Regional Club of the Year presentations
• Championship dog race/li>

For more information, visit ywcs.apha.com

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