By LaCresha Kolba
The Tennessee Paint Horse Club kicked off their 2016 show season with the Music City Classic on March 12-13, 2016 at the Miller Coliseum in Murfreesboro, TN. This was a split, combined show with four judges: Michael Ochetto from Texas, Nancy Wilde from Texas, Brent Harnish from Indiana, and Susan Stafford from Tennessee. Competitors at this show could gain APHA breed points. No doubt the $215 flat fee and $150 youth flat fee was a big draw, with riders coming from Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Missouri, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Washington State, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Virginia, Oklahoma, Louisiana, North and South Carolina, Connecticut, and Florida. There were 160 stalls filled and 770 entries at this four-judge show.
The youth really turned out for this show. Kenny Honaker posted, “Thirty-two Youth Halter geldings. How awesome is that! The Youth are this club’s future.” The folks from GHF Performance Horses posted that they “had a great Music City Paint Horse Classic show this past weekend. Classes were huge!”
Show Secretary and Tennessee Junior Paint Horse Club Director Carmen Lay was proud that their members maintain such an approachable demeanor. They strive to have a great youth organization and offer scholarship opportunities for youth members who are in their senior year of high school.
Others showing ranged from beginners just getting their feet wet, to seasoned horse show competitors. Saturday classes consisted of ‘in-hand’ classes: halter, showmanship. Sunday offered hunter under saddle, western equitation, reining, and ranch riding classes, which are rapidly growing in popularity.
The club strives to add special recognition awards to their event, and this year they offered the “Super Horse Award.” This award went to any horse with the most points obtained by anyone showing the horse over the weekend. Whether it was shown Western or English, all points counted. The winning horse received a classy Show Cooler Blanket with “Super Horse 2016” embroidered on it, along with the Tennessee Paint Horse Club logo. Congratulations to Serena Rubin and Box Office Sensation who received the Super Horse Award.
Along with keeping their awards fresh each season, Carmen Lay explained how they work very hard to offer a great horse show. “Showing horses is as much of a social activity as it is a competitive activity. We want to keep things fun by offering social opportunities with our Exhibitors’ Dinner [on Saturday night], and keeping our entries fees at a fairly reasonable price. We are able to manage our money very well, so we don’t have to charge high prices to put on shows.
Our flat fees are popular; exhibitors don’t have to worry about calculating the cost of a lot of classes.” The flat fee includes unlimited classes, APHA fee, Office fee, and Friday and Saturday night stall fee for one horse. “It’s a great deal! And we offer a really good staff. I am proud of our staff, and we couldn’t do this show without them! It was a really, really good show!”
This organization has been around since the 1970s with a current local membership of 70 competitors. Hosting six shows a year, they draw interest from Paint Horse Association riders throughout the United States. In fact, the Tennessee Paint Horse Club’s March 2015 show was the 12th largest show in the nation and ranked in the top 20 APHA shows.
For more information about their five remaining shows in 2016, and results of this show, visit: TNPaintHorseClub.com or link to Tennessee Paint Horse Club on facebook.
The Tennessee Paint Horse Club kicked off their 2016 show season with the Music City Classic on March 12-13, 2016 at the Miller Coliseum in Murfreesboro, TN. This was a split, combined show with four judges: Michael Ochetto from Texas, Nancy Wilde from Texas, Brent Harnish from Indiana, and Susan Stafford from Tennessee. Competitors at this show could gain APHA breed points. No doubt the $215 flat fee and $150 youth flat fee was a big draw, with riders coming from Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Missouri, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Washington State, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Virginia, Oklahoma, Louisiana, North and South Carolina, Connecticut, and Florida. There were 160 stalls filled and 770 entries at this four-judge show.
The youth really turned out for this show. Kenny Honaker posted, “Thirty-two Youth Halter geldings. How awesome is that! The Youth are this club’s future.” The folks from GHF Performance Horses posted that they “had a great Music City Paint Horse Classic show this past weekend. Classes were huge!”
Show Secretary and Tennessee Junior Paint Horse Club Director Carmen Lay was proud that their members maintain such an approachable demeanor. They strive to have a great youth organization and offer scholarship opportunities for youth members who are in their senior year of high school.
Others showing ranged from beginners just getting their feet wet, to seasoned horse show competitors. Saturday classes consisted of ‘in-hand’ classes: halter, showmanship. Sunday offered hunter under saddle, western equitation, reining, and ranch riding classes, which are rapidly growing in popularity.
The club strives to add special recognition awards to their event, and this year they offered the “Super Horse Award.” This award went to any horse with the most points obtained by anyone showing the horse over the weekend. Whether it was shown Western or English, all points counted. The winning horse received a classy Show Cooler Blanket with “Super Horse 2016” embroidered on it, along with the Tennessee Paint Horse Club logo. Congratulations to Serena Rubin and Box Office Sensation who received the Super Horse Award.
Along with keeping their awards fresh each season, Carmen Lay explained how they work very hard to offer a great horse show. “Showing horses is as much of a social activity as it is a competitive activity. We want to keep things fun by offering social opportunities with our Exhibitors’ Dinner [on Saturday night], and keeping our entries fees at a fairly reasonable price. We are able to manage our money very well, so we don’t have to charge high prices to put on shows.
Our flat fees are popular; exhibitors don’t have to worry about calculating the cost of a lot of classes.” The flat fee includes unlimited classes, APHA fee, Office fee, and Friday and Saturday night stall fee for one horse. “It’s a great deal! And we offer a really good staff. I am proud of our staff, and we couldn’t do this show without them! It was a really, really good show!”
This organization has been around since the 1970s with a current local membership of 70 competitors. Hosting six shows a year, they draw interest from Paint Horse Association riders throughout the United States. In fact, the Tennessee Paint Horse Club’s March 2015 show was the 12th largest show in the nation and ranked in the top 20 APHA shows.
For more information about their five remaining shows in 2016, and results of this show, visit: TNPaintHorseClub.com or link to Tennessee Paint Horse Club on facebook.
