One Million Dollar Payout at WCHA Breeders Championship Futurity!
WCHA News
The World Conformation Horse Association (WCHA) recently wrapped up the Breeders Championship Futurities in Fort Worth, TX with record breaking numbers of participants and monies paid out to competitors. Five days of competition at the Will Rogers Equestrian complex, held in conjunction with the American Paint Horse Lonestar Gathering, the WCHA Big Money, and WCHA Breeders Championship Futurity continued its upward trend with 47% growth in entries over 2020 and paying out over $1.15 million total within the three highlighted futurities.
“For the past five years, we’ve been on an uphill ascent. Every aspect of our planning is making sure the WCHA futurities are a must-attend event for breeders and exhibitors of Halter horses,” says Don Falcon, Executive Director for WCHA. “Our goal each year, in addition to showcasing our breeders’ conformation on horses, is to ensure that everyone feels appreciated for their participation and goes home wanting to return the next year. In addition to the $762,350 paid out in the WCHA Breeders Championship and Big Money Futurities (additional $350,000 within APHA futurities) we give out really fun prizes, such as Rod Patrick Boots, Brinks Hats, flat screen TVs, portable gas grills, Kimes Ranch Jeans, Cinch caps, collapsible RV coolers, Alexa Echo Dots, bluetooth speakers, and several Yeti coolers from D&L Farm and Ranch. Not only have our futurities increased in participation, but we’re seeing our membership into WCHA grow by leaps and bounds.”
The weanling classes will always be the premier classes at this fall festival, as most of these young stars are competing for the first time, but WCHA is steadily adding stakes classes for the older horses so their longevity as productive show horses is sustained in a venue other than a breed association World Show. Furthermore, “Staying true to the concept that correct conformation serves as the foundation for the horse’s ability to perform in any discipline, we’ve expanded on our ‘form to function’ ranch classes by adding the Dac Yearling Longe Line Stakes,” Falcon says. “Amy Erhardt Quarter Horses sponsored the Three and Over Ranch Versatility, which included a pattern, rail work and a conformation score. Additionally, thanks to Steve and Kathy Headley, we were able to introduce the Two-Year-Old Ranch on the Rail Stakes. All three of these classes were a spectator highlight that added special excitement to our WCHA format of conformation classes.”
Keeping in the spirit of “more than just a horse show,” the 2021 Breeders Championship was packed with additional entertaining activities, such as the Hall of Fame Dinner and and Live Auction where both past and newly inducted Hall Of Fame Honorees were recognized in an elegant fun-filled banquet. This truly was one of the highlighted events of the week. Each day there was a free social gathering for participants, such as the APHA sponsored BBQ luncheon, pizza party sponsored by Jennifer Jubb and Ricky Young, and WCHA Exhibitor Appreciation Dinner featuring a hilarious stick horse panty race fundraiser!
“Our goal at WCHA is, first and foremost, to provide a venue that promotes quality horses that are conformationally correct,” Falcon says. “However, we also want to ensure that everyone coming to our event has a good time and feels they were judged fairly. We also want to give paybacks to as many levels of competition that we can within Non-Pro, Intermediate Non-Pro, Youth, Color classes, Owner/Breeder, Open divisions, and then send them home wanting to breed mares in hopes of returning next year with a futurity champion!
Planning for 2022 is already underway. More information about each WCHA event can be found at www.conformationhorse.com.
