Check back in July for details about the 2008 Versatile Horse & Rider Competition at Equine Affaire!
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE FOLLOWING 2007 VERSATILE HORSE & RIDER COMPETITION WINNERS:
	2007 Versatile Horse & Rider Champion, Tammy Hoefer & Reeboks Kid
Placing Rider Name Horse Name 1 Tammy Hoefer Reeboks Kid 2 Mike Chambers Mya 3 Michelle Hoyt Haida Tippy Cayeh 4 Sy Cote Ranch Hand Peppy 5 Chris Tipton CGF Absolutely Incredible 6 Michelle Racine Special Spanish Bo 7 Kevin Crane Zip Me Anytime 8 Jacquelyn Pitoniak Rose 9 Jay Quinlan The Gunner’s Jr. 10 Sue Heath Litiens Yukon Nelligan

WHAT IS THE VERSATILE HORSE & RIDER COMPETITION?
The Versatile Horse & Rider competition will be a timed and judged race through an obstacle course created to test the communication between horse and rider as well as each competitor’s horsemanship skills.  The competition will be designed to be suitable for riders of any discipline and horses of all breeds.  As the horse and rider teams work through each obstacle they will be judged on several criteria as well as overall performance. The esteemed judges for this year's competition will be Julie Goodnight and Bob Jeffreys, and the event's special guest commentator will be David O’Connor. Contestants will compete for thousands of dollars in cash as well as other great prizes. 

Kevin Crane riding Zip Me Anytime

THE VERSATILE HORSE & RIDER COMPETITION AT EQUINE AFFAIRE:
The Equine Affaire Versatile Horse & Rider Competition will take place on Saturday and Sunday afternoons in the Equine.com Arena (coliseum) at the Eastern States Exposition.  A maximum of 32 horse/rider teams will be selected to participate in the competition. The first 20 teams will compete in the afternoon on Saturday, November 10th. The remaining 12 teams will compete in the afternoon on Sunday, November 11th. The top ten horse and rider teams will advance to the Versatile Horse & Rider finals on Sunday afternoon.

THE COMPETITION PATTERN:
The course will be constructed within the 95’ x 200’ parameters of the Eastern States Exposition Coliseum and will feature numerous trail obstacles and riding challenges. The course will include obstacles and activities such as: saddling the horse, jumping over obstacles, backing up through a pattern, pole bending or roll backs, various gymkhana games, working gates, riding over or through "spooky objects," crossing a teeter totter, loading the horse into a trailer, etc.

Cathie Hatrick-Anderson riding Shesa Faint Echo

OBJECTIVES AND JUDGING:
The Versatile Horse & Rider Competition will be a timed event during which the performance of each horse and rider team will be judged on each obstacle for quality of horsemanship. For each obstacle, judges will award performance points on a scale of 1-10 based on the horse’s attitude, the rider's horsemanship, and the team's overall performance. Horses and riders will be required to complete each obstacle within a given time in order to receive points. If an obstacle is not completed within the given timeframe, the contestant will be flagged and must move on to the next obstacle. Times will be translated into points and points from each obstacle will be totaled. The horse and rider team with the highest overall point score wins.

PRIZES:

All prizes will be awarded at the conclusion of the final phase of the competition on Sunday.

QUESTIONS ABOUT THE COMPETITION? If you have any questions, please contact Nicole Taylor at (740) 845-0085 ext. 123, or via Email.