Western Dressage Championship: Morgans See Success!

Competition with camaraderie: That’s what summed up the sixth annual Western Dressage World Championship Show, held September 27-30 at the Lazy E Arena in Guthrie, Oklahoma. There was camaraderie between fellow exhibitors, amongst the cadre of volunteers who showed up to make things happen, and most especially between horses and their riders, the most important beneficiaries of this sport that fosters that essential partnership.

Final numbers showed nearly 900 rides, 202 exhibitors and 178 horses, hailing from 32 states from coast to coast, as well as Canada. Forty breeds of horses were represented, everything from stock breeds to gaited horses to POAs and ponies – and even one mule.

Competitors were vying for 77 world championships, more than 30 breed high-score awards and 20 divisional championship belt buckles. Full results are available here. World Show judges were Ronald Bartholomew, Donna Longacre, Fatina Pawlenko Kranz, and Charlotte Trentelman .

Sara Breyman and WCS Holiday Falon were the Level 1 Open Divison Champions. And Equinox Courage Underfire GCH and Kehan Cox were the Morgan breed's high-score champions!

Thanks to sponsors, the show was live-streamed for free, allowing a much wider worldwide audience to tune in and see some of the best examples of western dressage. Class videos are archived here. 

Additional thanks go to all individuals and companies who stepped up to sponsor the show at a variety of levels. Read about them here. It’s important, too, to recognize the multitude of volunteers. 2018 marked the first year that a concerted effort was undertaken to recruit volunteers and place them in key positions, and the World Show was much better for it.

The Western Dressage World Show also featured a full day of rail classes, amazing freestyle competitions, exhibitor parties and the debut of therapeutic riding exhibition classes, illustrating the full benefits of western dressage and the partnership it can create with a horse. USEF CEO Bill Moroney was on hand to visit with competitors and bear witness to the growth of our discipline.

Read more stories from the Western Dressage World Show here.