You’ve got choices when it comes to showing your ranch horse in AQHA competition.
No silver. No bling. No fancy clothes. Those were the tenets of the first AQHA Versatility Ranch Horse classes that debuted 13 years ago. Exhibitors were looking for something different from the usual AQHA show classes.
So a task force that comprised ranchers, exhibitors, judges and representatives from other ranch horse organizations developed the five-class VRH shows. At each VRH show, exhibitors competed in ranch riding, ranch trail, ranch cutting, working ranch horse and ranch conformation. The classes harkened back to a day when an American Quarter Horse would show in halter in the morning and do all of the other classes – cutting, western pleasure, etc. – through the rest of the day.
“I can’t believe that VRH has been around for 13 years; time flies when you’re having fun,” says Charlie Hemphill, AQHA director of shows and new events. That has also been enough time for exhibitors to say, “We love VRH, but … ”
Well, there are changes this year and some more coming in 2016 to address the “but.”
CLICK HERE to read more from AQHA Editor-In-Chief Becky Newell and The American Quarter Horse Journal Editor Larri Jo Starkey
