The Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration has officially formed its own Horse Industry Organization (HIO), which has been certified by the United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Inspection Service (USDA APHIS).

The name of the HIO will be S.H.O.W., based on the long-standing acronym of the S.H.O.W. intitiative: Sound horses, Honest judging, Objective inspections, and Winning fairly.

"Having our own HIO is something we felt we needed to do," said Celebration CEO Ron Thomas in a news release. "Having our own HIO will allow us to attend meetings, participate in conference calls, gather information and have a voice in the future of our industry and the well-being of our biggest asset…the Tennessee Walking Horse."

Work began on forming an HIO following the unfinished 2006 Celebration and the paperwork was not completed until mid-summer of 2007.

The 70th annual Celebration is scheduled for Aug. 20-30, 2008.