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Read comments (1)"We feel like there were some great strides made in our industry during 2007," said board chairman David L. Howard. "After the events of 2006, The Celebration and our entire industry had to work hard to regain the public trust. That work is ongoing."
Typically there have been small increases to keep pace with escalating costs and inflation, but the Celebration board felt it was important to maintain the current pricing structure.
This pricing structure includes all box seats, reserved and general admission tickets, RV park fees, stall rentals, exhibitor and general parking, Blue Ribbon Circle memberships, and entry fees.
"We are well aware that The Celebration means so much to so many people and having a good Celebration in 2007 was a shot in the arm for our entire industry," added Howard. "We felt strongly that we needed to do all we could to go without an increase for another year. Like everyone else, our costs have continued to rise, but our staff has done a great job in managing expenses."
At its 2006 annual planning meeting, the board committed to play a more constructive role in the industry. Those efforts included measures geared toward the health and safety of the horses and maintaining the integrity of the event.
"The Celebration is the world championship event of our breed and is always held to the highest standard," related the chairman. "The measures we put in place provided a level playing field for all exhibitors and challenged everyone to go the extra mile to keep the health and safety of the animal as priority number one."
Howard says leadership changes within the major organizations of the Tennessee Walking Horse Industry are a sign that the industry is moving in a positive direction.
"Time will tell how everything plays out, but the early signs of all the groups within the industry [being] willing to work together for the common goal are there. That is something we can all be very excited about as we move closer to the beginning of the 2008 show season."
The 2008 Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration is scheduled for August 20-30.
Please! Nothing has changed and nothing will. The fat [deleted] "trainers" who with zero equestrian skills only know how to chemically alter a horse as they could not train a minature horse to eat a sugar cube. SHAME on anyone who supports these pigs that have spent decades passing on the disease of torturing these gentle creatures. Possibly the only breed that wouldn't knock them from here to eternity for the torture and never ending ways of abusing animals for their ego and their wallet. Totally disgusting. Shame on all of the people that spend one dime or one moment of time supporting this. It is worse than anything Dante could have imagined. I hope they will all end up in a hell of their own making. If there is a just God, the after life will be spen in cross ties while these Nazi's are tortured like they tortured innocent animals. Shame.