Trainers' Show rescheduled for June

The Walking Horse Trainers' Show is back on, and a new horse industry organization (HIO) is set to be activated Wednesday.

The Trainers' Show will be June 3 through 6 at the Calsonic Arena, said show chairman Benny Johnson.

The show was originally scheduled for March 19-21, but was postponed as trainers and owners debated the future of the National Horse Show Commission, the horse industry organization that sanctioned the event.

After votes from the boards of the WHTA, the Walking Horse Owners' Association and NHSC itself, the decision was made to dissolve it, with SHOW, the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration's HIO, taking over.

Since the Celebration agreed to activate SHOW, which stands for sound horses, honest judging, objective inspections, winning fairly, Calsonic Arena manager Jimmy Burton has been working with the trainers to find a new date for the Trainers' Show.

In an earlier interview, Burton said the biggest problem is that the later in the season you get, the more shows there are and the trainers did not want to compete with other major events. There is one show on the June 3-6 weekend.

"There's the Germantown show," said Johnson. "But that's some 200 miles away."

While the details of transferring responsibilities from the NHSC to SHOW are being ironed out, any shows previously sanctioned by NHSC will still be served by that group.

"Whatever is in operation at the time is the one we'll use," said Johnson early Friday afternoon. "The commission is in operation until SHOW tells them they are ready to start."

Later Friday, a press release from the Celebration was received by the Times-Gazette stating that the TWHNC Board of Directors met on Thursday and approved the recommendations made by its HIO committee to activate SHOW, its HIO, on Wednesday.

Chairman Charles McDonald had appointed a committee of Pat Marsh, chairman; John T. Bobo; David Howard; and himself to aid in establishing the new HIO as soon as possible.

The committee met with the NHSC staff last Monday and had subsequent meetings and conversations with the various organizations involved, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture, before making its recommendation.

Andy Messick, Rachel Reed and Penny Isaacs will become the office staff of SHOW.

SHOW will ultimately be under the direction of an independent board that oversees policy and takes the necessary steps to bring credibility and accountability to the inspection process.

As earlier stated by The Celebration, SHOW will accept all shows that have affiliated with the NHSC. SHOW will also recognize the licenses granted to judges by the NHSC.

The activation of SHOW Wednesday culminates the past several weeks of negotiations, meetings and votes across industry organizations. The NHSC, Walking Horse Trainers' Association (WHTA) and Walking Horse Owners' Association (WHOA) all voted to dissolve the NHSC and request The Celebration activate SHOW.

The process began on March 2 with the unanimous vote of the WHTA Board of Directors to recommend to the NHSC to dissolve and turn over functions to SHOW. This vote came after two days of meeting with industry representatives from the WHTA, WHOA, TWHBEA and TWHNC. Next came the general membership meeting of the WHTA on March 9 and an overwhelming majority vote to support the recommendation of the WHTA board.

On March 12 the WHOA board voted on a conference call 19-6 in favor of dissolving the NHSC. On March 16, the NHSC voted unanimously to dissolve and turn over its assets and records to SHOW.

Celebration representatives will meet with the NHSC board Monday to finalize the many details of this historic change.