The Spring Fun Show, scheduled for May 26-28, 2022 will accept entries online, beginning on May 22, 2022. Entries can be made online at entermywalkinghorse.com. Entries will be accepted each day of the show until 1:00 pm. The show office will be open daily during the show between 3:00 pm-5:00 pm, for those who wish to make entries in person.
(Reminder- Online Entry available for Fun Show Click here)
2022 Fun Show Prize Disbursement Form
2022 Fun Show Credit Card Form
The Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration has selected Leah Boyd, Derek Bonner and Jamie Bradshaw to judge the 52nd Annual Spring Fun Show. The Fun Show will be held May 26th-28th in Calsonic Arena.
The judging panel includes two experienced Celebration judges along with Boyd, who will be making her first assignment at a Celebration event. Bradshaw, from Arab, Al., has previously judged The Celebration five times, most recently in 2019. Bradshaw will be marking the cards for the third time at the Spring Fun with the last being in 2012.
Bonner, from Moresboro, N.C., has also judged The Celebration three times, most recently in 2021. Bonner also previously judged the Fun Show in 2014. He and Bradshaw were on the same judging panel at the 2013 Celebration.
Boyd, Murfreesboro, Tenn. will be marking the cards at the Fun Show for the first time in her judging career. Boyd most recently judged the TWHBEA Summer Sizzler in 2020 but has also judged the International in her career in 2007.
“We are excited to have this panel judge our show. We receive a lot of feedback from our exhibitors about the lack of variety in the judging panels across the industry so The Celebration feels it is vital to do what we can to help grow the list of experienced judges while also providing the most competent panels for our exhibitors to show before,” said Celebration CEO Warren Wells.
In order to continue to achieve The Celebration’s mission of expanding the judging panel this year’s associate judges will be Vickey Gilbert, from Rogersville, Al., and Chad Williams, from Murfreesboro, Tenn. The associate judging program is an effort to give additional judges the opportunity to judge one of the industry’s premier events while also allowing show management to learn more about their judging. Their cards will be kept and reviewed but won’t count toward the tie of the class at this year’s show.
For more information on the 52nd Annual Spring Fun Show visit www.twhnc.com.
2022 CELEBRATION TENTATIVE CLASS SCHEDULE
The Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration recently received its tentative class sheet back from its committee for the 84th Annual Celebration. The class schedule has major changes as 2022 will mark the first Wednesday evening session of The Celebration®. The TWHBEA Futurity, which has traditionally been held on the first Wednesday evening of The Celebration®, will now have its classes as part of the traditional Celebration classes during the 16 sessions.
The first Wednesday evening will still host four Futurity only classes in the yearling fillies and stallions and weanling fillies and stallions and will be held in Calsonic Arena meaning just as in previous years. Thursday’s evening session will be the first in the outdoor Celebration Arena.
“The move to incorporate The Futurity as well as add a 16th session will allow us to further spread out some of our classes, keep our session lengths manageable and increase the competition across our divisions,” said Celebration CEO Warren Wells.
Another new change that has received an overwhelming positive response is the addition of the Two-Year-Old Mares World Grand Championship on the second Friday evening. The Celebration’s committee has also included an Open Canter class on the second Wednesday evening that replaces the 15.2 & Under Canter from previous years. This class will be a qualifier to the Tennessee Walking Horse World Grand Championship.
“We would really like to thank our committee that worked so diligently on this task. This year provided some unique challenges and opportunities with some of the changes that were incorporated so we are especially grateful for the committee’s hard work,” said Wells.
The class sheet committee is chaired by Jennifer Bingham and includes Nathan Clark, Justin Jenne’, Laurie Toone, Howard Hamilton, Amy Trimble, and Chris Hazelwood. The Celebration® will send out the schedule to industry organizations, post on its web site and include in industry publications for trainers, owners and exhibitors to review and send in comments.
All comments should be completed by Friday May 13th and sent to Connie Allen at callen@twhnc.com.
The Celebration® and Tennessee Walking Horse Breeders’ & Exhibitors’ Association (TWHBEA) have been in communication for the last two months regarding combining and merging classes into one comprehensive schedule which would eliminate the TWHBEA National Futurity as a separate show on the first Wednesday evening of The Celebration®.
TWHBEA has in past years included jackpot classes and at the 2021 Futurity had a schedule of 28 classes. TWHBEA and The Celebration® are both interested in promoting a true Futurity and getting back to having true Futurity classes that qualify entries for the World Grand Championship classes at The Celebration®.
As in 2021, The Celebration® is utilizing its Class Sheet Committee to assist in improving the class schedule for this year’s Celebration. A finalized scheduled, which will be sent out for a comment period, should be released by the end of March. Several ideas have been considered with a goal of there being a class for any two and three-year-old nominated entry in every division.
The entry deadline for Futurity nominations will be the same as The Celebration® entry deadline on August 2, 2022. The nomination fees:
“I am extremely excited about these changes to our show and I look forward to the excitement they will bring to this amazing breed’s Futurity program. TWHBEA has been a great collaborative partner as we have worked through the details,” said Celebration CEO Warren Wells.
David Sisk, Breeders Vice-President at TWHBEA echoed Wells’ excitement and added, “We’re excited to be adding 2 and 3-year-olds back to the Futurity program and appreciate The Celebration® working with us to bring more excitement and provide additional recognition of the breeders of Tennessee Walking Horses.”
For more information on the TWHBEA National Futurity, call 931-359-1574 or email arodgers@twhbea.com. The 84th Annual Celebration will be held August 24-September 3, 2022 and more information can be found at www.twhnc.com or by calling 931-684-5915.
After consulting with the National Weather Service in Nashville this morning the decision has been made to move the beginning of this evening’s performance to 5 pm. Based on the Weather Service’s latest information it appears the heaviest rainfall will not hit until 10 pm and after.
Fortunately, they predict that all the rain will be out of the area by 7 pm Tuesday.
