Twin Cities Featherlite Trailers has been a supporter of the Appaloosa Horse Club for a long time and according to Gary Raak, they will continue to be. He did admit that it’s a little further than he normally drives his trailers to a show but he brought plenty to see. The company is based out of Minneapolis, MN and Gary says that with current diesel prices it cost about 60 cents/mile for each truck/trailer he brought.
He thinks the facilities here in Jackson have been good. So if you’re looking for a good trailer he’d like to see you over in the Trade Show Center. I don’t know if you can tell from the picture but this live-in trailer he’s standing in front of has a fire place (not needed here right now) and nice tv. There’s more out on the lot too.
One of the main show buildings here at the Mississippi Fair Grounds is the Kirk Fordice Equine Center. Named after a former Governor of the state, the building is managed by Billy Williams.
I sat down with Billy and asked him about the facility. He says he’s been managing it for about 6 years. The facility holds 2,500 people and there are 1,000 stalls on the grounds. Besides the fair, he says most of the events held here are equine events.
The National Appaloosa Show will have a first time event with singing artist, Callaway, performing. She’s on the left in case you didn’t figure that out.
Callaway will be performing a benefit concert for the Appaloosa Youth Association programs. She’s from Madison, MS but lives now in Nashville. Callaway is 16 years old and has been touring with the legendary Sam Moore.
I asked her if she liked horses and she loves them. She’s impressed with how kind the people are she’s met here and good at what they do.
Friday night’s performance at the National Show had a VIP visitor. Mississippi Commissioner of Agriculture, Lester Spell, (in blue shirt), came out to watch the activities.
The Commissioner thinks this is a great event. He says they worked on bringing the show here for several years and he’s proud to have the National Appaloosa Show here in Jackson. He says “We love horses attitudes here.”
He says they have lots of major equine events here in Mississippi and thinks the National Show is a great economic opportunity for the state.
The staff of the Appaloosa Horse Club are working around the clock to make sure the National Show runs as smooth as possible.
Two of them were spotted in their “Road Rage” machine yesterday. They are Karisa Saywers (left) and Eliana Thompson. They have melted the pavement between venues at the fairgrounds.
I think I would stay out of the way if I saw this red machine coming.
The people of Jackson, MS have been going out of their way to make the Appaloosa Horse Club welcome at the National Show. None more than Watson Quality Ford, represented by Greg Kinard.
The folks at Watson Quality Ford have a very strong interest in the equine industry and showed it by becoming platinum sponsors of the National Show with a 3 year commitment. Greg says the company is the #1 fleet company in a seven state region and #1 with Super Duty trucks. He believes that the more they can bring to Jackson and help the horse business, the more it helps them.
Besides their sponsorship the company is also cooking Saturday night for kids and then next Tuesday, they’re doing a fish fry. They’ve got 50 vehicles on site here and Greg says they’re ready to make a deal on them. He also says they’re helping exhibitors who need truck service.
You will find all kinds of interesting items for sale at the National Show trade show. For example, there’s the Louisiana Gumbo Man.
His name is Chris McCajun and he’s got box mixes of gumbo, ettoufee and gravy. He’s also got sample of all of them in crock pots and I tried them. They are good. I think I’m going back with a bowl!
I talked to Chris about his booth. He says these mixes can be made in less that 30 minutes. Besides his box products he’s also got a variety of t-shirts and caps available too.
The Riata Ranch Cowboy Girls are performing at the National Appaloosa Show for two nights. According to Executive Director, Jennifer Nicholson, they’ll be doing their choreographed lasso dance and acrobatic trick riding.
This morning I got to talk with them so in the interview you can hear from each of the girls here, ages 9 to 17, with Jennifer in the middle. Jennifer says they normally have about 15 to 20 girls a year who are in the program full time not counting others that participate in various clinics.
Post Update: The girls performed tonight at the show and you can watch some of their acrobatic trick riding in this video:
National Show Photo Album
Riata Ranch was created in 1957 and became a unique riding school for young people combining horsemanship and character development – a concept that was well ahead of its time. The program provides an opportunity to learn about our western heritage while gaining valuable life lessons. An interesting and fun atmosphere is created while maintaining discipline and direction for an effective learning environment. The quality of instruction is designed so that each student gains a positive set of values of which to guide them through the rest of their lives.
Our vision is to prepare young people for the world’s challenges in a manner that ensures their success & contributes to the happiness of everyone who are fortunate enough to meet them. The training will benefit the whole person, body & soul, through a balance of intellectual, physical, artistic & moral lessons. The ranch’s enduring principles will become so internalized that each rider will forever measure his or her choices against the Riata Ranch philosophy.
Hello once again from the National Appaloosa Show. This time in Jackson, MS. I’ll be your guest blogger for a couple of days, doing interviews and taking pictures to post here on Appaloosa Blog Spot. I got started this morning with Executive Director and master blogger himslef, Steve Taylor. Steve is pictured on the right of our morning ring announcer, Dave Branham.
We primarily talked about the move of the National Show to Jackson, MS. He says the plan to make the move started before he joined the organization 2 years ago. Some of the reasons for the move included making sure they’re getting the best bang for their buck and allowing some new people in a different part of the country to have an opportunity to participate that couldn’t before. He says that since the National Show is open to just about anyone, unlike the World Show, this will hopefully bring in some new faces.
Like any major decision he says that not everyone was in complete agreement with the move but the board made the decision after having lots of discussion on the pros and cons with members in various territories. He says the board had to look at economics and other realities, including getting exposure in another part of the country. He’d like members and exhibitors to know that the staff and vendors have worked on this for a couple of years and that the staff has been on site several times to make sure that the show is as organized as possible.
So far he thinks things have worked out very well with the new facilities. He’s had lots of positive comments from exhibitors. Steve also wanted to make special note of the Youth Show. He says the young people here can be stacked up well against any other breed association and he’s proud of them.
Steve says the move also allowed them to look at how they’re marketing the show. He says they’ve received very good coverage from local media and that the organizational members themselves have been doing a great job of word of mouth. The staff is making sure they personally invite community members to the show whenever they’re off site.
Last night’s program included a short show by Diana Olson who is President of the Arizona Cowboy Mounted Shooters Association. She certainly woke us up as if anyone was sleeping at that point.
I’ve really enjoyed my opportunity to be with you once again and for my first World Show. I hope you enjoy the interviews and pictures and really appreciate the great staff of the ApHC for working with me to bring you some of the sights and sounds of a great show.
Keri is smiling because it’s the last day of the show and all has gone well. As show manager, Keri LeForce has a lot of organizing to do.
She says that this year’s show is bigger with about 6% more horses and entries than last year. That’s a good increase. Another thing she likes about this year’s show is the extracurricular activities like the clinics and the screening of the movie “Trail End.” She says they enhance the participants experience and she’s heard very positive feedback about them. Keri says the staff will wrap up the World Show and get back to work on the National show which will be in Jackson, MS next year. She says the city there has been very supportive and hopes to really impress ApHC members when they attend.
His real name is Roland but everyone calls him Pete Woods. Pete’s been judging Appaloosas for 51 years now!
Besides judging he’s also painting and at the information booth here at the World Show you can see a couple of Pete’s paintings. I sat down with Pete this morning to get a little bit of his perspective from his career. He says he got his first Appaloosa in 1949 and it was the first registered one in New York state. He was drawn to the breed because of their color and disposition. Pete’s ApHC membership number is 420 by the way. He was one of the first Appaloosa judges to be carded too.
One of the things that stands out in his memory were shows like the National Show in Salem, OR in 1973 when there were huge numbers of horses in the classes and they only had 3 judges. If you’re going to be a judge Pete says, “You have to satisfy yourself.” He says you can’t satisfy everyone.
You can listen to my interview with Pete here: Pete Wood Interview (6 min MP3)
When you’re trying to getting the bidding up in an auction you’ve got to try different things. Like this move during the pre-rope race auction last night.
Each of the contestants was auctioned off in a Calcutta and had to parade around the ring to generate excitement and hopefully some competitive bidding. The auction raised $4,500 to fund scholarships for Appaloosa youth. The winning bidder received $2,250!
I don’t know about anyone else but when our American flag came by in the ring during our National Anthem last night I got a lump in my throat.
This kicked off the ceremonies last night at the Toys for Tots Performance. Awards were given out and sponsors and dignitaries like Barry Corbin were honored.
There are a number of pictures from the event in my photo album.
I had not seen a rope race until the National Show earlier this year. It’s a lot of fun to watch. Last night we had an invitational event with halter exhibitors. This video has the first heat so you can see what it was like.
All Posts
Twin Cities Featherlite Trailers has been a supporter of the Appaloosa Horse Club for a long time and according to Gary Raak, they will continue to be. He did admit that it’s a little further than he normally drives his trailers to a show but he brought plenty to see. The company is based out of Minneapolis, MN and Gary says that with current diesel prices it cost about 60 cents/mile for each truck/trailer he brought.
Interview With Gary Raak (4 min MP3)
One of the main show buildings here at the Mississippi Fair Grounds is the Kirk Fordice Equine Center. Named after a former Governor of the state, the building is managed by Billy Williams.
The National Appaloosa Show will have a first time event with singing artist, 
Friday night’s performance at the National Show had a VIP visitor. Mississippi Commissioner of Agriculture, Lester Spell, (in blue shirt), came out to watch the activities.
The staff of the Appaloosa Horse Club are working around the clock to make sure the National Show runs as smooth as possible.
The people of Jackson, MS have been going out of their way to make the Appaloosa Horse Club welcome at the National Show. None more than 
You will find all kinds of interesting items for sale at the National Show trade show. For example, there’s the 
The 
Hello once again from the National Appaloosa Show. This time in Jackson, MS. I’ll be your guest blogger for a couple of days, doing interviews and taking pictures to post here on Appaloosa Blog Spot. I got started this morning with Executive Director and master blogger himslef, Steve Taylor. Steve is pictured on the right of our morning ring announcer, Dave Branham.
Last night’s program included a short show by Diana Olson who is President of the 
Keri is smiling because it’s the last day of the show and all has gone well. As show manager, Keri LeForce has a lot of organizing to do.
His real name is Roland but everyone calls him Pete Woods. Pete’s been judging Appaloosas for 51 years now!
When you’re trying to getting the bidding up in an auction you’ve got to try different things. Like this move during the pre-rope race auction last night.
I don’t know about anyone else but when our American flag came by in the ring during our National Anthem last night I got a lump in my throat.