Peter Bartolo on Onya Wozza compete in the 2012 Reining Australia Futurity at AELEC. Photos: Geoff O’Neill 131012GOD06
TAMWORTH’S growing reputation as a home for recreational horse sports gained further momentum over the weekend when a national reining championship and a state team penning championship were held at the Australian Equine Livestock and Events Centre and Moonbi Showground.
AELEC was the venue for the 2012 Continenatal Affiliate and Reining Australia Futurity Championships and Show.
That show started last Monday and flowed through the week culminating in Saturday’s final day of events. Reining Australia president, Annie Woodhouse, had great pride in welcoming competitors and spectators alike back to Tamworth for the 2012 titles.
She said AELEC was a “world class equine
facility, which Reining Australia called home” .
Two American judges, Dori Schwartzenberger and Bub Poplin, joined with Aussie judge Pam Stokes to adjudicate at the
championships.
Out at Moonbi Showground the 2012 NSW Team Penning Championships attracted about 500 competitors, about 520 head of cattle and around 200 horses.
Run by the Tamworth and District Team Penning Association the annual championships is the pinnacle of each year for the various riders who have come from campdrafting, and other horse ball events.
The T&DTPA was formed in 1998, one of the first associations in the state and probably the biggest.
This year the club’s popularity saw it register its 1200th membership and club president, Brian Penrose, welcomed all and sundry over the weekend.
He is excited about the increased interest in team penning and reckoned the 2012 state titles might cement Tamworth and the region as the capital for the sport.