TAMWORTH is once again hosting the World Cup next week with the American Quarter Horse Association Youth World Cup officially kicking off yesterday at the Australian Equine and Livestock Events Centre (AELEC) .
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Held out of the USA every second year, the 20th World Cup will be Australia’s sixth and Tamworth’s second as teams from 13 competing nations ride into town to battle it out.
Yesterday afternoon saw the opening ceremony go ahead in front of a big crowd at the arena, with the Australian team following teams from Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Britain and the USA also joining the parade and enjoying the entertainment and pageantry.
The 13 teams will provide over 1000 of the best quarter horse youth riders on the planet, joining each other for a host of clinics and tutorials before the official competition begins on Thursday.
AQHA spokeswomen Vanessa Roach said the young riders would learn from the best in the world at individual disciplines including cutting, reining and western pleasure.
“The riders will then put these new skills to the test against each other over four days of competition starting on Sunday (June 26) with the cutting competition followed by the first show on Thursday,” Roach said.
AELEC manager Mike Rowland said the event returning to Tamworth is another step towards putting the town and venue on the world stage.
“We are delighted to not just welcome them to Australia, but to show them what Tamworth has to offer,” Rowland said.
The AQHA World Cup is a free event for spectators, with the first cutting competition on at 11.30am tomorrow, before the second competition at 3pm.