The Texas Classic kicked off its 2009 show on Memorial Day weekend.

The 2009 Texas Classic is the first AQHA show to be allowed triple judging. (Journal photo)

However, it wasn’t until the morning of May 28 that I arrived at the Will Rogers Equestrian Center in Fort Worth, Texas.

It was my first time at the Texas Classic, which is put on by the Texas Quarter Horse Association, but I felt at home at Will Rogers. For my first three years at AQHA, I spent two weeks in Fort Worth for the Ford AQHYA World Championship Show. We would all freeze in our Justin Arena room and have to run outside in the 100-degree temps so we could warm up. Oh, memories.

But it wasn’t just my first year at the Texas Classic. It was also Brad Ettleman’s first year. His show management company, HorsePower was hired by TQHA this year to run the show.

I’ve met Brad a few times at reining shows he was managing. When I’d heard he’d be running this year’s Texas Classic, I knew it would be something special. I wasn’t disappointed.

With a Texas Classic Committee full of well-known names in the Quarter Horse world and the expertise of Brad, TQHA was able to get AQHA to agree to a triple-judged schedule, something completely unheard of before.

And the show’s format was set up in a way too that the youth showed over the three days of Memorial Day Weekend while they were out of school. Amateurs and open exhibitors began their show week on Tuesday. Also, some classes like showmanship and halter were offered on the same day in two sessions. That way, exhibitors who were maybe only in halter were able to show under six judges in one day and then head back to work the next day.

I asked several exhibitors and trainers what they thought of the new format, and without fail everyone told me they loved it.

“It was so much easier for us with this format,” Jill Briggs, the wife of AQHA Pro Horseman John Briggs, told me. “Because the youth were the first weekend and the amateurs later, we were better able to focus on our students without having to run from arena to arena. And we loved the triple judging. It’s just been a great show for us.”

Brad was estimated more than 10,000 entries for the Texas Classic, which is an increase over last year.

“We really saw numbers jump in youth entries,” TQHA Program Coordinator Melsa Maher told me. “We were really pleased with that and the new format was well-received by the youth, trainers and the parents.”

My first day at the Texas Classic brought back the excitement of show season for me. It was great seeing old friends like Joe McAllister, Rodger Call and Nellie Murphy and her brother, CJ, all of whom I hadn’t seen since last year. And the smell of Show Sheen and manure in the halter arena … to me it’s one of the best smells in the world because it means I’m at a horse show.

I’ll be here at the Classic until May 30 and then I’ll be heading up to Oklahoma City for the Redbud Spectacular. Be sure to check back each day through June 6 to see my reports and some of the photos I’ve captured.

Tonya Ratliff-Garrison
Field Editor
American Quarter Horse Journal

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Click on the photos to see the captions.

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