Just 16 days before the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, all is looking well for the reining competition.

Eric Straus, the honorary steward general for reining for the Federation Equestre Internationale – the body that governs international equestrian competition – says that the Games are in good condition, and the world should be ready to marvel at the reining.

As the steward general for reining, Eric is in charge of building the stewards program for reining.

“I was already an FEI steward for jumping, so they just said, ‘As of tomorrow, you are an FEI reining steward.’ My job now is to teach the teachers and build the stewarding infrasctructure,” Eric said in the July 2009 issue of The American Quarter Horse Journal.

He spoke with the Journal again at the first of September and talked about how the competition is coming together.

The World Equestrian Games will be September 25 – October 10. The reining team competition begins the first day and will be followed by the individual reining competition. Reiners will qualify for the individual competition by their placings within the team competition.

Reining is one of the eight horse disciplines that will see competition at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky. The other disciplines are eventing, dressage, para dressage, combined driving, jumping, vaulting and endurance. Reining is a relatively new discipline.

“Reining made a meteoric rise in the FEI. It went from being a conversation to being an FEI discipline almost overnight,” Eric says. “It was a demonstration sport at the 1998 WEG in Rome. In Spain in 2002, reining was on the program just like the other equestrian disciplines.”

To read more about how reining became included in the World Equestrian Games, see the October issue of The American Quarter Horse Journal.

As a steward, Eric is in charge of making sure that the competition takes place on a level playing field.

“My job is to ensure that the welfare of the horse comes first,” he says. “In real life, that means the chief steward at an FEI reining competition is responsible for all aspects of security, stabling and training outside of the competition arena.”

In addition to being the steward general for reining on a global basis, Eric is the steward general for reining in the United States, and he points out that the 2010 Games will be on American turf, with American reiners needing to defend their home country and their homebred discipline.

The Canadian, Italian and Germany teams look competitive, he says, and visitors who have never seen reining are going to see some exciting runs.

“The international community is going to see a competition that is very different from the other disciplines,” he says. “It looks different. It’s fast-paced and it’s in a stock saddle.”

Official WEG sponsors AQHA and the National Reining Horse Association are planning many events within the Kentucky Horse Park in addition to the competition to introduce international visitors to our sport. AQHA is also the official breed sponsor of WEG reining.

“I said in a toast at a dinner in Germany, where the 2006 Games were: Spain was fantastic, Germany is wonderful, and the best is yet to come,’” Eric says. “I think we will show the world that an American twist on the World Equestrian Games is a very positive one. I think everyone’s excited about coming to America.”

To learn more about the World Equestrian Games or to order tickets, go online to www.aqha.com/weg or  www.discoverhorses.com.