Tentative numbers are available for the entries to the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration for 2002. While there will be some additional changes due to proofing and verifying entries in their respective classes, currently there are 4775 entries for the 2002 Celebration program compared to 4524 in the 2001 program. These numbers do not reflect championship entries which will be made during the show.

This year’s show will reflect 27 split classes compared to 21 splits in 2001. This year, for the first time in history, the two-year-old stallion class will be split four ways with a total of 178 two-year-old stallions entered.

Ron Thomas was thrilled with the growth in the Celebration entries. “We had huge growth in the trail pleasure division, and the exhibitors really supported the new elite division (for riders 50 and over) this year.” The elite division offered four preliminary classes - three of those classes have 31 entries each and the fourth class has 26 entries.