The Tennessee Walking Horse Breeders’ and Exhibitors’ Association will once again be a sponsor at the 2010 Celebration according to Dr. Doyle Meadows, Celebration CEO.  “Although the sponsorship will be less than previous years, we appreciate TWHBEA’s involvement in our World Championship show,” stated Meadows.

Meadows also confirmed that the Breeders would take total control of the TWHBEA Futurity including its management, center ring staff and judges.  The event will be held on Wednesday night August 25 in Calsonic Arena but Celebration judges will NOT judge the Futurity. 

Therefore Futurity classes will NOT be a preliminary or qualifying class to any Celebration class or Championship.  Under the assumption The Celebration® would host, manage and judge the Futurity as it has for many years, The Celebration® Premium List indicates several classes that allowed the TWHBEA National Futurity entries to qualify for Celebration Championships.  Unfortunately, the premium list had already been printed and mailed by the time the TWHBEA decided to make this change.

At TWHBEA’s request, The Celebration® will have absolutely no control or responsibility of the TWHBEA National Futurity.  The Futurity is separate and independent of The Celebration® and its class sheet. Dr. Meadows stated” The Celebration® will not allow entries to qualify for The Celebration® in an event of which we have a different set and number of judges.  This situation would allow entries to be judged under a different set of criteria than those qualifying in The Celebration’s preliminary qualifying classes and is a cause for concern.