The Walking Horse Trainers Association voted at their recent board meeting to implement an incentive program to encourage Walking Horse trainers to show their open horses in a points race to receive incentive money at the end of the year. The Walking Horse Report has agreed to administer the program and will be the exclusive source of the point standings in a weekly update in the Report and online at www.walkinghorsereport.com.

The program allows trainers to accumulate points at Riders Cup shows for showing in open two-year-old, three-year-old, four-year-old, 15.2 and under, and open stake classes. The top 25 points winners will be awarded money at the WHTA banquet. Throughout the year, the point standings will be published in a weekly update in the Walking Horse Report and will be continuously updated at walkinghorsereport.com.

Horse shows which offer Riders Cup classes will see an upswing in the number of high quality open entries at their shows. Audiences will benefit by seeing the best open horses in competition with each other in what promises to be a very competitive points race.

Already horse shows are expressing interest in the new program and Jackson, Miss. has signed on as the first horse show in the Riders Cup.

A limited number of sponsorships are available for companies wanting to support the program and to be recognized weekly in the Report and at the horse shows.

For more information about the program or to participate as a horse show, contact Knox Blackburn, Link Webb, the WHTA Office at 931-684-5866, or Christy Parsons at the Report.