National Reining Breeders Classic Show Underway

April 18, 2008– The 2008 National Reining Breeders Classic Show, April 14-20, at the Great Southwest Equestrian Center in Katy, Texas, is underway and continues to be an important reining venue as the event will again pay out well over $1.1 million. Competitors are showing their 4-, 5- and 6-year-old reining horses for international recognition and are vying for big prize money.

But the event has humble beginnings. The National Reining Breeders Classic (NRBC) was born in the fall of 1997 when a group of top reining breeders got together and formed a fledgling stallion incentive program. Behind the initiative were the likes of Tom McCutcheon, Tim McQuay, Pete Kyle, Dick Pieper, Carol Rose, Gary Putman and Robert Chow. Their goal was to enroll the best stallions in a program to create a “Who’s Who” in the reining industry. By October 1997, they had enrolled 60 stallions. Part of the group’s early success came from melding the stallion program with an already-existing show: the Lazy E Classic. In 1998, that show became part of the NRBC and is now one of the biggest payouts in reining competition today.

In 2008, 372 horses are competing in the Classic and nearly 300 stallions are enrolled in the incentive program. For information on the NRBC, visit www.nrbc.com.