November 8-23, 2013, Oklahoma City

September 27, 2012

What Is the World Show?

The AQHA World Championship Show, each November in Oklahoma City, is truly a pinacle event featuring the best American Quarter Horses in the World.

Each November, thousands of competitors and their American Quarter Horses convene at State Fair Park in Oklahoma City for the FedEx Open and Bank of America Amateur AQHA World Championship Show. This year's event will kick off on November 2 and wrap up on November 17. Purchase tickets!

The AQHA World Championship Show is the pinnacle event for for American Quarter Horse owners and exhibitors around the globe. More than 3,500 entries from the United States, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Italy, Mexico and Venezuela competed for 94 world championships at the 2011 event. Stay tuned for facts from the 2012 World Show.

Competitors and their Quarter Horses compete yearlong to qualify for the honor of competing at this annual event. Exhibitors must qualify for the AQHA World Show by earning a predetermined number of points throughout the qualifying period to compete in each of the classes representing halter, English and western disciplines. Here is the breakdown of qualifying points for each class. Also, check out the schedule, view dates for future AQHA World Shows or learn more about AQHA events with our handy class descriptions page on www.aqha.com..

The American Quarter Horse Journal provides spectators, competitors and American Quarter Horse enthusiasts alike with a one-of-a-kind World Show experience at www.aqha.com/worldshow. Each Journal Winning Run includes a video interview with the newly-crowned AQHA world champion, statistics on their American Quarter Horse, plus a story about their trials and tribulations on the road to the coveted gold trophy. At www.aqha.com/worldshow you'll also find behind-the-scenes coverage and photos to complete that World Show experience. 

AQHA has action-packed evenings to compliment the most exciting classes in American Quarter Horse competition. Here's a taste of what fun events lie in store at the 2012 World Show, and stay tuned for special event updates:

• Saturday, November 3: Step back in time to the Wild West as members of the Cowboy Mounted Shooting Association demonstrate their skills with revolvers and rifles in this fast-action timed event. A course is set up with balloons as targets, and cowboys and cowgirls fire blank ammunition from aboard their trusty American Quarter Horses. This lively performance will be featured between the fast-action pole bending and barrel racing Saturday night finals. 
• Saturday, November 3: AQHA Professional Horseman Brad Jewett will teach spectators how to properly perform the amateur horsemanship preliminary pattern in a free Ride the Pattern clinic in Barn 8. Other free Ride the Rail/Ride the Pattern clinics include trail, hunt seat equitation, western pleasure, hunter under saddle and showmanship. For a full list of the free clinics, plus the list of AQHA Pro Horsemen teaching them, check out the show schedule.
• Saturday, November 10: Hoof it to the Performance Arena at 8 a.m. to watch American Quarter Horses compete over fences in the final event of the inaugural Huntfield AQHA Derby Series. Open to professionals and non-pros, the Huntfield AQHA Derby Series features a new format of competition for AQHA hunter competitors.
• Sunday, November 11: Some of the industry's leading producers and performers will sell at 10 a.m. at the AQHA World Championship Show Sale in the Performance Arena. For horse enthusiasts looking for their next AQHA world show prospect, the World Show Sale is the perfect place to find their next dream horse. Bidders also have a chance to watch the consigned horses in the sale preview at 1 p.m. on November 10 in the Performance Arena. To learn more about the 2012 World Show Sale, and to view a list of consigned horses, visit www.aqha.com/horsesale.
• Thursday, November 15: Pull out your favorite school's colors and come ready to cheer for the best collegiate horsemanship riders in the country in the first ever AQHA Collegiate Horsemanship Challenge. The Challenge prelims will take place on Wednesday, November 14, following junior western pleasure prelims in the Performance Arena. Eight student-athletes from the National Collegiate Equestrian Association and eight from the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association will battle it out for four spots in the Thursday night finals, which kick off at 7 p.m.. Watch the nation's leading collegiate horsemanship riders compete on borrowed horses – with only four minutes of warm-up time – for the title of the first ever AQHA Collegiate Horsemanship Challenge champion.
• Friday, November 16: The Get of Sire class, an added enhancement to the AQHA World Show, is scheduled for November 16 and will be held following the aged geldings class. Back in the day, Get of Sire classes at stock shows offered a great showcase to display a stallion’s mark as a sire. With that in mind, the American Quarter Horse Association is teaming up with the World Conformation Horse Association to turn back the clock and spotlight great sires in the industry.