Jim Porcher & Cricket Gates - Sport Horse Nationals 2023

09/08/23 • 12 min

Join us as this week Paul speaks with Jim Porcher and Cricket Gates of the Sport Horse National (SHN) Show Commission on the upcoming show, starting September 11th and running through the 16th. The show will be hosted at the incredible World Equestrian Facility in Wilmington, Ohio. Jim discusses what's new in the Jumping and Dressage arenas with such classes as Beginner Novice Combined Training, which will move from an exhibition to a National Championship for the first time. This event is 2/3 of the standard three-day eventing discipline, omitting the cross-country portion. This show will be the first of its kind offering a single-breed variant of this event. Additional events like Stadium Jumping and Dressage will be available, along with Jackpots and Derby classes, including some supported by the Arabian Breeders Sweepstakes. Cricket delves into the Sport Horse arena, where horses from Yearling and onward will be shown in-hand to judges from the open Sport Horse divisions - the same standard that non-Arabians are held to across the world. This is a tight episode with a lot to hear about! If you'd like to get into contact with with Jim or Cricket, their emails are [email protected] and [email protected].

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Thank you for listening to We Love Arabian Horses.

Thank you for listening to We Love Arabian Horses.

Previous Episode

John Lambert - Integrity Inside & Outside the Arena

Join us as Paul is rejoined by John Lambert of Cal Poly University Pomona in his second time on the podcast. John just wrapped judging on Region 14 - which is set to be the largest regional of the year. In addition to being the biggest of the year, the show actually sold out of stalls. John enjoyed what was a very long week judging an extremely talented group of horses. Both Paul and John dive into what it means to judge at a high level within the Arabian industry, from technical knowledge, scrutiny of the details, and the endurance required to stand in an arena all day long without much walking and definitely very little sitting. They discuss the potential of conflicts of interests in such a tight-knit community, and discuss their strategies to avoid them. They also discuss why a horse may end up placed drastically differently from one judge to another - from background, to personal preference, to what one person saw that another may have missed.

They also jump into auction transparency: When John took on the Head Trainer position at Cal Poly Pomona, an end was brought to private treaty sales from the Cal Poly program and all horses were sold at auction. John talks through how he approached this unique problem, and how Cal Poly has not only sold more horses, but have drawn more buyers through their practices that set forth an alternative blueprint for managing sales in the Arabian industry.

Thank you for listening to We Love Arabian Horses.

Next Episode

Karen Kasper - The Essence of Arabian Horses

Join us as this week Duane returns with an interview with Karen Kasper, world-renowned artist who may be most recently remembered for her recent sculpture of "Goldie" who has traveled throughout the country as an Arabian representative. Karen is far more than Goldie! She shares her experiences and introduction to the Arabian Horse - through pictures and art, and her later finally interacting with them in person. From there she took the leap into painting, where she she's leaned on her inspiration from classical artist renditions to help her specialize in detail, expression, and, for lack of a better word - their essence. It was suggested to her that, based on her style, she might excel at sculpting - and from her first cast it was clear that was true. Since then, Karen has had an incredible career as an equine artist and sculptor. Her work is the first contemporary sculpture of Arabians featured in the Al Marah Arabian Horse Galleries, where they are residing today. For this alone, a trip to the Kentucky Horse Park is certainly worth it. You can catch more examples at her website: www.karenkasper.com, and reach the artist at [email protected].

Thank you for listening to We Love Arabian Horses.