Official Results

The Sport Horse National Arabian and Half-Arabian Championship Horse Show (Sport Horse Nationals) celebrates its seventh anniversary in 2009, and benchmarks seven years of incredible horsemanship and continued growth as the Arabian Horse Association's (AHA) bright new show. It is the only sport horse show offered by a breed association. From dressage to hunter jumper to pleasure carriage driving, and much, much more, come see some of the best horse athletes in the industry. For the first time, Lexington, KY, known as the Horse Capital of the World, will host the Seventh Annual Sport Horse National Arabian and Half-Arabian Championship Horse Show (Sport Horse Nationals) September 22-27, 2009. Competitors will compete in more than 80 different Sport Horse classes across four divisions, including sport horse in-hand and under-saddle, dressage, pleasure carriage driving and hunter/jumper.

Sport Horse Nationals, which has alternated venues in the East and West since its inception, will return to Nampa, ID, in 2010 while Lexington hosts the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, but will settle in Lexington at the Kentucky Horse Park for at least three years starting in 2011.

Sport Horse Nationals ranks as the only single-breed sport horse event in the nation offered just for Arabian, Half-Arabian and Anglo-Arabian horses registered with AHA or the Canadian Arabian Horse Registry. An estimated 650 horses will compete at this prestigious event, which will name the nation's top horses.

Competitors from 27 different states and provinces will compete for walnut plaques, rose neck garlands and a Gladys Brown Edwards trophy statue depicting the renowned ideal Arabian horse. Other awards include gold jewelry, and select classes receive additional prizes such as bridles and saddles.

While they are not in the show ring, exhibitors will have a chance to shop the commercial exhibitor area that will feature jewelry, tack and clothing from the likes of Bennett Fine Jewelry, Faulkners Saddlery, The Hat Lady and more.

Exhibitors and spectators can also explore the rest of the Kentucky Horse Park, which is home to a number of attractions, including the Hall of Champions, a Parade of Breeds and the International Museum of the Horse, where The Arabian Horse Galleries is scheduled to open next spring.

On September 24 at 8 p.m. exhibitors and general public can enjoy a Progressive Barn Party hosted by a number of different Sport Horse Nationals exhibitors and then on September 26, there will be a special evening performance beginning at 7 p.m. The performance includes a jumper mini-prix, musical dressage freestyle, Pleasure Carriage Driving Pick Your Own Route, sport horse show hack and Sport Horse Supreme Champion.

Sport Horse Nationals is produced by AHA and sponsored in part by Corporate Partners Bank of America, Cardinale GMC, Armstrong Display Concepts Inc., Markel Insurance Company, United Healthcare, New Holland and The Hat Lady.

For more information on the show, contact AHA at (303) 696-4500, email info.comp@Arabianhorses.org or visit ArabianHorses.org.

Dressage rider Mimi Stanley of Bismarck, North Dakota, has her sights set big: to someday compete internationally on the U.S. Equestrian Team. During the past decade, she has demonstrated gravitas in the steps toward achieving that goal.

At the 2009 Sport Horse Nationals, Stanley will be competing on three horses in various divisions. She will ride EA Cygnus+// in Arabian Sport Horse Show Hack, Dressage Intermediate II and Grand Prix; PR Merrylegs+// in HA/AA Arabian Mares In-Hand and Dressage Third Level; as well as Starfires Orion+/ in Dressage Third Level and Dressage Second Level. To cap of the week, she will be one of three riders demonstrating Freestyle Music Dressage for Saturday night’s entertainment lineup.

From the stands on Tuesday in the Covered Arena, one might wonder, “Who is 615?” The entry was not listed in the show program, but the horse was absolutely noticeable. A flashy, bay gelding, with a blaze and extreme white covering his muzzle, FMF Arabi (Showkayce+ x HMT Malan) stood out with his beauty, correctness and powerful, reaching, ground-covering trot. Scoring a 76.25 and winning the Arabian Sport Horse Geldings In-Hand Championship confirmed that the gelding truly had something special about him.

After nearly 50 years of waiting to enter the winner's circle at a national show, 84-year-old Dorothe Fisher realized her dream on Wednesday afternoon. Trotting Last Goodbye+++/, who she co-owns with Martha Murdock, Fisher headed in to the ring to accept her mare's Top-10 award in HA/AA Sport Horse Mares In-Hand, with a mile-wide smile lighting her face. "At last, I finally made it in the ring with a winner," Fisher shared the next day.

On the cusp of his 17th year, the Al-Marah stallion AM Good Oldboy+ discovered his "second" calling-as a hunter horse. Initially, clearing a few jumps during light riding in his post-retirement was just part of his conditioning. Since December 2008, though, Good Oldboy has found success at multiple events in the hunter division, including a Top-10 award in Arabian Green Working Hunter at Sport Horse Nationals this week.

It is hard to raise a bar that is set so high-out of the box. Since he first strode into the Arabian show world this summer, Oration has delivered nothing but excellence in his new career for his new owners. To the tune of six championships, one reserve and one Top 10 at the 2009 Sport Horse Nationals (SHN), owner Ricci Desiderio said his newly acquired, former racehorse is the next generation in the sport horse world. Win-after-win since July, the 5-year-old is proving his mettle as an outstanding junior sport horse stallion and deserves, shall we say, a "Standing Oration".

Stellar sport horse competition wrapped up in style with Saturday Evening Special Performances and a jackpot-filled Sunday morning at the 2009 Arabian and Half-Arabian Sport Horse National Championship Horse Show (SHN).

Saturday night's performances led off with Dr. Johnny Dean singing the national anthem. Dr. Dean, a Lexington native is director at the Midway College of Music. Following the opening ceremonies, the audience watched an engaging show with the Jumper Mini Prix, Musical Dressage Freestyle and Carriage Pleasure Driving Pick Your Own Route, followed by Arabian Sport Horse Show Hack, Arabian Sport Horse Under Saddle and the crowning of the Supreme Sport Horse Champion.