Iowa Quarter Horse Association Starts Ranch Horse Breeders Program & Futurity

The Iowa Quarter Horse Association (IQHA) is accepting stallion enrollments for a new ranch horse breeders program and futurity. The program will host its first futurity this fall in Des Moines, Iowa.

The IQHA Ranch Horse Stallion Breeders Program & Futurity was formed to promote the breeding, training and use of quality horses, said Shane Vaughan, chairman of the IQHA’s Ranch Horse Futurity Committee. It also affords stallion owners the opportunity to showcase their offspring.

“I think it’ll be good for the industry as a whole, not just the breeders,” said Vaughan, of Sheffield, Iowa. “I hope that it generates some interest with exhibitors; people wanting to find a nice horse and go have some fun at a different type of show that they’re not used to. And, I hope it stimulates the horse trainers in the state. Now, maybe they’ve got a few more horses to ride because people want to get them ready for this deal.”

Any stallion is eligible to be enrolled in the program. Sires do not have to stand in Iowa; and there’s no membership required to enroll a stallion to make his progeny eligible to compete at the futurity.

The program’s initial stallion enrollment fee is $350 if paid before May 1, 2019, and $450 after May 1. Stallions enrolled in 2019 are eligible to maintain that special, discounted enrollment rate through 2023. As of early February, approximately 40 stallions had been enrolled in the program. They represented cutting, reining, reined cow horse, ranch and western pleasure bloodlines. 

The initial futurity classes will be offered as jackpots during the 2019 IQHA Fall Classic and Futurity, which is set for Sept. 26-29, at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines. Classes will be open to yearling through 4-year-olds. Offerings in 2019 will include conformation, ideal ranch horse (combination of ranch conformation and ranch pleasure), ranch riding, ranch trail, working ranch horse and boxing.

The program will pay through 10 places, and offer Open and Non-Pro divisions. Stallion owners at the time of enrollment will receive 10 percent of the winnings of all nominated offspring each year.

Vaughan, who also is the director of IQHA District 3, hopes the program and its annual show will be an outlet for people who are interested in ranch horse competition.

“My whole goal this fall is when every exhibitor leaves that [first IQHA Ranch Horse Stallion Breeders Futurity] show and they get in their pickup, and pick up the phone and they call their friends or their family members, or whatever, [they’ll] say ‘I just left the funnest horse show I’ve ever been to in my life’,” he said.

Visit iowaquarterhorse.com for stallion enrollment forms and additional details on rules, foal nominations, prize fund payouts and class payouts. More information also is available at the IQHA Ranch Horse Stallion Breeders Program and Futurity Facebook Page.

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