The National Reining Horse Association (NRHA) and the World Games 2010 Foundation announced the NRHA’s sponsorship of the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. With its sponsorship, the National Reining Horse Association makes possible, for the first time in Games history, an exhibition freestyle event to the overall event schedule.

NRHA Executive Director Dan Wall commented, “NRHA is proud to announce our official partnership with the Games and is thrilled to have this special opportunity to bring the excitement of reining to competitors and spectators worldwide. We are committed to growing the discipline both here in the states and abroad, and no venue is better than the Games to showcase our sport and athletes.”

NRHA is a long-time proponent of the Games and the global expansion of reining, even prior to reining’s debut at the 2002 FEI World Equestrian Games. NRHA provides support and input needed to create and enhance the Games’ reining competition format. The newly improved format offers an augmented purse, deeper payouts for team and individuals, as well as increased days of competition.

The Reining Freestyle Exhibition will take place on September 30 after the final round of the Games world championship reining competition is complete. This freestyle competition will not be part of the world championship competition, but will be a separate ticketed event.

Tickets for the freestyle exhibition will be sold for $70 with the public on-sale beginning September 25, 2009, on www.alltechfeigames.com and on www.ticketmaster.com.

NRHA joins the Reining Horse Sports Foundation, NRHA’s supporting organization, and the American Quarter Horse Association as joint supporters of the reining competition, one of eight world championships that will be contested at Lexington’s Kentucky Horse Park, September 25-October 10, 2010.

“We are excited to announce this partnership with the National Reining Horse Association,” said Terry Johnson, Vice President of Marketing and Sales for the 2010 Games. “The NRHA has always been a strong supporter of our event and this partnership will expose another aspect of reining to our spectators, which we could not have done otherwise.”

Rick Weaver, NRHA President, said, “The grace, agility and power of the reining horse have launched the discipline onto a worldwide stage, and we are excited to welcome international fans and riders to North America, the birthplace of the sport. We also look forward to highlighting the reining competition on television with our supporting organization, the Reining Horse Sports Foundation.”

Reining was added to the FEI as a discipline in 2000 and was featured for the first time in 2002 at the FEI World Equestrian Games in Jerez, Spain. The reining competitions at the 2006 Games in Aachen, Germany, launched the discipline and its athletes into fame, with sold-out performances and loud, fanatical crowds.