Saddle & Bridle Magazine announced today that there will be several changes to its Rules & Regulations for the 2023 show season that exhibitors should note.

For the past several years, all of Saddle & Bridle’s finals have taken place at the St. Louis National Charity Horse Show in Lake St. Louis, Mo. However, in light of interest expressed by many exhibitors, this year the Working Western Pleasure National Championship will move to the Monarch National Championship Horse Show in Springfield, Ill., Sep. 6-10. Qualification will remain the same as last year, and the cut-off for qualification (Aug. 31) remains the same as well.

All other finals will continue to be held at St. Louis National Charity Sep. 27-30, but a few of these have seen changes as well. Due to the low number of entries in last year’s Shatner Junior Exhibitor final, Saddle & Bridle has altered the final to a Youth final, so that riders 21 years of age and under can compete. Saddle & Bridle is also working to add a Hunter Seat Classic Youth Final for youth hunt seat riders to the schedule.

Finally, due to the upsurge in popularity of the hunt seat Saddlebred, the Hunter Seat Classic has now joined the Shatner Western Pleasure class in its exclusivity: to qualify for the finals, a horse must win a blue ribbon in a qualifying class. Once a horse has done so, the horse is eliminated from competition in further qualifying classes that season. 

The updated Rules & Regulations packet will be printed in Saddle & Bridle’s January/February 2023 issue, and will be available soon at saddleandbridle.com/images/2023_Rules_&_Regulations.pdf. All changes will be highlighted in blue for ease of use.

For more information on any of Saddle & Bridle’s finals, contact Allie Layos at allie@saddleandbridle.com or (314) 725-9115.