About 300 horses from across North America will be at Westerner Park for Canada’s National Arabian Championship from August 12 to 19.
“It’s probably one of the biggest breed shows in Canada, if not the biggest,” said Tex Kam, president of both the Canadian Arabian Horse Registry and the National Arabian Breed Society.
He said the previous organizer of the championship pulled out last year after two years without a show during COVID. Then a dedicated group of Arabian horse breeders took on the task without much time to prepare and held a smaller event in Red Deer last fall.
The number of horses that will compete has already increased by 50 per cent since the 2022 championship.
“We’re hoping to grow the show. Prior to COVID, the show was up around 600 to 700 horses.”
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Organizers and volunteers have been setting up at the Centrium and other buildings at the Westerner for about a week for the culmination of the Canadian Arabian show season.
“We don’t have a long-term contract, but there are no immediate plans to go anywhere,” said Kam about the Westerner where a couple thousand people will gather for the championship.
Volunteers will be collecting information from attendees to determine the economic impact on the community.
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He said Alberta has the biggest Arabian horse community in Canada. But it’s also an opportunity for others to learn about the breed and check out everything the event has to offer. Admission is free.
“The public’s welcome to go through the barns and look at the horses and talk to people in the barns. We’re trying to make it not just an event for us, but an event for the public to come meet the horses and see what it’s all about.”
Kam said Arabians may seem like a hot and fiery breed, but over their long history they have become very intuitive to their human family.
“They’re so attuned to people. That’s the difference between Arabian horses and any other breed.”
For more information about Canada’s National Arabian Championship visit arabiannationals.com.
szielinski@reddeeradvocate.com
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