Let reining reign!

If you love reining and/or Oklahoma City, you’ll be pretty excited about this news. The rock stars of the reining world will be chosen in Oklahoma City. Here’s a press release from the city:

On Saturday, July 10, the U.S. Equestrian Reining Team will be selected at State Fair Park during the inaugural “Battle in the Saddle” event, a first for Oklahoma City.

The team members will represent the United States in September at the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games (WEG) being held in Lexington, Kentucky.

Team USA, in the reining discipline, will be sanctioned to compete in the

WEG by the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) which serves as the national governing body for equestrian sports in the United States.

The World Equestrian Games are an Olympic-style competition that is comprised of the world championships for eight equestrian sports. The games are held every four years, two years prior to the Summer Olympics.

Scheduled to compete in the WEG alongside Team USA are approximately 33 countries, including Germany, Italy, Mexico, Sweden and the Dominican Republic.

In December 2004 Oklahoma City voters approved an increase in the hotel/motel occupancy tax to fund improvements to the equestrian facilities at the State Fair Park.

“During the 2004 campaign, we told the citizens of Oklahoma City that this was the perfect way for us to make much needed improvements to the equine facilities at State Fair Park and reinforce our position as the ‘horse show capital of the world,” said Mayor Cornett. “The fact that the USEF has chosen Oklahoma City to select their Team USA for reining is validation of the decision our voters made.”

Team USA will be named as the world’s most talented horses and riders take center stage July 5-10 in Oklahoma City to battle it out for top honors at the inaugural “Battle in the Saddle” competition. This event, owned by Oklahoma State Fair, Inc. and managed by the American Quarter Horse Association, will be the premier equine competition showcasing the following five western disciplines: reining, working cow horse, roping, cutting and ranch horse competition.

Staff Writer Carrie Coppernoll

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