Arabian horses, owners settling in

The move-in has begun at the Keystone Centre with the arrival of more than 300 Arabian horses that will compete in Canada’s National Arabian Championship beginning Thursday.

There is no admission for the public to see the competitive classes that run from Aug. 7-16, said Murray Popplewell, director of the Canadian Arabian Horse Association.

“The Arabian horse is beautiful. They are so elegant and well worth the show. It is the most universal horse in the world,” Popplewell said.

“Almost every light breed horse in the world descends from Arabians, even thoroughbred racehorses,” he said Tuesday morning from the lobby of the Canad Inns Hotel.

Popplewell stood next to Tex Kam, the vice-president of the National Arabian Breed Society, which organizes the event and was instrumental in bringing the show back to Brandon from its former home in Red Deer, Alta.

“This facility,” said Kam as he looked around, “is one of the reasons why we’re in Brandon. Having everything under one roof or very close to it, having two arenas and the stabling all under one roof is almost unheard of in North America.

“We’re very happy moving more central and closer to the United States border. I think we’ve increased more than 100 American participants,” he said.

Two of those Americans — Ron and Yvonne Copple — drove all night to get to the Wheat City from Rochester, Wash. Each drove a semi-truck hauling trailers that in one had seven and in the other eight Arabians along for the ride.

Back home, they train horses for owners who want to compete in national and international arenas. In 10 days of competition, there are more than 200 individual classes for purebred and half-Arabians, said Yvonne.

“We’re all competing for a Canadian National Champion title,” Yvonne said.

Each class has its own criteria, with the horses judged by their manners and how they obey, she added.

“There are confirmation classes, halter classes where there’s no saddle and they are led — so, it’s like a show and tell. So that’s walk, trot and canter when we’re riding, and other classes that have extended gates and hand gallop,” she said.

The western class is the hardest and is Ron’s specialty, Yvonne said, as she nodded to her husband.

“It’s extreme self-carriage, you’re not hanging on to the reins at all,” she said.

The horse goes around the ring with no direction from the handler, Ron added.

“You could drink an open glass of water on and not hold on to the horse, and it’s going so slow and easy while walking, cantering or galloping. The horse is smooth, and stays perfectly in frame,” he said.

Brandon hosted the Arabian championships in the past, but lost it because of the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s when it went to Red Deer.

At that time, the event was owned and run by a Colorado-based organization, even though it had the word Canadian in the title.

Canadian competitors paid their registration fees in American dollars. But all that changed in 2022, when Kam and the National Arabian Breed Society took over running the event.

One of their goals was to level the playing field. The other was to increase the number of entries.

This year there are competitors from California, Delaware and Florida. In Canada, they are from British Columbia to Quebec.

In a recent show of support for the horse show at a June council meeting, Brandon City Council approved an accommodation grant, giving $7 per room per night.

“Canadians are really stepping up to the plate,” said Ron. “I give props to the Canadian folks in the Arabian association.

“Before I crossed the border to come here, I had already dropped $10,000, and here I have to feed and house all my people,” he said.

“And once my clients show up, they’ll get hotels for two weeks, and they’re going to feed themselves.

“So, the better the show that they run is a win for our clients. But I think they’re going to do a bang-up job here, so that it’s not just a horse show. It becomes an event.”

» mmcdougall@brandonsun.com

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