Contributed Courtesy APHA, Photography Courtesy APHA Journal

The last three days of the APHA World Show were action-packed thanks to cutters from across the country. Horsemen showed up in impressive numbers October 2-4, for a chance at great prizes and cold, hard cash.

The world championship cutting classes saw a 35% increase in entries over 2019, but the big story was the Challenge classes where entries jumped from 18 in 2019 to 41-a 128% increase. Entries remained steady in the 3-Year-Old Cutting Challenge but doubled in the 4-Year-Old Challenge from 2019. The 5 & 6-Year-Old Cutting Challenge saw a whopping 450% increase over 2019 and the Non-Pro Cutting Challenge was up 129%.

Steve Oehihof & Skeet Skat Cat won the APHA Cutting Challenge for 5 & 6 Year Olds

Overall, the Chrome Cash Cutting Challenge classes paid out a total of $34,415 to registered Paint Horses. In addition, the American Cutting Horse Association Cowtown Cutting paid out an additional $22,900 over two days.

Even in a challenging year, the APHA World Show, as a whole, saw big increases across the board. Champions were crowned, dreams became a reality and there were lots of reasons to celebrate. Overall, APHA World Show entries were up 12% across all disciplines with 1,536 horses competing at the event-an increase of 18.7% over the (combined) total horses in 2019. 🎠