/ by /   Apha News, PHJ News / 0 comments

APHA announces Elite Custom Saddles as its Official Performance Saddle Partner

The American Paint Horse Association recently partnered with Elite Custom Saddles to provide exhibitors who excel in performance classes such as speed events, cattle and ranch horse classes with new award saddles.

Beginning with the 2015 competition year, the Paint Barrel Racing Incentive Program (PBRIP) year-end divisional winners will each receive a custom Elite trophy saddle. Additionally, the Oscar Crigler Cattle Award winner and new Power Performance High-Point Amateur at the 2016 APHA World Championship Show and the Power Performance High-Point Youth at the 2016 AjPHA Youth World Championship Show will also each win an Elite saddle. Select APHA year-end high-point ranch horses (competing in all four ranch horse classes—ranch pleasure, ranch trail, ranch reining and ranch cow work—and meeting minimum point requirements) will take home Elite saddles as well. More awards will be unveiled in the future, including additional PBRIP special awards.

Elite Custom Saddles is based out of Tioga, Texas, and is managed by APHA member and horse trainer Jon Carpenter. Jon’s years of training and show experience in events like roping and working cow horse give him a practical advantage and working knowledge of the industry. Furthermore, Jon—a proud 2015 Paint Youth Trust donor—is passionate about APHA and its future.

“My family and I grew up in the horse industry, and my dad also had a saddle shop,” Jon said. “Saddles and horses are our passion. Every saddle we make at Elite is carefully designed to ensure our customers get the best possible product. Our saddle makers—partner and Senior Saddle Maker Raymundo Blanco and his son, Ray Jr.—have more than 55 combined years of experience building Western saddles. We enjoy being able to personalize each saddle to our customers’ unique needs.”

APHA Executive Director Billy Smith is especially excited about the partnership, as it provides additional awards to the ever-growing speed, pattern and ranch horse classes.

“Participation in PBRIP and ranch horse classes are at an all-time high. We saw a significant increase in entries for these classes at our 2015 World Show over the previous year, which demonstrates our members’ enthusiasm for these events,” Billy said. “This new partnership with Elite will allow us to better recognize and reward exhibitors in these growing disciplines and hopefully generate even more growth in the future.”

Elite builds custom saddles for all Western disciplines; its base saddle model includes No. 1 American tanned leather, wooden stirrups, three-quarter floral tooling, silver conchos, silver D rings and the customer’s choice of light, golden, medium or dark oil. For more information, visit elitecustomsaddles.com.

Interested in winning your own Elite saddle? Contact the APHA Performance Department for more information about its PBRIP, ranch and speed horse programs by visiting apha.com, emailing [email protected] or calling (817) 222-8455.

##

[Reprinting all or part of this news release is permitted, so long as credit is given to the Paint Horse Journal and a link provided back to apha.com.]

About APHA

The American Paint Horse Association is the world’s second-largest international equine breed association, registering more than a million horses in 59 nations and territories since it was founded. APHA creates and maintains programs that increase the value of American Paint Horses and enriches members’ experiences with their horses.

SHARE THIS