World Championship Appaloosa Show and the World Championship Appaloosa Youth Show will be held together for the first time in history, Oct. 29-Nov. 8, at the Will Rogers Equestrian Center in Fort Worth, Texas.

Details for the dual World Shows were finalized by the ApHC Board of Directors, which met for 3 hours on Wednesday in special session. The Board had vowed earlier to try and save this year’s Youth World Championships after an earlier cancellation was forced by the nationwide COVID-19 outbreak.

“While we were all disappointed by the cancellation, it opened the door to trying something new, different and exciting,” said ApHC President Ken Johnson. “Holding the two World Shows together, which has never happened before, will make this truly a ‘family affair.’ I applaud the Board of Directors for taking this novel approach and for helping to give our youth exhibitors, the very lifeblood of our club, the kind of show they so richly deserve. It’s going to be a great event.”

Details of the show schedule will be released soon, but nearly 80 youth classes will be offered over a five-day period.

In other action, the Board also agreed, on a permanent basis, to raise youth eligibility from 18-and-under to 19- and-under, beginning in 2021. This followed a request by the Appaloosa Youth Association (AYA) to expand youth eligibility. This will also impact classes currently held in divisions. For example, current age groups of 12 & Under, 13-15 and 16-18 will become 13-and-under, 14-16 and 17-19. The only class not impacted is Leadline, which will remain 6-and-under.

“Following lengthy discussions by the full Board, as well as by the Show and Rules Committees, we believe that raising youth eligibility next year to 19-years-old will stimulate participation at our Regional Shows, while also benefitting the ApHC and our members for years to come,” Johnson continued. “It’s definitely a win-win for everyone and gives all of our youth participants that extra year of eligibility that we promised them because of COVID-19 – but now they’ll also be getting it permanently.”

The Board also approved new rules for green horse eligibility, raising the limit for points from 10 to 15. Additional rule changes and updates were also unanimously approved for Ranch Trail.