Edited Press Release

The National Western Stock Show is pleased to announce the addition of an invitational Collegiate Challenge to the Horseman’s Challenge event. The Collegiate Challenge was created to engage local college equestrian programs and offer additional scholarship opportunities. Five Colorado higher education programs will each select two representatives to compete on January 18th and 19th in the CINCH Arena in the Events Center. Colleges included in the 2022 event include: Colorado Mesa University, Colorado State University, Northeastern Junior College, Otero Junior College and the University of Colorado.

The Horseman’s Challenge was created in 2018 to provide a challenging, educational and entertaining opportunity for local and national equestrians to be involved within a growing and evolving discipline. In this timed obstacle course, horse and rider teams face obstacles and maneuvers testing their horsemanship and confidence in each other. It is open to all ages of horse and rider and breed of horse, pony, mule or donkey. The ten collegiate competitors will compete in the open Individual Rounds with all competitors on Tuesday and are encouraged to join or create a team for the Team Challenge Wednesday morning. The Collegiate Challenge will run concurrently with the Speed Challenge Wednesday afternoon, which is composed of ten open qualified competitors from the Individual Rounds. The Champion and Reserve Champion collegiate competitors will receive $2,000 and $1,000 scholarships provided by the National Western Scholarship Trust in addition to other awards.