NSBA World Championship Show Celebrates Excellence

The National Snaffle Bit Association hosted its World Championship Show along with its Breeders Championship Futurity August 13-23, 2026, at the Built Ford Tough Livestock Complex at Expo Square in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The 2026 World Show and its Show Your Colors AQHA, APHA and NSBA show awarded 247 world and stakes championships and 58 Breeders Championship Futurity championships and housed nearly 3,000 horses. This year’s NSBA World Championship Show and Breeders Championship Futurity paid out more than $2.5 million in cash and prizes to exhibitors and horse owners. 

The NSBA World Show has been held in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for the past 21 years and creates a direct economic impact on the city of Tulsa of nearly $8.5 million, and creates more than 7,000 hotel room nights throughout the ten-day show.

New classes in 2026 included:

3 & 4 Year Old Novice Horse Hunter Under Saddle
3 & 4 Year Old Novice Horse Western Pleasure
3 Year Old Intermediate Non Pro Hunter Under Saddle
3 Year Old Intermediate Non Pro Western Pleasure
3 Year Old Intermediate Open Hunter Under Saddle
3 Year Old Intermediate Open Western Pleasure
3 Year Old Trail – Intermediate Rider
4 & 5 Year Old Trail – Intermediate Rider
Amateur 50 & Over Trail – Intermediate Rider
Amateur 50 & Over Trail – Limited Rider
Amateur Trail – Intermediate Rider
Amateur Trail – Limited Rider
AQHA Open English Versatility
First Year Green Pattern English
First Year Green Pattern Western
Green Junior Trail – Intermediate Rider
Green Non Pro Hunt Seat Equitation – Limited Rider
Green Non Pro Showmanship at Halter – Limited Rider
Green Non Pro Western Horsemanship – Limited Rider
Green Ranch Rail
Green Ranch Riding
Green Ranch Trail
Green Senior Trail – Intermediate Rider
Heroes on Horses Western Pattern
Junior Trail – Intermediate Rider
Maturity Intermediate Non Pro Hunter Under Saddle
Maturity Intermediate Non Pro Western Pleasure
Maturity Intermediate Open Hunter Under Saddle
Non Pro Ranch Horsemanship
Novice Youth Hunt Seat Equitation 13 & Under
Novice Youth Hunt Seat Equitation 14-18
Novice Youth Showmanship at Halter 13 & Under
Novice Youth Showmanship at Halter 14-18
Novice Youth Trail 13 & Under
Novice Youth Trail 14-18
Novice Youth Western Horsemanship 13 & Under
Novice Youth Western Horsemanship 14-18
Ranch BCF 3 Year Old Open Ranch Riding
Senior Trail – Intermediate Rider

NSBA hosted its first Breeders Championship Futurity classes beginning in 2001, and added its World Championship Show in 2006. 

NSBA recognized the service of military veterans along with the 250th anniversary of America with special events that included a welcome dinner, coached riding practice and two stakes classes. Veterans competed in the Heroes On Horses Western Pattern and Heroes On Horses Walk Jog Western Pleasure. Kendall Nygen, of St. Petersburg, Florida, showed her own horse, The Al Capone, to win the Heroes On Horses Pattern class while Florence Bryant, of Greenville, Texas, showed Laziness to win the Heroes On Horses Walk Jog Western Pleasure.

The CINCH Horsemanship Invitational saw 64 Non-Pro exhibitors who qualified and entered to compete by placing in the top ten in their alliance world championship show or NSBA World Show in 2025 and were invited to compete for the tournament. The top 15 exhibitors from the preliminary round returned for the finals where they performed a pattern that they were given ten minutes before the class began. Ady Kallay, of Drayton Valley Alberta, Canada, showed NSBA’s 2025 All Around Horse Of The Year The Batchelor to win the first place prize of $3,000.

Special Awards and Recognition

NSBA also honored the excellence of its members and their equine partners from the 2025 show year during the NSBA Honors banquet recognizing awards since as the 2025 Horse Of The Year, Jack Benson Award, Hall Of Fame, Quarter Million Dollar and Million Dollar Riders.

For the first time, the Horse Of The Year was recognized in categories of All Around Performance, Rail, Hunter Jumper and Ranch Performance. R C Kola, owned by Madeleine Bayless, was named Rail Horse Of The Year; The Batchelor, owned by AK Performance Horses, was recognized as All Around Performance Horse Of The Year; Xtra Wimpys Catalyst, owned by Erika Collins Sterling, was named Ranch Performance Horse Of The Year; and DGS Legacy, owned by Robin DeGraff, was recognized as Hunter/Jumper Horse Of The Year.

Chad Horkey received the Leo Barbera President’s Award for his work not only as a horse show announcer but his time working as a facilitator and advisor in NSBA Foundation’s Tomorrows Horsemen educational program for young training professionals.

The 2026 NSBA Hall Of Fame inductees included Highpoint Performance Horses/Charlie Cole and Jason Martin, of Pilot Point, Texas as Individual/Entity; Zippin The Breeze, owned by Kathryn Frederick, Mount Dora, Florida, as Breeding Mare; Its A Southern Thing, owned by Gumz Farms LLC, Ocala, Florida, as Breeding Stallion; and Look N Hott, owned by Laurel Champlin of Pilot Point, Texas.

Eight riders were inducted into the NSBA’s Quarter Million Dollar Club after reaching the milestone of earning more than $250,000 in lifetime NSBA earnings. They included Mike Hachtel, Nick Mayabb, Steve Meadows, Brad Ost, Ryan Painter, Jennifer Paul, Laura Spell and Hillary Timchak.

NSBA also recognized its fourth and fifth riders who have earned more than one million dollars in lifetime earnings: Aaron Moses and Katy Jo Zuidema.

The Roberts family of Ocala, Florida, were named the recipients of the Jack Benson Award for their support of the equine industry.

Three scholarship recipients were also recognized during the NSBA Honors banquet after receiving awards from the NSBA Foundation. Elena Cotton-Betteridge, of Bryan, Texas, received the T. Joe Jeane Memorial Scholarship that is given to a veterinary college student entering their second year of veterinary school. Lena Slater, of Canton, Georgia, was recognized as the 2026 NSBA Youth Scholarship recipient. Olivia Clough, of Westminster, Vermont, received the Youth Of The Year and a scholarship from the Susan Scott Memorial Fund.

NSBA Foundation Raises Funds

The NSBA Foundation hosted several fundraising activities throughout the 2026 NSBA World Championship Show including its annual online auction, two wine tasting events, a bar-b-cue sauce contest and an auction of long-time NSBA member Suzy Jeane’s whiskey cake to fund the Foundation’s programs. NSBA members bid generously on a wide variety of items, raising funds of $34,500 to help the Foundation continue its mission to provide programs that benefit the horse community through its five pillars of Animal Welfare, the Crisis Fund, Education, Equestrians With Disabilities/Heroes On Horses and the Champion Fund.

To view complete show results from the 2026 NSBA World Championship Show, please visit nsba.com and choose the World Show drop down menu and World Show Results.