Q & A with Sandy Jirkovsky — The International Ranch Horse Association (IRHA)
By Delores Kuhlwein
Sandy Jirkovsky, APHA Director of Judges & Professional Horsemen, serves an instrumental role with IRHA as well.
Imagine a national association that can offer to the ranch horse industry what NRHA offers to reining. Such an association would have renowned ranch horse experts such as Pete Kyle, Bud Lyon, Steve Meadows, Shannon Quinlan Hill, Dana Hokana, John Irish, and Rhonda Replogle on its advisory panel, just to name a few.
That association is already here, it’s APHA-owned, and it’s taking the all-breed ranch industry by storm. The International Ranch Horse Association is not only making headlines with its payouts, but also for its national database and much more.
The Equine Chronicle sat down with Sandy Jirkovsky, APHA Director of Judges & Professional Horsemen, since she serves an instrumental role with IRHA as well, to have a Q & A session:
Q: Why do we need an association strictly for ranch horses?
A: We want to inspire horsemen to come show the ranch and offer a place for their horses’ records to be recorded in a national database. The IRHA promotes the ranch horse and the want to recognize top money earning horses and riders in the United States and worldwide.
Q: How do we know this is an association we want to be vested in –- in other words, who is standing behind it?
A: It’s an APHA-owned organization. It was started in partnership with Daniel Patton and APHA, and now it’s strictly APHA-owned. We have an impressive advisory panel, and our first meeting with this committee is on September 10, 2025.
The advisory panel includes Pete Kyle, Bud Lyon, Steve Meadows, Shannon Quinlan Hill, Kimberly Stewart, John Irish, Patty Campbell, Clayton Jerrell, Dana Hokana, Jessica Lawrence, and Rhonda Replogle.
The panel has international members as well: Lino Tosoni of Italy, Paola Donarini of Italy, Sylvia Katschker of Austria, Saad-el-Din of Austria, and Helena Ryan of Ireland.
APHA staff members include Dave Dellin, APHA Chief Executive Officer; Holly Slaughter, Senior Director of APHA Events; Irene Stamatelakys, APHA Director of International Membership; Kurt Crawford, APHA Director of Business Development; Sandy Jirkovsky, APHA Director of Judges & Professional Horsemen.
Pete Kyle, pictured with Tamra Kyle when they competed in the 2023 Ranch Horse Triple Crown Challenge, is one of several respected horsemen guiding IRHA.
Q: We’ve been seeing posts about some impressive payouts. What stats should readers know, and how are these payouts possible?
A: One of the goals of IRHA is to make it where it pays to show in IRHA events. The IRHA (International Ranch Horse Association) has paid over $725,000 to ranch horses in the past three years just at the World Show, and just recently, IRHA classes at the APHA Eastern National Championship Show paid out over $8,000.
We’re doing a jackpot on entry fees, with a minimum of 75 percent payback on those entry fees. IRHA is all about money earned and not point based.
The payouts at the World Show are funded by a combination of money from the stallion auction, which has been produced by Skye Mizie and SC Online Sales. We are so thankful for the generosity of stallion owners supporting this program. All offspring are eligible for the stallion incentive money if the service sold in the current year auction. APHA provided the added money of $40,000 at the 2025 APHA World show. For the Eastern and Western National Championship Shows, APHA added $1,000 to each class.
Logan Pluhar and Sumac Gunnabeflashy claimed their third crown in the IRHA Open Ranch Horse Triple Crown Ranch Rail Pleasure Challenge for owner Leslie Lange. The champion duo earned a large $𝟑,𝟓𝟒𝟏 purse of the $𝟏𝟒,𝟏𝟔𝟕 total payout!
Q: What do ranch horse exhibitors and show producers need to know?
A: The IRHA is open to all breeds – not just Paints – for Open, Non-Pro, and Youth classes for Ranch Riding, Ranch Rail, and Ranch Trail, and a variety of futurity and maturity events.
We’re going to be adding an Intermediate and Limited division so we can keep encouraging people of all levels to show, and our goal is to have payback in each of the divisions.
Judges can be carded as AQHA versatility, APHA, or NSBA right now; we haven’t started our own judges list.
The show approval form is on www.internationalrha.com, and questions can be emailed to Sandy Jirkovsky at sandyj@apha.com or by phone: 308-440-9627.
The payouts at the World Show are funded by a combination of money from the IRHA Stallion Auction, which has been produced by Skye Mizie and SC Online Sales.
Q: Why was this an important project for all of you? In other words, how will this actually benefit the entire industry?
A: We want to increase the value of the ranch horse and provide a place for records and earnings, and we want to give horses of all breeds the opportunity to compete against each other at their level.
Because you’re inviting all breeds, if a trainer has four Paint horses and the show has IRHA events, he can put his Appaloosas and his Quarters on the trailer, too. At European events, they’ve had some Norwegian Fjords and Arabians come to compete, too.
Q: What are IRHA exhibitors saying?
A: From Youth Rider Kyrah Bowker of Moriarty, NM: “IRHA has truly created a win-win-win for the ranch industry. They make it profitable for owners and breeders, keep entry fees reasonable, and offer big stallion incentive payouts. Their commitment to the youth is unmatched- keeping entry fees free or nearly free year after year and they always partner with great hosts like APHA. Every IRHA event feels like a ‘winning’ experience and I always look forward to showing in their classes!”
Kyrah Bowker and Gunning For The Gold claimed the championship titles in four separate events, earning over $2,457 in payouts.
Learn more about APHA-owned IRHA on their website and on their Facebook page:
FB page: https://www.facebook.com/OfficialIRHA
Website: https://internationalrha.com/
View the payouts for IRHA at the 2025 APHA World Show:
