National Western Stock Show Recap 2024
January 22, 2024
The National Western Stock Show is now over, but it was another great year of getting up close and personal with the horses and events I love! I enjoyed visiting the event 3 times over 2 weeks, plus attending the parade to kick it all off. I keep thinking I won’t attend, but year after year, the thrill of seeing the horses wins me over and I end up going at least once, if not several more times. This year, I focused on non-ticketed events and tried to plan my days around classes and activities I haven’t seen before. I think I’ve attended the Stock Show nearly every year since I was about 5!
While attending the parade, one of the volunteers handed me a 2-for-1 coupon for opening weekend, so Don and I went the very first day it opened! We enjoyed seeing the new “Western Performance Horse Showdown” event that was put together. This event primarily focused on horses bred to work cows. One rider would do a reining pattern, another rider would rope a cow, and the third rider would “cut” a cow and run it in a figure 8 in the middle of the arena before herding it back to the others. If you are a fan or have heard anything about the show Yellowstone, you might know that this kind of horse event has really gained in popularity of the last couple years and can be very exciting to watch! See below for some highlights from this event!
I also attended Fan Appreciation Day with my parents and we got free grounds admission! We watched a Miniature Zebu show, met the riders and horses of the Colorado Mounted Thunder and Colorado Regulators, and watched some ranch riding competition between American Quarter Horses and American Paint Horses. I really enjoyed meeting the mounted shooting riders and horses, including one very special Friesian Stallion named El Patron, who loved to “smile” for the camera and is the only Friesian stallion in the world doing mounted shooting! We also met one of the riders who’s grandfather served as a mounted rider in WWI. He told us he rides for the Mounted Thunder and Regulators as a way to honor his family heritage. I also made a connection with the photographer that captures most of the Mounted Thunder/Regulators events, so I’m excited to get out and do some “shooting” with them and share images with you! Please enjoy some images from Fan Appreciation Day below!
For my final visit to the stock show, I went on the Friday before the finale weekend to see the Draft Horse, Mule, & Donkey show and the Texas Longhorn Show. I absolutely adore the draft horses, mules, and donkeys, and I’d never gotten to see the Texas longhorn show so I was excited for this day! I woke up early to get to the venue before 8 am when the first draft horse event started. Of course, things didn’t start so smoothly this day, as I had traffic delays, parking delays, and ticket purchasing delays before finally making it in around 8:30 am. I missed a chunk of the first event, but fortunately there were a lot of teams signed up for the Log Skid Race. It was a very enjoyable time watching both working teams of drafters and show drafters strut around the arena doing what they were meant to do! There was also a mix of Mule Western Pleasure and a Mule & Donkey costume class, along with a 4 horse show hitch, and my favorite, the Unicorn Hitch class! Learn about the horse hitch types here!
To round out the day, I headed over to the stockyards to see both the American Bison and the Texas Longhorns! I arrived in plenty of time to walk around the pens and see the stock dogs moving cows around, visit the bison holding pens, and get up close and personal with the longhorns and their owners. I met a friendly husband and wife team who allowed me to go into one of the pens with them to see their 2 prized longhorns cows! And I met another gal named Nicky who talked to me for awhile and taught me a bit about the longhorn breed. Nicky owns Wildfire Cattle Company in Colorado Springs, CO. I had a great time learning about the cows and seeing them move around the pens for the unhaltered show!
It was a great stock show, and I’m sure I’ll be back again next year! But I do have a few closing thoughts…
I couldn’t believe beers are now over $14+ each, event tickets are in the $30-$50+ range for most events, the online “convenience fees” are getting out of hand, and you now have to watch ads during performances to “thank” sponsors. It does take away from the magic of the show a bit, but it doesn’t seem to be slowing the public down. I saw an article today that over 600,000 people attended this year’s show! Since 2006 (the show’s record attendance year), the stock show has seen over 600,000 people every year (except in 2021 & 2022). I am not sure how the future of the show will look as they continue to build a new events center and add even more commercialization, but hopefully in there somewhere it sticks to its roots and continues to teach the public about the value of our farmers and ranchers, and all the livestock and animals that support us as a people.