With more than a 62-year history, the AHA Canadian National Arabian and Half-Arabian Championship Show is one of the longest standing shows within the Arabian Horse Association, providing classes across many disciplines. It is an important show for the Arabian industry and is one of the legs of the Arabian Triple Crown, and after financial and participation challenges resulting from the pandemic forced the board to postpone it, AHA is thrilled to bring it back.  The decision followed a thorough process, including the formation of a dedicated Task Force immediately following the Board of Directors’ late-July decision to cancel the 2022 show.  

The AHA’s Canadian National Show Commission has made tremendous efforts to bring the show back to the AHA membership, effectively creating a new and viable plan to promote the show’s longevity. AHA recognizes that the AHA membership has been without an AHA sanctioned Canadian National show previously and has worked diligently to bring back the Canadian National Show in 2023.

This decision followed a thorough process that included forming a dedicated Task Force, which the CAHR was invited to join. The AHA also worked directly with the Canadian Arabian Horse Registry (CAHR), the group hosting a show in Red Deer, to attempt to combine efforts for a singular Canadian Nationals sanctioned by AHA, but the CAHR was unable to meet AHA’s requirement that all nationally recognized shows must include a full set of competition classes. It is our duty as an organization to follow these rules and bylaws. The AHA handbook is available for review here.   AHA offers our full support of the CAHR, and we look forward to continue working with the group in hopes of creating a sanctioned show in the future.

The August 16 – 19 dates for the 2023 AHA Canadian National Arabian and Half-Arabian Championship Show were contractually established in 2019. The AHA is bound to honor all contract dates, and in particular this facility has been a good-faith partner in its accommodation of the previous postponement of the Canadian National Show. The contractual obligation and planned 2023 dates have been freely communicated to the CAHR since September, 2022 when the Task Force was originally formed in. AHA offers our full support of the CAHR, and we look forward to continuing work with the group in hopes of creating a sanctioned show in the future. 

The AHA is committed to providing exhibitors the opportunity to show in Canada. AHA recognizes that the members have been without an AHA sanctioned Canadian National show previously and has worked diligently to bring back the Canadian National Show, which historically has been one of the longest standing and important shows for the Arabian industry as one of the legs of the Arabian Triple Crown. The commission has created a new and viable plan to bring the show back to the AHA membership annually in order to ensure that exhibitors from both Canada and the United States are provided the opportunity to attend without threat of postponement.

Please email all feedback to NationalEvents@arabianhorses.org with the subject line “2023 Canadian National Show”.