LEXINGTON, KY—The World Games 2010 Foundation, Inc. today announced the American Quarter Horse Association as the Official Reining Breed Sponsor. Reining will be one of eight world championships contested at the Games, which will be held at Lexington’s Kentucky Horse Park on September 25-October 10, 2010.

As the Official Reining Breed Sponsor, AQHA will assist with the promotion and coverage of Reining during the 2010 Games, and will be featured in the Equine Village. In addition Reining will be prominently featured during NBC’s 90-minute broadcast of the Games’ opening weekend.

“As the world’s largest single-breed equine organization, we are excited to have the AQHA become a sponsor of the 2010 Games,” said Terry Johnson, vice president of sales and marketing for the Foundation. “This sponsorship will allow us to expose the sport of reining to a mass audience in the United States, and beyond, like never before.”

Reining was added to the FEI as a discipline in 2000 and was featured for the first time in 2002 at the FEI World Equestrian Games in Jerez, Spain. The reining competitions at the 2006 Games in Aachen, Germany, launched the discipline and its athletes into fame, with sold-out performances and loud, fanatical crowds.

As the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games come to Kentucky, the sport of reining is sure to enjoy a sort of “homecoming” in the United States as the only western discipline recognized by the FEI. Plans are under way to feature reining in new and exciting ways in 2010, including a newly approved schedule format – allowing for more public sessions of the discipline.

“I also want to recognize our partners at the Reining Horse Sports Foundation who teamed with us on the expanded television coverage. Now more people across the globe will be seeing the discipline of Reining and the horse that does it best.”

The American Quarter Horse Association is the world’s largest single-breed equine registry and membership organization, with more than 5 million American Quarter Horses registered worldwide and AQHA membership numbering more than 330,000. AQHA’s mission is to record and preserve the pedigrees of the American Quarter Horse while maintaining the integrity of the breed and to provide beneficial services for its members which enhance and encourage American Quarter Horse ownership and participation.