Watching Children Grow...

Nearly 16 years ago Skip Parker of Carrollton, Texas was invited to meet a man from Australia at the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport to discuss kids and American Quarter Horses. The gentlemen’s conversation ended that day with Parker agreeing to gather a team of youth from the United States and take them to Australia to participate in the 1986 International Youth Quarter Horse World Cup. That summer the United States team traveled to the land of kangaroos for a week of education, camaraderie and competition. Little did Parker know that his adventures down under would connect him to an event that would become like his own child to nourish, foster and encourage.

Being the newcomer in Australia and not really knowing what to expect, Parker eagerly volunteered to host the next International Youth Quarter Horse World Cup in Fort Worth, Texas. (The event is held every two years and is hosted by a different country each time.) The World Cup committee, consisting of a representative from each participating country, unanimously agreed to meet again in the Lone Star state in 1988. With the local support of Wrangler and many dedicated Texas Quarter Horse members, the 1988 World Cup was a monumental success. Since that time the competition has traveled to Canada in 1990; back to Australia in 1992; Germany in 1994; and to Flagstaff, Arizona in 1996. During the past sixteen years a varied combination of 13 teams have traveled thousands of miles to take part in what has been called “the most educational and culturizing event for youth ever to enter the equine industry.”

Since 1988, Parker had continued to serve as the ringleader coordinating host countries, soliciting sponsors, organizing educational seminars and assisting the World Cup committee with routine tasks of implementing such a global event. It was in 1996 in Flagstaff that the thought of passing the torch first crossed his mind. “I had reached the point where I couldn’t do any more than I was already doing but I wanted the program to continue to be the success it had always been,” Parker said. With AQHA staff in full force at the Arizona event, it was the perfect setting to sit down with the entire World Cup committee and look at what opportunities were available for the continuation of the program.

Fast forward to March 1997 in Dallas, Texas. The event’s most illustrious leaders including AQHA Director Emeritus Genevieve Matheson, AQHA Youth Activities Committee member Antonio Giraudini and, of course, Parker, who also is a member of the AQHA Youth Activities Committee, converged at the 1997 AQHA Convention to take a closer look at how AQHA and the International Youth Quarter Horse World Cup could team up for the event to continue to grow.

After several more meetings and many months of discussion it was agreed that AQHA would shoulder the management responsibilities of the World Cup. Now, almost six years after initial talks, AQHA is busily planning the most recent addition to their list of youth programs.

Amarillo, Texas, home of AQHA’s Headquarters, will be the site of the 2006 American Quarter Horse Youth World Cup. Five youth plus one coach or manager from each country will take part in educational seminars, specific discipline clinics, leadership training and finally, competition. Five additional youth from each country not wishing to compete also are invited by each international affiliate to attend the education and leadership portion of the week’s events. Just as importantly, individuals attending the week’s programs will have the opportunity to share in different cultures, meet peers from opposite ends of the earth and make their world seem just a little bit smaller.

The child that Skip Parker so fondly nourished, fostered and encouraged grew to be mature, successful and self sufficient. It is what all good parents wish for their children...and what all good parents like Parker should be commended for.

(Text reproduced from the AQHA web site: http://www.aqha.com/youth/activities/ywc/ywc_history)