Canadian Reining Committee Announces New Chair

The Canadian Reining Committee (CRC) is pleased to announce that Gary Yaghdjian is the new chair of the committee. Yaghdjian replaces Bob Thompson, who was been the chair of the CRC since its inception in March 2009.

Yaghdjian has been involved in reining since 1979. He has competed in North America and Europe, was a National Reining Horse Association (NRHA) judge for 10 years, and was president of the Ontario Reining Horse Association (ORHA). Currently, Yaghdjian is an FEI Reining steward and holds a reining judges’ card in Germany and is on the Ontario Equestrian Federation (OEF) board of directors as the past-president.

“As the incoming chair of the Canadian Reining Committee, I am excited at meeting the challenges that lay ahead,” said Yaghdjian. “The CRC is a unified group that is committed to the vision of developing a reining structure in Canada complete with its own rules, competition structure, officials’ accreditation program and Equine Canada membership as well as meeting all the protocols to which all the other disciplines conform to.”

Yaghdjian was named chair as a result of Thompson being appointed chair of the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) Reining Committee. Thompson could not hold both positions simultaneously.

“The Reining community owes a huge debt of gratitude to Bob Thompson for all the years served. Bob has led the charge to advance the vision for reining not only in Canada but around the world. I know Bob will do a tremendous job in his new role as chair of FEI Reining,” added Yaghdjian.

In addition to Thompson, Canada is also represented at the FEI by Ruth Carlson, who is the chair of the FEI Endurance Committee, Ian Alison, who is on the FEI Jumping Committee, Dr. Yves Rossier, who is a member of the FEI Veterinary Committee, and Jan Stephens, who is Canada’s FEI Steward General for the disciplines of jumping, eventing and reining.

For additional information on the CRC and its programs, including selection criteria, please visit the Equine Canada website at http://www.equinecanada.ca/ or e-mail reining@equinecanada.ca.