BLUE skies and mild temperatures provided ideal conditions for the annual Saddle Horse Championships held in Bendigo, the weekend of January 7 and 8, attracting a high calibre of riders and horses from across the state.

VAS (Victorian Agricultural Shows) Ltd executive officer, Rod Bowles, declared the weekend an outstanding success with more than 180 competitors and 300 plus horses vying for prizes across a packed schedule of classes.

It was a welcome change following the challenges of COVID over the previous two years.

Mr Bowles said although the Saddle Horse Championships were held in January 2022, it was run as an open competition because of the lack of opportunities for exhibitors to qualify, with many agricultural shows being cancelled.

The number of entries for the 2023 event was well up from last year, said Mr Bowles.

However, he did acknowledge several agricultural shows were forced to cancel in 2022 because of the exceptionally wet spring conditions.

"It was great to see so many new exhibitors and previous exhibitors return to the championships," he said.

The saddle horse event began over 27 years ago and is all about supporting Victorian agricultural shows by getting qualified at those events and then competing at the championships.

The organisers are grateful to those who support the Victorian agricultural show movement, especially the judges, stewards, volunteers and committee members who commit their time to the championships across the weekend and in the lead–up period.

Mr Bowles also wanted to thank the sponsors that came on board again and the many new sponsors, including APIAM Animal Health which had the naming rights for the 2023 event.

He believed there were plenty of opportunities for competitors in most classes to be awarded with a garland, generous prize money, rugs, and ribbons for first to fifth placings.

This year there were classes for debutante ridden horses on their first outing in the show ring.

The addition of the owner rider category, Mr Bowles described as being one of the strongest competitions supporting grassroots exhibitors.

He called these the "heart and soul riders" who regularly contributed to their local shows.

Two other finals fiercely contested were the Alabar Hero Series and the Off the Track (OTT) competitions.

The Alabar Hero Series is regarded as one of Victoria's richest and most prestigious showing competitions for retired standardbreds.

The Racing Victoria OTT program is dedicated to supporting and promoting retired thoroughbred racehorses as pleasure and performance horses by emphasising the attributes of the thoroughbred breed.

The championship scores for the open, OTT and Hero Series are available on the VAS website.