Lexington, KY – Champion rider and equine competitor Stacy Westfall will entertain audiences as she performs without a saddle or bridle on her champion horse, Roxy, in the Opening Ceremonies of the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. Wetfall, who has appeared on Ellen and is a YouTube sensation, will bring her champion reining horse, Whizards Baby Doll (“Roxy”), out of retirement to participate in the Opening Ceremonies for the world’s most prestigious equestrian competition.
Tickets to the 2010 Games Opening Ceremonies, held on the evening of September 25, are still available and can be purchased at, www.alltechfeigames.com/tickets.
“Stacy brings to life through her amazing performance the relationship and trust between rider and horse,” said Dr. Everett McCorvey, Executive Producer of the Opening Ceremonies. “Her remarkable abilities that help to showcase that relationship are a perfect match for what we want audience members to experience during the Opening Ceremonies.”
Learning to ride at the age of six, Westfall showed an amazing natural talent with horses. After attending the University of Findlay, Ohio to major in Equestrian Studies, Westfall went on to become one of the top competitors in her discipline, reining. In 2006, Westfall became the first woman to enter and win the notoriously challenging “Road to the Horse” colt starting competition. The same year, Westfall won the National Reining Horse Association Championship Freestyle Reining competition sans saddle and bridle on her horse Whizards Baby Doll—the first and only time a competitor has attempted to ride without tack.
Her champion horse, Whizards Baby Doll, affectionately known as “Roxy,” was semi-retired in 2008. Westfall will be bringing Roxy out of retirement to welcome the world to Kentucky, and to the United States.
Reining is the only western discipline recognized by the International Equestrian Federation, and of the eight disciplines, and is considered America’s contribution to equestrian sport. The 2010 Games will feature world championships in eight equestrian sports at Lexington’s Kentucky Horse Park from September 25 through October 10.
Stacy Westfall is one of many equine, musical, and cultural entertainers involved in the ceremonies for the 2010 Games. Over 200 horses are slated for the Opening Ceremonies alone. In addition to the equine component of the Opening Ceremony, the “human” component includes orchestra, choir, dancers, headline musicians, movement corps of hundreds of adults and children, as well as local and international celebrities and dignitaries.
