The USTPA national finals brought fifty Venezuelans to Amarillo to compete
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AMARILLO, TEXAS -- For the last ten years Amarillo has hosted the United States Team Penning Association's national finals. The week long event brings in teams from all over the U.S. and Venezuela? That's right among the 12-hundred teams, nearly fifty Venezuelans, 25 of which are competing, came all the way to Amarillo for the finals.
"We are team penners all our life, we really enjoy with our families and we thought it was very special for us to be here at the best event in the world, which is the finals in Amarillo USTPA," said Emilio Llamozas, Venezuela's International Director.
There has been a team penning association in Venezuela for the past 12 years, and it has 2-thousand members and it's growing.
"I would say that team penning is probably the biggest equine sport in Venezuela, we think that it's really so successful because it is a family event, you can see in team penning a grandfather, a father, a son, 3 cousins, 3 brothers, 3 friends, so that makes it really interesting for everybody and I think that's why it's growing in Venezuela so much," said Llamozas.
Every one of the Venezuelans that came on the trip are members of AQHA, and they will leave Thursday for Oklahoma City and the AQHA world show before heading back home.
To see the Venezuelans and the other teams compete in the finals, head on over to the tri-state fairgrounds Amarillo National Center on Wednesday November 4th from 5-9 PM.
