Sunday, April 16, began with a church service, an Easter egg hunt, paid warm-ups and opening riding, and concluded with the annual SmartPak Texas Hold’em Tournament. Dan Kind won the pot and took home top honors when he became the poker champion.    

The National Reining Breeders Classic kicked off its 20th-anniversary show April 16, 2017, enjoying $20 million in payout over the course of 20 years. The NRBC began in 1997 when a group of distinguished reiners – Tom McCutcheon, Tim McQuay, Colleen McQuay, Pete Kyle, Dick Pieper, Carl Rose, Gary Putman and Robert Chown – came together and created the National Reining Breeders Cup.

In its early success, the show set precedents of excellence when it joined forces with the Lazy E Ride of Life Classic and became the largest added money reining in history. In 1998 the organization’s name was changed to National Reining Breeders Classic to reflect the growing prominence and importance of the event. The first NRBC in April of 1998 in Guthrie, Oklahoma, paid over $210,000 – the largest National Reining Horse Association-approved Open Reining at that time.

In 2001 the event moved to Katy, Texas, where it still is today, and paid out a lucrative $646,000. The event has continued to grow in leaps and bounds – last year paying out $1.1 million – while still holding tight to its roots and mantra to provide excellence in the show pen.

Sunday, April 16, began with a church service, an Easter egg hunt paid warm-ups and opening riding, and concluded with the annual SmartPak Texas Hold’em Tournament. Dan Kind won the pot and took home top honors when he became the poker champion.

“Beginner’s luck,” Kind said with a laugh of his strategy during the poker tournament. “I didn’t have much of a strategy, I don’t play much poker.”

The tournament has grown to be a favorite event during the NRBC and this year attracted 27 participants. Although the tournament is a fun pastime event for the reiners, it also offers a charitable aspect. Part of the proceeds from the poker tournament went to Rein In Cancer, a charitable organization which, to date, has raised over a million dollars for cancer patients in the reining industry.