The 2019 Appalachian Trainer Face Off was a smash success.

Nearly 1,000 people attended this incredible two day even all about adoptable horses.

Who could have imagined when Heart of Phoenix began ten years ago, one day we would see the greatest celebration of rescued horses in the United States? Folks, dare to dream and change the world. We have see it happen with this event and horses in Appalachia.

The Right Horse Road Show was in attendance, as well as some great judges: Josh Lyons, Richie Wingfield, Ariana Sakaris and Colton Woods.

For our 3rd year, we saw 21 horses adopted on Saturday night to approved homes with adoption fees totaling nearly $30,000. 30 horses were in the Bonus, Pro and Amateur divisions total.

Professional Division
Our OVERALL Champion was Dallas Schleg with Everest
Reserve Champion was Brenda Hanson with Detson
3rd Place was Adam Black with Phoebe
4th Place was James Martinez with Cedric

Trail Champion was James Martinez with Cedric
Skill/Technical Champion was Brenda Hanson with Detson
Freestyle Champion was Dallas Schleg with Everest

Amateur Division
Our OVERALL Champion was Erin O Neil with Whistler
Reserve Champion was Olivia Noone with Leila
3rd Place was Maribeth Harrell with Sterling
4th Place was Kaylynn Mollohan with Minka

Trail Champion was Olivia Noone with Leila
Skill/Technical Champion was Erin O Neil with Whistler
Freestyle Champion was Erin O Neil with Whistler

The highest adoption fee horse was Everest was $4,200
2nd Highest fee was Titan at $3,200
3rd Highest fee was Satine at $3,000
4th Highest fee was Calypso at $2,400
5th Highest fee was Whistler at $1,600

Of the 9 horses not adopted Saturday night, 4 (Sterling, Rembrandt, Odyssey and Moses) already have adopters interested in adopting now the the event has ended, Brenda Hanson took back Odyssey to continue training, Sterling went back with Maribeth, Aubrey Pyles took back Santiago, Nelson Detweiler took Declan, Koda went with Eric of Circle P, Rembrandt / Hero went back with Smoke Rise Ranch and Jessica Runkle, and that leaves only Hamilton and Jonas without a trainer to keep working with them today adoption.

We received over 75 adoption applications within just several months. Some of those ended up adopting other horses before the ATFO actually happened, too!

This year, we hired a professional videographer, so stay tuned for footage of the event.

We will have thousands of photos to share soon.

Thank you to the ASPCA, Buckeye Feed, Excel Supplements, Equipride and all of the class/stall/event sponsors who made this event possible.

Thank you to each and every trainer who worked with these all of these horses for 100 days.

The value of this donated training is over $75,000. There was thousands of dollars sponsored by vets, farriers, chiropractors and more to the trainers for our horses, too!

Next year, we will be back bigger than ever. We have lots of ideas in store thanks to a ton of useful feedback.

We heard tremendous feedback from trainers about the increase in potential clients, and we are so thankful we can help showcase great trainers on our social media platform, all while they help us saved horses and find homes!

Thank you to everyone who worked, volunteered, gave and adopted! You all make great things happen.

If you’re a trainer interested in applying next year, remember applications are accepted at the start of 2020 in January.