Fort Worth, Texas—July 17, 2020—Morris Equine Group announced today its agreement to acquire the West Coast Barrel Racing Association. Based in Paso Robles, California, WCBRA is the largest barrel racing association on the West Coast with more than 600 prime-sanctioned races and a massive payout finals each year.
“The opportunity to serve the many people who participate in barrel racing has been a joy for the Morris family for 22 years,” said William S. Morris III, founder of the National Barrel Horse Association. “Therefore, it makes it very special to have the opportunity to acquire the WCBRA. It will be a great marriage that stretches from coast to coast. We are honored to have Bailey Nahrgang join the Morris Equine Group as director of barrel racing. As we all know, she is competent and enthusiastic about barrel racing. We look forward to joining her and the many members of the WCBRA to manage and develop this great sport.”
WCBRA already has a history with the Morris Equine Group, allying with Barrel Horse News in 2019. WCBRA owner Nahrgang says the merging of two strong sets of memberships from each coast of the U.S. will help grow both the NBHA and WCBRA.
“By simultaneously managing the two associations and their finals to complement each other, we can continue to be innovative, host world-class productions, and provide opportunities to compete for life-changing payouts,” Nahrgang said.
In her new role as director of barrel racing, Nahrgang will continue to oversee the operations of the WCBRA, as well as play a vital role in the NBHA.
About Morris Equine Group
Horse enthusiasts worldwide depend on the Morris Equine Group as a reliable source of news, information, and education from its collection of titles, including Western Horseman, Quarter Horse News and Barrel Horse News. Additional titles include the stallion resource guides Quarter Horse News Stallion Register and Barrel Horse News Stallion Register. The MMN Equine Group is also home to Equi-Stat, a statistical service offering earnings for a variety of performance horse disciplines. Topping off its commitment to the equine industry, the Morris Equine Group owns and manages the National Barrel Horse Association, the largest barrel racing organization in the world. NBHA has over 20,000 members of all ages across the United States and affiliates in twelve countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Hungary, Italy, Mexico, Panama, Spain, Switzerland, and the Netherlands.
About the West Coast Barrel Racing Association
The West Coast Barrel Racing Association is represented in California, Arizona, Oregon, Idaho, and Nevada with the help of more than 60 individual producers hosting more than 600 WCBRA prime-sanctioned events. The WCBRA’s mission is to work for the benefit of barrel racers of all ages and skill levels as well as participating West Coast producers. For more information, visit westcoastbarrelracing.com.
For NBHA: Patty Tiberg, [email protected], (817) 569-7116
For WCBRA: Bailey Nahrgang, [email protected], (805) 264-3425
