The 2017 edition of the Louisiana Fall Festival Horse Show will have new dates and improved stalls, Show Manager Tommy Benton announced. The show will be held Oct. 6 - 8 at the historic John M. Parker Coliseum on the Louisiana State University campus in Baton Rouge. The dates are a month earlier than in prior years and were set to accommodate the dates of other area shows.

Courtney Huguley of Birmingham, AL will judge. Other officials include Newton Parks, Murfreesboro, TN, ringmaster; Peyton Hamilton, Indian Land, SC, announcer; Jerry Rogers, Bowdon, GA, organist; and Melissa Cole, Spring, TX, show secretary.

The Parker Coliseum at LSU is the site of the old Dixie Jubilee Horse Show, one of the South’s premier shows for more than half a century. The venue is very convenient for showing, with stalls, warm-up area, and show ring all under one roof. This year, stalls are being brought in for the show to replace the stalls that have been provided in the past by LSU. In recent years, exhibitors praised significant improvements LSU made in the warm-up area.

The beautiful collection of perpetual trophies from the Dixie Jubilee remains an important part of the Fall Festival prize tradition.

The traditional Mardi Gras party on Saturday Night will be held again this year. It will feature Louisiana cuisine, and in the tradition of the Dixie Jubilee, the 2017 Mardi Gras King and Queen of the Louisiana Fall Festival Horse Show will be selected.

The horse show hotel is the Cook Hotel on the LSU campus overlooking University Lake, just a few minutes from the coliseum. A host of excellent restaurants are only a short distance from the campus.

A well-rounded class list of Saddlebred, pony, open breed, academy, hunter and other divisions provide a niche for a wide range of exhibitors. In addition, a division for Paso Fino horses is planned.

For more information, visit lafallfestivalhs.com and facebook.com/lafallfestivalhs. Contact information for Tommy Benton is thbjr60@aol.com or (225) 938-7843.