OMHC - Ontario Morgan Horse Club

The Ontario Morgan Horse Championship Classic – An Upbeat Event

The Ontario Morgan community came together to celebrate the wonderfully versatile Morgan Horse on July 9-10 th in Ancaster, a lovely town located just outside the big city of Hamilton. Their recently renovated fairgrounds are modern, clean, and bright and near perfect for a horse show of our size. The arena is large enough and kept cool with a nice breeze blowing through it to keep everyone comfortable. The secretary’s office is conveniently located just inside the arena and there was plenty of room to set up and display the ribbons, trophies & coolers. Even the shower stalls are found in an adjacent room off the main arena!

Sandra gives Hillwood Irish Proverb his congratulations hug and kiss after Lauren
wins the Junior Exhibitor Hunt Pleasure class.

There are two main barns with a third barn for overflow; all of the barns are fairly new buildings and allow for good light and airflow plus the added benefit of rubber stall matting in the two main barns. The main ‘Donavan’ barn holds 40 stalls and the secondary main barn is called Old Macdonald’s barn and it holds 20 stalls. Both of these barns allowed for ample room in the aisle ways and you didn’t feel crowded. The third barn is next door to Old MacDonald’s barn and it too held around 20 stalls that are not owned by the fair but became available to the show at the last minute and allowed us the opportunity to offer stalls to more exhibitors. It was a pleasant surprise to discover we had sold all the stalls in the two main barns and we appreciate getting the third barn!

The grounds are quite large and there were other activities going on (a hunter/jumper show in the outside rings, hot tub sale, classic car show) but they really didn’t interfere with our show and did provide a few extra spectators. And I know of one person who bought a hot tub too! There are permanent, clean washrooms and showers for our use and the main exhibitor building was a wonderful place for us to use for our Saturday night dinner. And there is plenty of parking for horse trailers and you didn’t have to park a mile away from the barn area! In all, a grand place to hold a horse show.

Chris, Patti and Gloria at the Margarita party.

This might not have happened at all if it were not for the hard work of few individuals who secured the grounds and led the show to such as a success; Deana and Sherri Wilson took it upon themselves to check out other potential grounds after it was clear we could no longer stay where we were, they brought in a few choices for the membership to check out and it was Ancaster that won our vote. Tina Collins and Bruce Murray also brought us information on the Arabian Summer Sizzler show (which eventually led to some Morgan classes at this first class show!) and Bruce Murray checked out the Pre-CNE show but that wasn’t going to work out for us. The Classic had a new home and now it was up to Greg Reeves, chairperson and his committee to make it all happen.

Heather and Shawn Baiano

A few meetings were held where we discussed everything from EC sanctioning to the Saturday night dinner. Chris Monteith also applied to AMHA and we received 4 Star rating for our show which includes a small free advertisement in The Morgan Horse magazine.

We know how important it is keep costs down but it is also important to remember that a show of this calibre can’t run without expense and while we can’t offer a free ride, we did offer some rebates in stall cleaning fees which a few people did take advantage of. We run a tight ship on expenses and our sponsorship chairperson, Deana Wilson did an amazing job of securing sponsorship money which will help the bottom line! And we mustn’t forget our Show Sponsor, Aussie Pet Mobile for their continued support. Anne Munro secures this annual sponsor for the show and Anne’s support means the world to us! Thank you to Anne and Aussie Pet Mobile!

Gen, Dennis, Emersyn and Everett.

Thank you to our donors to the Classic; Craig and Tina Collins donated the EC cooler to the winner of the EC Saddle Seat Medal class. Henry Equestrian Plan donated a cooler that was awarded to the high point Working Hunter and Greenhawk donated a cooler that was awarded to the High Point Carriage champion. The winner of the Charity class also won a Greenhawk Cooler donated by Sherri Wilson and winner Amy Munro riding Meldon Hawk chose the Cdn. Cancer Society as the charity of her choice. Amy and Anne also made the goodie bags for the kids in the leadline and stick horse classes plus donated funny horsey hats that the riders wore over their helmets/derbies/stetsons in the Charity class. And we also thank Port Perry Feeds for donating the dog biscuits.

Greg shows off his hat!

The Classic also boasts an amazing crew of talent in our officials line-up; We welcomed Scott Root of Addison, NY to officiate; Brian Errico returned as show announcer and also took on the responsibility of show manager and taking care of the judge during the off-hours; Carrie Purcell and her niece Kathryn took on the demanding role of ringmaster and in-gate manager; Craig Petterson was invited to be our farrier as Richard MacKenzie is enjoying semi-retirement and tending to some personal health needs and we wish him well; also new in 2011 is Gloria Cote our show secretary, Gloria is Christine Monteith’s sister and we welcome Gloria to our Classic family; last but certainly not least is our show steward extraordinaire Jill Barton!

We also thank our carriage course co-ordinators Barry and Sandra Beach and to Gord Freeman and Tim Inch for setting up the cones course. Many thanks to Greg for bringing extra jumps for the hunter over fences classes and to Tina & Mackenzie Collins and Lisa Kavanagh for helping Greg put the course together. Greg had to make a few trips before the show to Ancaster from his home in Sutton bringing down extra jumps and the centre ring set-up; it just doesn’t all fit in a two horse trailer! And that of course means coming back to Ancaster to bring it all home too. Thankfully, management at the fair is allowing us to leave our main horse show sign on the grounds so Greg doesn’t have to drag it back and forth!

Linda and Nancy pose with Cyan Star Marrakesh.

Genevieve Kendell-Hayes was responsible for sourcing and delivering the beautiful keeper trophies and ribbons for the show. Instead of coolers for the championships, we decided to try something new and completely different. The keeper trophy is a lovely piece of artwork and I know everyone who was lucky enough to win was very happy to take it home.

Friday night was the start of the youth judging and we also held a hot dog party at Greg’s RV. Thank you to Shawn Baiano for cooking the dogs; it was a nice informal get together. The Kavanagh’s hosted the Margarita party, it ended up starting right after the show on Saturday, we were hot and tired and a cold margarita hit the spot! Deana Wilson orchestrated the Saturday night exhibitors dinner and it was super delicious! The room was air-conditioned and the food was really good and plentiful.

I think it is fair to say that we had more spectators at this show than I can remember in recent history. Maybe a few of you remember Ron and Carmen NcNulty of Sumicaro Morgans? They came to show and they look great, even saw Ron helping out Chris Monteith with her horse! A few Joyce cousins of Linda (Joyce) Ross and Nancy (Joyce) Kavanagh came to watch as they live in the nearby area, it was great for them to see what it is we actually do with our horses. I also met a woman who used to own/show Morgans in Michigan, she is retired now but follows events online and came to watch the show. There were many others who enjoyed watching the show, talking to the owners and walking thru the barn aisles to visit the horses. Some are current owners and some are past owners who still enjoy seeing a beautiful Morgan horse. And perhaps there was a future owner out there too.

Kyla and MLF Merlin after winning the Jr. Exhibitor English Pleasure Championship.

The show results are available online and congratulations to everyone on a job well done. Thankfully, our numbers in horses rose from last year and it was great seeing a few entries in the carriage and hunter over fences classes. We had entries from the Ottawa area to the London area and plenty of towns in between. We had good numbers in the junior exhibitor classes and it was wonderful to see entries in the CMHA Medal classes that we can actually award CMHA medals this year!

Thank you to Val Reeson for running the CMHA youth challenge in 2011. We had 7 entries participate and saw Lauren McGinty rise to the top and take Champion in this year’s edition of the youth challenge. It really is great to watch the young exhibitors enjoy the show, be competitive in the ring and best friends outside the ring. Sportsmanship at this age is a good lesson to learn; to lose and win gracefully and many of our young riders/drivers exemplify this. This lesson isn’t just for the kids, adults should also take note….

The Margarita Party!

Wendy Inch and her grand Morgan gelding Samor’s B-Forevermore performed a dressage demo on Sunday at noon. This boy is big and Wendy did an amazing job directing him to the music. Everyone appreciated the performance and I know the judge appreciated it at as well; he does have a background in dressage.

A few presentations were made; High Point Youth was Emily Miller, Reserve Hi Pt Youth was Kyla Vendrig; High Point Carriage was Equinox Beau Dandy (owned and driven by Wendy Inch) Reserve Hi Pt Carriage was Justice Lieut. Colonel (owned and driven by Ken Pedlar); High Point Working Hunter was Northline Rainmaker (owned and ridden by Heather Baiano) and Reserve Hi Pt Working Hunter was UCM Tecumseh (owned by Mary/Gord Freeman and ridden by Hillary Kirkvleit); Cyan Star Trinity was crowned Sire’s Sweepstakes Champion and he is owned by Brian/Nancy Kavanagh.

The 2011 Classic was definitely more exciting and upbeat and the show committee is hoping this trend will continue into 2012 and beyond. Thank you to everyone to who participated; and as we look forward to next year’s Classic, your suggestions and volunteerism for next year are always welcome!

Nancy, Emily and Peggy.