TALES FROM THE TRAILS
Mark the dates on your calendar: April 12 and 13. That weekend, there will be another open introductory Quarter Horse show at the Jim Brandon Equestrian Center.
“This will be a great way for people to try out a Quarter Horse show and see what it’s like,” Show Secretary Melissa Bausman said. “There are many open classes, which means the horse can be any breed at all. Only the Novice Amateur and Novice Youth classes allow riders to earn AQHA points, which require AQHA-registered horses. But there are lots of classes for riders of all ages and abilities. This would be a great show for someone just starting out in their showing career, or for a young horse to gain some miles, both English and Western.”
The show fees are reasonable: $10 per class, a $5 office fee, $5 processing fee for American Quarter Horse Association classes, or a $100 flat fee for the whole show, which includes an overnight stall. Besides offering a fun show at a nice venue, Bausman said it will be a way of finding out if there’s enough interest in bringing Quarter Horse shows back to the area.
“We hope people will come out and give it a try and see what it’s all about,” Bausman said. “Maybe we’ll just offer more Quarter Horse introductory shows or special events, or maybe we can bring a regular circuit show back to this area.”
Years back, there were Quarter Horse shows in the area. I remember showing in them at the old South Florida Fairgrounds, tying horses to trees and straining to hear which class was being announced next. When that venue vanished, the shows moved to Wellington. Then they moved away, seemingly for good. But this might be a way to bring them back to our area. The first introductory show took place Jan. 18-19 at Jim Brandon, and while attendance was light, everyone was hopeful.
“We love this facility,” Show Manager John Flanagan said. “There’s a lot of dressage and hunter/jumper events here. We wanted to bring back a show which offers a lot of Western classes. This is the first Quarter Horse show in this area in a long time. We tried to hold one a few years ago, but it didn’t work out. We hope the Quarter Horse community embraces our efforts and comes out to support us. There seems to be a lot of interest. We hope to build a whole series in the future. We hope the shows will be a great experience for everyone.”
The reason for the light attendance became immediately clear to me as soon as I started interviewing attendees: poor publicity.
Renee Leyden from The Acreage was showing her horse, Ranger. She said the show was nice. Her friend, Linda Rainbolt, was there supporting her.
“It would have been better if we’d been told about the show sooner,” Rainbolt said. “It’s hard to get ready for a show in a couple of days. If they bring the Quarter Horse shows back to this area, we’ll be here for every one of them and with more horses. There wasn’t any publicity. We only had a week and a half to get ready. Horse shows can’t do well if no one knows about them. I’ll be real glad to see the Quarter Horse shows back in our area.”
“I hope to come to the next show, if I know about it in time,” added Cindy Maxson, also of The Acreage. “I didn’t know this one was taking place until the last minute, so I didn’t bring a horse, just came out to see it and support some friends.”
Linda Wolosyn also came to scope it out and said she’d bring her horse to the next one. “I hope they advertise more so we know about it ahead of time,” she added. “You need time to practice.”
Mackenzie Yeatman, 11, of Wellington was there with her horse, Lucky. “It was fun, good practice,” she said, showing off all her ribbons.
“We really enjoyed this show,” added her mother, Shannon Yeatman. “There was just enough competition to make it a fun show but not overwhelming. It’s very relaxed, a nice pace. We’ll definitely be back.”
Peg Edmondson, who manned the show office, was happy with the inaugural event.
“The show went very well. The people were quite happy,” she said. “We’re happy to see Quarter Horse shows back in this area. Our largest class was Trail, with 10 entries, and Western Pleasure also had eight to 10. The rest had three or four. Everyone had a good time. They seemed delighted with the show. The reception was really great. We’ll probably add some Level 2 classes for the next show. We hope everyone comes out to support us, especially the English riders.”
For more information, contact Peg Edmondson at (941) 484-4687 or medmondson@aol.com.
