2009 UMH Ladies Auxiliary Show - Awesome!!!

We just returned today from the Ladies Auxiliary Show held in Prestonsburg, KY. It was a great show. The women who are members of the Ladies Auxiliary have been working since last year to get the show organized, gather sponsors, recruit volunteers, and make plans for having donations for their adopted charity - the Big Sandy Abuse Center for Women and Children. There were over 190 horses and nearly 500 entries at the show this weekend. Show manager, Julie Clark, kept the show running smoothly and did an outstanding job taking care of everyone. Nancy Copland is the Ladies Auxiliary president this year and she worked all weekend with the many tasks that must be done at a show of this caliber. Cyndee Breslin is a driving force behind the show. Our hats off to her. It was great to see Laurie Quincey Friday. She came to help and took entries all day.

The city of Prestonsburg has worked hard to create a facility that is accomodating to horse show exhibitors. Every year improvements have been made to the grounds. Plans are in the works to extend the roof of the barns to keep stalls dry when it rains. The Ladies Auxilary have voted to have the show there again next year but it will be more toward the middle of June because of available dates.

Intermittent showers didn't dampen the spirits of exhibitors or the quality of competition this weekend. The horses were absolutely phenomenal! I must admit there have been few shows that have been more exciting or that have had better horses than what showed at the Ladies Auxiliary Show. The classes were large and competition was really stiff. SRF had a great time with everyone who made it. Tim and Marcia Spencer were both on hand to show and did a great job in their classes. Tim placed second on Stormy in the I Show/Should Show with me. I showed the first way and he showed the second way. He placed second in a great amateur trail class. Marcia placed third with Stormy in her Novice Trail class also. They looked great. We really enjoyed the Hickey's this weekend too. Lauren did well in her classes. I was especially impressed with her Showmanship class where she placed second with Jazzy. J.T. also did a good job with Jazzy and Stormy in his classes placing third and fourth. I was so proud of J.T.'s determination as he showed in the trail obstacle class. Lauren placed second in Juvenile Versatility and J.T. placed third woo hoo! Our congratulations to Silver and Charlie for placing first in the Adult Versatility, Robert and Jazzy for second, and Squirrel and Robert for placing third. They were awesome. Stoner Ridge Farm had a great showing in trail obstacle - Silver was first, Nugget was second, and Squirrel was fifth. Squirrel had a unanimous first place decision in the Open Four Gait class with Sandman's Taking Chances placing third. We didn't get to have Steve Heuslein with us because of the birth of his new grand son, Slade, so I rode Jazzy with Robert in the Pro-Am class where we placed first. I also got to show Silver in the Ladies Auxiliary Trail class placing first as well. Mike and Cassie did an outstanding job with Roxie winning the Pro Am Classic class. More information will be available in the newsletter and on the web site Champion's page. Our next show will be this coming Saturday at the 43rd Annual Stidham Memorial in Stanton, KY. Hope you can come and join us. We have a blast!