Did you miss part 1? Read Thank you for an incredible show (part 1)
…picking up right where I left off…with the SAFE horses…I want to thank the people who made it possible for the horses to be there at all: Sara Hall and Beth Amberg. Sara and Beth worked with Heather to decide which horses would be going to the show and who would be riding them, and then took on all the details of transportation, feeding, tack, grooming, and stall cleaning. Coordinating the transportation of 12 horses to and from a horse show is no easy task, and so my sincere thanks and appreciation goes out to Beth Amberg for organizing at all so well and for personally overseeing everyone’s care and safety. To all our horse haulers — Lynn Mazer, Brittney Stewart, Debi Shatos, Tim Jennings of Cascade Meadows, Amy Hagstrom, Helga Roberts, Kyle Putman, Sandy Grimes, and Kristi-Lynn Churchill — thank you so much!
Our show volunteers were also very well cared for over the course of the weekend, and once again,Beth Amberg outdid herself with her management of the Volunteer Hospitality Suite. We had delicious scones and yogurt to eat, coffee to get us going, and lots and lots of cold beverages to keep heat stroke at bay. Thank you for thinking of everything we’d need and for all the work that went into getting all that great food to the show.
We were not expecting the number of competitors we ended up with in Dressage and in the Hunter Ring, so there were some truly heroic efforts needed to make these areas a success. First off, I want to thank Donida’s Gwen Blake for coming to my rescue and making it possible to set up a second Dressage ring for the show by not only providing us with the arena and the dressage court, but also by judging and providing scribes. Gwen made it incredibly easy to accomodate the number of riders who wanted to participate in this year’s show, and we are truly grateful for that. Donida Farm is the classiest show facility around, and we are so lucky that the SAFE show has such a welcoming and accommodating home.
I’d like to thank both our dressage judges — Meredith Crawford and Gwen Blake — for taking such great care of our competitors this year. The show office staff was quite impressed with the depth of the comments, critiques, and encouragement that your tests included — thank you for your skill in judging as well as your thoroughness in making this a great experience for the riders who came out. Thank you for lending us your talented scribes as well — Christopher, Lauren, and Rebecca, great job and thank you for donating your time to our cause!
Our Dressage Ring crew did a wonderful job keeping up with two busy rings and lots of competitors! Thanks to Michelle Ogle, Eva Gallagher, Sarah French, Whitney Wiggins, and Kyrany Sagen-Cook for running everything so well.
On the Hunter side, we also ended up with a very full and busy day, and the Hunter Ring crew did an amazing job and ran a very good ring! Once again I want to thank Eileen Carrell for agreeing to manage the hunter ring — she was so well prepared and so organized, and it really paid off. Thanks and congratulations on a job well done to the Hunter Ring crew Andy Carrell, Jennifer Gravely, Gael Gable and Derek O’Friel!
I’d also like to thank our esteemed judge, Mr Jay Arend, who was a lot of fun to work with. Thank you for lending your professionalism to our show; your presence in the judges booth really made this special. Also a big thank you to Karina Hogan for designing our courses and making things fun for our awesome riders!
We haven’t even started talking about the Main Arena or the Trails arena yet, so stay tuned for more thanks to come!!!
Special thanks to TD Suzi Puckett: Keeping things SAFE at the SAFE show