2010 Congress and rReflections on it!

[JWC sr.]

Well we got home this afternoon from Congress. I am glad to be home, but hated to leave early. We had some business things I had to attend to though and we got to go for the first three days of competition.

After having the drive home (8 1/2 hours) to reflect on the show the following were my thoughts:

1. The show was awesome with very few hiccups that amounted to a whole lot.

2. The facility people were awesome to work with and really made an extreme effort to keep things clean and running well for us.

3. Barn 9 where we were stalled had an awesome atmosphere among the different farms and I really enjoyed being stalled there.

4. The classes were highly competitive and I really enjoyed showing this year in the numerous classes we were in. Folks in the classes were a lot of fun to show with for me win or lose.

5. It was hot, but then again I think everyone expected that from the get go and the A/C arena really made a lot of difference for the horses and competitors. The horse seemed to drag a little in the barns, but when you hit that AC the people and the horses really came alive. LOL

6. The show was well attended particularly in this economy and I think we will see some good results for the industry from it. The noon lunch was awesome, thanks everyone that made that happen!!

7. The web cast was well received overseas and by a number of folks that watched from the AMHA, AMHR and other registries which is a good thing for the breed as a whole. I have gotten a number of emails from folks outside the shetlands asking a lot of questions over the last few days due to it.

8. The people that attended were a class bunch of folks for the most part with very few sticks in the mud and as usual I enjoyed the heck out of them.

9. I only wish more folks could have been there in person, as I was somewhat disappointed not to get to see some of the forum folks at the show that I had expected to come. As I was really looking forward to that all year long. Oh well there is always next year.

10. Stallion avenue was awesome for me, getting to see so many great stallions in one place and getting to meet the owners of many was really neat. The presentation of them was way cool also on the web feed.

Thanks to the show management, ASPC directors and volunteers that worked so hard to provide Cindy and I with a great time this year.

The only downer was getting the word that our president was in the hospital, but I understand he is recovering quickly. Get well quick Larry, we all missed seeing you at congress this year.

Oh by the way also we had a really decent show with two reserve Congress Champions, 1 Congress Champion and 1 Reserve Jr. Champion Stallion. Not bad for some nobodies from Santa Fe Texas. LOL

I also want to say congratulations to Davie who bought Black On Ice from us at the show and was Reserve Champion Color Horse. Way to go Davie, I hope you enjoy your little guy!!!

 

[JMS Miniatures]

I wished I could have gone to watch. Watching it online was the best I could do and it was very good quality and the advertisers were well represented. If only I had hi-speed internet it would have been better to watch it, but oh well. It appeared to look like a nice arena. I was curious what everyone thought about the new move to Ardmore and how many more or less horses attended from last year.

Sounds like it was a good turnout. I hope it says in Ardmore, with it reletaively close who knows maybe I will look into getting some shetlands. Congrats on your winnings!

 

[JWC sr.]

The turn out was good, the last I checked there was 467 horses that had been measured in. But I do not know the final count. I expect it will be very close to last year, which is great with the economy the way it is. One way or the other.

With Larry Parnell getting sick and being in the hospital I know that was about 15 or 20 horses that did not make it to the show and there was one other major farm that had problems and was not able to come either.

The encouraging part was that the entries per horse appeared to be way up in comparison to the last few years.

All in all I think we are going to find out that it was very successful for the exhibitors and the show itself. Which is a major deal in my mind as that is the real test and where the rubber meets the road so to speak.

 

[Davie]

This was my first Shetland Congress and I had a ball. The heat almost landed me in the hospital early early Monday morning as I had just not drank enough while unloading and wound up with sever muscle cramps and extreme dehydration, was up most of the night drinking lots of water and taking meds for the muscle spasms and cramps. Got about 3 hours sleep and was good to go on Monday but did stay most of the day in the A/C arena.

Was stalled just down the way from the Cherry's and meet a wonderful new owner (Parkland Farms) that lives in Chandler (sorry but can't remember their names right off the top of my head).

The competition was excellent, quality of the horses was over the top--lots of wonderful horses. The pot luck lunch that the exhibitors put on Tuesday was great--lots of wonderful food and greatly appreciated by all. Thanks to all the Area 5 members who made the hospitality area possible as well. The icecream was a great treat.

Yes I picked up my new boy from the Cherry's and he was graciously shown by Earnest Lambdin and prepared for the ring by his groom Harold Waller who did a fantastic job on the colt. I was absolutely stunned when he placed Congress Reserve Champion Color horse he also placed Top Ten in his Open halter class. Wall Streets Ultra Black On Ice is an absolute doll to be around.

Congratulations to John Herring who had several great wins with his mares and to Mini h with their mares. Both had fantastic wins. Also a congratulation to Leesa Conley who had 2 geldings there, JHK Captain Morgan shown by Shenandoah Training who was a big winner in the Over division and her gelding Buckeye WCF Classical American who did extremely well in the Under division.

Some of the farms in Barn 9 threw a Barn Party Wednesday evening and a great time was held by all and a lot of new friends were made and old friends reunited.

Ardmore facilities are basically very nice, arena is great and the AC arena was greatly appreciated. I know a lot of folks were not happy with the lack of enough restrooms and shower facilities in the barns and that was a problem that truely does need to be address in the future. Would like to see a few more electrical outlets for all the fans and a little easier to get too as I'm somewhat height challenged. The barns were hot, but it was probably HOT almost anywhere this time of year with the weather and high humidity we have been having all over the country. Barn 9 had great cross ventilation and was not unbearable.

John glad to hear that the Stallion Presentation turned out well. Wish I could have seen it but since I had a stallion in it was not even able to get up into the stands to see any of it. Had a nice time visiting with folks after the presentation back on stallion row. I had my computer there but was not able to get connected to the website to watch the live web coverage.

From a personal viewpoint, the staff was great as always, very few problems, arena was nice for both the halter and driving exhibitors, competition was extremely tough with horses from both coasts, Texas to Minnesota and all other points of the country.

My first Congress was a great success and I had a wonderful time. I hope to see it back in this part of the country again in the years to come.

 

[minih]

It was a great Congress this year, even tho it was hotter than @#!&!! We were stalled in barn 9 also, and in the middle of a great group of people. We were packing to come home during the barn party Wednesday night and it took us twice as long since we had to stop every so often and talk or go look at our horses with someone else or go look at theirs!! What a wonderful idea, and thank you to those that put it on!

Davie thank you for the congrats, Congratulations to you also with your wins!! It is always good to get to talk to you some. Glad you are feeling better.