Horsemen Compete to Benefit College Student Scholarships

IRONWOOD, MI - Tuesday, June 8, 2010 - It’s a Win-Win situation for everyone. On June 26th, beginning at 8:00 AM riders from at least 3 states will compete with their horses at a horse show being held at the Gogebic County Fairgrounds. This show marks the first open horse show to be held in Ironwood in at least 7 years. It also marks the first time riders can compete for national level points at a horse show in our area. Normally riders at ‘open’ horse shows compete only for daily awards or maybe ‘year-end’ points in a small regional association. The June 26th show management has teamed up with the American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) for this show to allow riders showing American Quarter Horses to compete for AQHA national points also, plus the day’s regular awards.

AQHA introduced this new type of show less than 2 years ago. Because both AQHA point classes and open horse show classes are held together, these shows allow riders of all levels, all ages and riding horses of any breed or type to all compete. This makes these shows available to everyone in the family, even if they don’t all ride registered Quarter Horses. It also allows beginner level classes to be held for riders just starting out or riding young, green horses. And for the horsemen riding Quarter Horses and competing to rack up national level points, this type of show is considerably less expensive than traveling hundreds of miles to the big shows that offer only AQHA point classes.

The Gogebic County Fair will also benefit from this horse show as the fairgrounds rental for the show will bring money into the fair treasury. The Fair Board is working hard to make the fairgrounds available for more events throughout the year, a big plus for the area and for the fairgrounds.

Local stables, feed stores, and tack stores will benefit from this show as added equine activities in the area promote sales of equine products, saddlery, riding lessons and sales of horses. Show goers also spend considerable amount of money at the local gas stations (trucks pulling big horse trailers take lots of fuel) and out-of-towners traveling to horse events spend money at local restaurants and need overnight lodging, all benefits to our area.

The biggest winner of all may be students at Gogebic Community College. Due to many very generous sponsors, all the profits from this show including all, or very nearly all, of the participants’ entry fees, stall fees, and camping fees from this horse show will be donated to the Gogebic Community College Foundation’s student scholarship program. Major sponsors to date include The Rotary Club, Diane L. Foris, CPA LLC of Ashland, Rebecca Lynch/Edward Jones Investments of Ironwood, Stoffel's Country Store of Hurley, Spring Valley Ranch of Ironwood, Tracy Olson, JTO Heritage Farm of Bessemer, and the Upper Peninsula Quarter Horse Association.

Spectators are invited to attend and cheer on the equestrians and there horses. The horse show will begin at 8:00 AM and continue throughout the day. Classes will include a wide variety of horseback skills, including jumping classes, speed events, pleasure riding classes, and ‘in hand’ classes. The show will be judged by AQHA judge Leo Fourre of Edina, Minnesota. Food will be available on grounds and admission for spectators is free.

If you would be interested in helping to promote this event with a sponsorship, contact show coordinator Doreen Passuello at (906) 364-4210 or email her at sv_ranch@hughes.net. Sponsorships begin as low as $20 for a class sponsorship and go up to $250 for a Champion level sponsor. The more sponsorships that are received, the more money the show will be able to donate to the College scholarship program. Your sponsorship will benefit both our local equestrians and our local college students.