A LUCKY SHOW DAY IN THE SOUTHEAST REGION
KIMBERLY O’CONNOR
Belvue Farms, Hoffman, NC graciously hosted the first St. Patrick’s Day Gaited
Gala on March 17th, 2018. The idea for this show came together as an effort to
support the Region 3 show which, over the last 3 years, has become one of the
newest Southeast Regional shows. In fine Irish fashion, the weather mimicked
that of the green Isle with a cool overcast sky that also brought some rain but
that didn’t dampen the wonderful show atmosphere!
A total of 44 horses comprised 197 entries under the scrutiny of Honorable Shannon Gibbs
made the gate. Mrs. Gibbs was assisted by volunteer ringmaster Robert Hodge. The largest
class of the day was the Amateur All Day Pleasure Western 2 gait with 9 horses being shown.
The Leprechaun water glass class was a wet and wonderful exhibition of the smooth gaits
of our gaited horses, while making for some moist riders. The show had a full arena of youth
riders, in addition to horses competing in the speed events for versatility in barrel racing and
pole bending.
So many wonderful volunteers and donations attributed to the show’s success – Ariel
Spooner and Cameron MacDonald kicked off the opening of the show with their playing of
the National Anthem on their brass instruments. Their high school band boosters provided
the concessions with yummy American fare. The Finerfrock family of GA donated a custom
bench that was raffled off with the Spooner family winning the prize. All of the class awards
were festive custom gifts of NWHA themed glasses, colored bead necklaces and included
the amazing Pentwater Popcorn from Northeast Director John Nagel! The show received so
much support from financial sponsorships to all the volunteer efforts. Success comes from the
combined effort of all our horse supporting friends and NWHA family – THANK YOU!
We certainly need to thank our dedicated DQP’s, without you, our shows wouldn’t exist.
WHOA DQP Leon Gibbs was gracious enough to assist with training one of NWHA’s newest
DQP applicants, Cassie Edmond who made the drive from Pennsylvania to apprentice.
Thank you both for a smooth DQP inspection process.
The show welcomed back some returning NWHA members from years past including DeDe
Marshall, Renee Coghill and Jennifer Batts – glad to have you all in the saddle with us again!
The Degville’s from Magnolia, TX also made the trip to the Sandhills region of the Carolinas as
well. Thank you all for joining and contributing to all the fun!
NWHA National News / June 2018
15