2013 PQHA July Show Exceeds Expectations With 600+ Stalls Sold and 2,500+ People in Attendance
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The 2013 PQHA completed another successful show Sunday at the Centre County Grange Park in Centre Hall, PA. The show was offered as a joint effort by the PA Quarter Horse Association and the PA Quarter Horse Youth Association as one of their major fundraisers of the year. The show continues to grow in size each year. This year, there were over 600 stalls sold and over 2,500 people in attendance.
“This show is the largest Quarter Horse show in PA,” says Frank Salopek, PQHA President. “Our goal is to become one of the top 10 shows in the nation. Each year, we continue to grow and expand. We work really hard to be exhibitor and horse-friendly thanks to our hard-working members and the cooperation of the Centre Grange Park management and grounds crew, who have made this equine facility one of the premiere facilities in the east.”
Caption: PQHA Show Officials: Show Manager Larry Jaynes, Gate Steward John Ackerman, PQHA President Frank Salopek, and Director and Ring Crew Jerry Yohn
The circuit kicked off Wednesday with the Annual Novice Show with over 300 entries. Rookie classes were offered as well. Clinics were also offered to exhibitors free of charge.
Thursday through Sunday, two split-combined shows with six sets of judges gave exhibitors the opportunity to pick up points. Exhibitors came to Centre County from more than 10 states and Canada. There was even one Quarter Horse trainer present from Victoria, Australia.
Jesse Mathrick of Tatura, Victoria, AUS says, “I traveled 14,000 miles to get here. PQHA has a reputation for being a friendly place to show and a show that draws good horses and offers lots of available points.”
Caption: Australian trainer, Jesse Mathrick, and his girlfriend, Jill Masciantonio, prepare for showmanship.
It also helps that Jesse’s girlfriend and exhibitor, Jill Masciantonio, calls PA home. Jesse has been in the USA for two months mostly in PA riding show horses.
“My future plans are to stay in the US and work with horses,” says Mathrick. “Everything in the US is such a bigger scale than Australia.”
Jesse was helping Jill prepare for the novice all-around classes and was anxious to meet new people at the show.
Bruce Vickery of Sanger, TX brought seven horses to the show.
“This is a great facility, including the indoor arena, and the points available make the trip worthwhile,” says Vickery.
Bruce and his daughter, Kara, traveled here directly from the Big A Circuit in GA.
Caption: Bruce and Kara Vickery
“Our next stop is the AQHA Youth World Show in Oklahoma City, and this is great practice for my daughter.”
Kara was the Reserve High Point Novice Youth of the Novice Show on Wednesday.
The leadline exhibitors were also very excited for their class, which had five entries.
“I like the prizes,” says Cole Gouthro. Cole is the son of trainers Matt and Beth Gouthro from Staunton, VA. PQHA offered a variety of fun prizes for exhibitors each day and trophies were provided to exhibitors by the Good family.
Caption: Kim and Kelly Best
Mother-daughter show team, Kim and Kelly Best, of Salem, OH love coming to the show and have supported the show for many years. Kim shows in the Novice and Select events with her gelding, and Kelly shows in the Amateur events with her mare. Kim was the Novice Amateur High Point exhibitor at the Novice Show. Kelly is World Show qualified in four events, and she was the Amateur All-Around Champion. She ended up with four circuit awards and went home with 42 points!
We also spoke with Alex Belconis of Painesville, OH as he finished his Open Trail class on his black gelding, Black Dynamic Rodder, aka “Jet.”
“I traveled over six hours for the points offered,” he says.
Caption: Alex Belconis and Black Dynamic Rodder in Open Trail
This is Alex’s first show with PQHA. Alex is World Show qualified in Trail and two other events. He is also in the Top 20 of AQHA’s leading horsemanship exhibitors. Alex was the winner of the Amateur Trail Added Money class, which was sponsored by Tribute Equine Nutrition, one of PQHA’s Platinum Show Sponsors.
Pierre Briere of Stockton, NJ brought 16 horses and several clients to the show.
“You have a great facility, well managed show, and we come looking for points,” he says.
Caption: Pierre Briere
Briere’s client, Charlene Bridgwood, also from Stockton, NJ says, “We come here because we love the indoor arena and the hospitality that PQHA provides. It’s the small things like your free ice water, especially in this heat, the coffee and donuts each morning, and the abundance of camper and RV hookups including the 50 amp service. The helpfulness and friendly atmosphere [among] your members, show staff and the fairgrounds crew are outstanding. We appreciate it and we keep coming back.”
Thanks to the support of many generous sponsors, the show offered over $13,000 in added money classes and had class awards and many handouts. Many classes boasted classes that offered 21 points per day. The trail classes alone had over 135 entries the first day of the circuit. The shows ended with over 2,000 entries.
Caption: Amateur exhibitor Thad O’Boyle
“I have heard great things about this show, and we have picked up 30+ points in the first two days,” says Thad O’Boyle, who traveled from St Louis, Michigan. His daughter, Kodi, accompanied him for their first time at a PQHA show.
“This is great practice for the upcoming AQHA Youth Show, and there are respectable numbers here in the classes,” says Kodi.
Ranch Horse Pleasure exhibitors, the PAQHA Director, Rick Shiffler, of Harrisburg, PA, and daughter Ashley Shiffler of Thompson, Martin, TN enjoyed the show as a family.
“I enjoy helping my Dad and getting back to see my PA show friends and family,” says Ashley, a former PQHA member. She was also an active member of the youth teams and went on to become a member of the National Western Championship Equestrian Team at Texas A&M University. Her dad appreciated her help as he ended up with 3.5 points in the Amateur Horse Pleasure class and also became an AQHA World Show qualifier.
Caption: Rick and Ashley Shiffler
There were several exhibitors present with the goal of qualifying for the AQHA World Show held in Oklahoma City in November. The qualifying period ends July 31st, which is an added benefit for this show.
Kim Allen of Ontario, Canada was a returning exhibitor to the PQHA show.
“We love everything about this show,” she says. “This is a great venue to show horses, and we will continue to come back.”
This was Kim’s first time showing in the Amateur Ranch Horse Pleasure and she got her first points in this event. She thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Kim also won the Amateur Trail under all three judges and got points in the Horsemanship as well. Kim will be showing at the AQHA Select World Show in Amarillo, TX in August. She is qualified in seven events.
“As Show Manager and AQHA Steward, I’m impressed with how professional our exhibitors have been,” says Larry Jaynes of New York, who served his first year as PQHA Show Manager.
“The youth have been very energetic and are always on hand to help,” he says. “The PQHA show staff has done a great job, and everyone at PQHA pitches in when needed.”
The new PQHA Youth Advisor, Jessica McMullen, made sure to include some fun time for the youth.
“We had water balloon and egg toss and tug-o-war games at the end of the first show day,” she says. “I was proud of our youth members, who stepped up to help where needed. When you work hard, you need some time for fun and fellowship. The water balloons were quite refreshing in the heat, and there were even some adults who took part in the fun. We appreciate the financial support that PQHA provides for our youth opportunities.”
Full show results, as well as a complete list of sponsors can be found on our website, www.pqha.org, as well as a calendar of events. The next show, the PA Classic and Futurities, will be held at the Centre County Grange Park on August 31 – Sept 1st. Please like PQHA on Facebook.
