The Candy Apple in the Big Apple- Western NY Quarter Horse Club

By: Mercedes Calway, President of WNYQHCI

The Western New York Quarter Horse Club (WNYQHCI) was founded in 1957 for the promotion of the registered American Quarter Horse through ownership, breeding, and exhibiting. A few years later, in 1960, the club was incorporated as a 501(c)7 tax exempt organization. The club assists its members by providing AQHA horse shows, open horse shows, year-end awards, and scholarships.

The club also has a subsidiary, the Youth Club. The youth members run their own division of the club and assist with raising money and volunteering at local shows. It gives the up-and-coming horse generation a chance to participate in the community and help the organization prosper. Additionally, members who are seniors in high school or currently attending college can apply for the yearly $1,000 scholarship. To date, we have provided $9,000 in scholarship funds to our deserving youth.

In July, the Candy Apple Horse Show is held at the Showplex in Hamburg, NY. This show started in 1985 and, since its inception, has had to be moved from two locations due to its growing size. Over the past few years, the show has consistently had over 700 entries and AQHA has provided 3-5 judges.

In 2018, AQHA named the Candy Apple Horse Show as one of their Top Ten “Introductory Shows” in the world. This year, the show will be held July 8th-10th. On Friday, in addition to AQHA pointed classes, there are also open classes where you don’t need to show a registered (or even un-registered) Quarter Horse in order to participate.

Throughout the year, the WNYQHCI and the Youth Club run numerous fundraisers to help pay for the yearly Candy Apple Horse Show and the youth scholarship. These fundraisers include a basket auction in January, mums sale around September, and poinsettias and wreaths in November in time for the holidays. Additionally, we’re always looking for sponsorships for the Candy Apple Horse Show.

We hope to be able to add a seminar or a clinic to our already busy schedule in either 2022 or 2023. We provide year-end awards to our members who show in AQHA sanctioned horse shows, as well as open horse shows. These awards are presented at our yearly banquet, which is held in January. The club awards Champion and Reserve awards for each AQHA class that is offered through recognized shows, along with several all-around awards in different divisions. The WNYQHCI also gives out year-end awards for members who exhibit registered AQHA horses at Open Horse shows held in any of the (8) eight Western New York counties (Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie, Genesee, Niagara, Orleans, and Wyoming).

Currently we have around 100 members, which include the youth, and we’re always looking for new members. These new members can live anywhere in New York state. We have monthly meetings, which are held in person, or we also have a Zoom option for those who aren’t able to attend in person.

Please visit our website at www.wnyqhc.org or send us an email at wnyqhci@gmail.com for more information.