Insiders Guide: "Believe you can and you’re halfway there"
Theodore Roosevelt
Sharon: On the last day of the first Reining show Jen and I hosted, in 2021 at Ancaster, someone asked us ‘Was it anything like you expected?’ We looked at each other and realised, over the months of planning, the roller-coaster of emotions, the steep learning curve and the recognition of the amount of hours that goes in to hosting a show… we didn’t really have any expectations.
We just put our heads down and did it. And we got incredible feedback from everyone, about the facility, the ground, the atmosphere.
When we started planning for our TWO shows this year, we realised we needed to have a vision. With the new arena at Ancaster promising to be the premier Equine facility in Ontario, (it looks AMAZING!!!) we wanted to host shows like the ones we have both been to in the US. And that meant, one of us had to take a hit for the team…
I travelled to Florida to see one of their shows, of course the weather being 25 and sunny didn’t hurt but wow was I ever impressed by how the show was run. I chose to go to this particular show so I could spend time with Brad Bowie who will be our announcer at the June show. He shared some great tips with me too.
I came away with some ideas and a very strong realisation – how important the sponsors are. Without the sponsors, there are no shows. With so many people watching Yellowstone and admiring the Reining horses, we want the Reiners to come out and compete, and for everyone else to come out and watch this incredible sport and enjoy the experience! To keep up to date on our show programs (which are 3 days and will offer full slates of both ORHA and NRHA classes as well as Ranch Riding), friend us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jj.reining.3/ and our website: https://www.jjreining.ca/
Jen: When we started this journey of putting on a show, I truly had no idea what to expect, what amount of work it would take and what great inspiration I came away within doing so. I have had an amazing experience with just connecting with the industry as well as meeting new connections out of our equine industry. I have a greater appreciation of sponsorship because without this, there would be no future to the shows that we would love to produce. Our sponsors very much inspire us to look to the future, not only in reining but the vision of horse events here in Ontario!
Pro and Non-Pro articles written by Jen Jonas of Jonas Performance Horses (Pro) and Sharon Jones of Be A Better You (Non-Pro). Together, they are J&J Reining Inc. Both Jen and Sharon are believers in continual learning – if you’re not learning you’re not growing.
