We had more stall reservations than ever before; more horses being shipped in for a day too.
Our June show was our biggest yet!
We’ve been hosting Reining and Ranch shows at Ancaster since 2021, two a year starting in 2022. Each year and each show we learn something new, but June… surprised us with how big it was! Plus, the weather was spectacular, after a dodgy start to June we had amazing sun and temperatures the whole show.
We had more stall reservations than ever before; more horses being shipped in for a day too. We had a full slate of NRHA and ORHA classes plus two ranch Classes, a Working Western rail and new for us – a Ranch Trail class on Friday.
A year of planning finally comes to fruition for each show, and for us to make it come to life we could not do it without our amazing volunteers!
The event starts to come to life on the Wednesday when we can get onto the grounds and start to prepare everything – Colie Florica does an incredible job for us of the ground, the whole time.
A special Thank You to Jen’s Jonas Performance Horses group who are always ready and willing to step up – helping before the show to get everything ready on the Wednesday, throughout the paid warmups Thursday and the three days of the show.
FRIDAY we saw Green Horse, for the younger horses with less than two year’s of showing experience, then Green Reiner, for the riders who are new to the sport. This was followed by Novice Horse with both Open and Non pro divisions. We took a half hour break for lunch for judges, scribes, announcer, volunteers, show staff, to grab a bite. The ranch Riding came next also with Open and Non pro – with a big field of entries – followed by our newest class with a pattern designed by us – Ranch Trail, Open and Non pro. We were still going at 11.00pm!!
SATURDAY started with the Working Western Rail, Open and Non pro, then came Youth. Non pro were after that, then Rookie.
The cutest class of the weekend was the Leadline – and we had 12 amazing Leadline entries – our biggest number yet – these kids are the future of our sport!
Green Reiner had their second class after Leadline, then we even had time for the Derby riders to have an exclusive warm up ahead of the Derby, we had $14,000 extra added monies in the derby. which started around 4.30pm and with 24 horses went until almost 7.00pm. Some incredible runs really showcasing the talent of the athlete – the horse, and the competitor – the rider, from Ontario and Quebec. After the Derby, competitors enjoyed a pulled pork dinner that was sponsored, everyone else bought tickets and enjoyed the food too.
SUNDAY began classes at 7.00am, with Ranch Riding, followed by Novice Horse, Green Horse, Non Pro, Youth, Rookie, and the Open.
Thank you to everyone who made this show a success: the Sponsors (listed here: jjreining.ca/2024sponsors) the competitors, the horses, the spectators, the show staff: show office, judges, scribes, announcer, plus the volunteers, the vendors for the shopping and Hungry horse for the food
All of our show was streamed live on Facebook, special thank you to both Diana MacDonald and for the video and Connie Smith for the photography – pics here are all from Connie. You can check out both the results and the pics on our website here: jjreining.ca/steel-city-spin-2024
We needed some time after the show to recuperate, and to start preparing for our August show – which is Ancaster Aug 23 – 25 – more information available on our website here: jjreining.ca/steel-city-slide-2024
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.