And some don’t. Most of the dogs that come to the Grand National with their adoring owners are posh and pampered. They wear bejeweled collars and custom made RaDon dog blankets. They have kennels with poofy pillows in the tack rooms and are fauned over by hoards of children that walk them all over the fairgrounds. We even have the wonderful Dog Show for the exhibitors the first weekend of the show, which has created some amazing pictoral moments for Howie over the years.
But this year, my dog story is different. The Wolf Creek Ranch crowd was at a truck stop just a few minutes from the fairgrounds on Martin Luther King near Bricktown Tuesday when they noticed a cardboard box in the parking lot that seemed to be jiggling. It was filled with seven puppies approximately 5-6 weeks old, starving and shivering from the cold rain. They brought the puppies back to the fairgrounds and have given them baths and food and are watching over them in Barn 6, across from the coliseum. We are trying to find them all homes before the end of the week, and have already found a home for one of them. If you have room in your heart and your barn for a new puppy, these appear to be short haired, pointer mix and don’t appear to be large dogs. Stop by Wolf Creek or call Dani at 530-575-1067. If they are not all adopted by the end of the week, we will try to find the remaining pups a ride to the
Shelby County Humane Society, as they are a no-kill shelter.
As I mentioned yesterday, we could possibly be in for a surprise appearance and we were not disappointed. Hall of Fame Saddlebred Trainer Don Harris turn a turn at the reins in the World Futurity Two Year Old Park Harness World Championship with wife Judy’s sporty mare, JW First Dance. We’ve had many special guests here in center ring in the past, but Mr. Harris was our first Hall of Fame trainer! It was a pleasure to watch him drive in this tough class of really wonderful young horses, which was won by Stan Bodnar with homebred Merriehill Home Stretch, the entry of longtime Morgan owner Ruthann Peterson of Hobby Horse Hill in Wisconsin.
The new arena that began the week hosting our dressage rides was filled with jumps and obstacles all day on Tuesday as the hunters and jumpers began their medal quests, followed by the English Trail in the afternoon and Western Trail in the evening. I’m always amazed at what our Morgans will do when provided an obstacle to tangle with. Their intelligent nature is a bonus (usually), but can also provide unending entertainment. This year’s trail obstacles were both trail-like and tricky. The barn 8 show arena will begin hosting the carriage obstacle driving today, which is something like the mass exodus to the restaurants from the coliseum parking lot each night, but done with horses and carriages. Tomorrow, that arena will see the exciting Reiners in action. It’s great having this new arena finished and so close to the other arenas. I suspect we will see many more spectators at these events now that they’re not held in the back 40!
I had the opportunity to see the Versatile Morgan Finals Tuesday morning and I’m going to put a plug in here for this great class. I spent my youth growing up at the local shows and I essentially did the Versatile Morgan Class all day long. Swapping from western to English, jumping and trail in one day was normal for my weekend. Here in OKC we have over 1,000 Morgans on these fairgrounds and only three showed up for this class that should be a piece of cake for our Morgans! I’m putting a challenge out there for next year’s class—let’s practice a bit and really put on a show! Surely we can find at least 6-8 Morgans that can do a tack change and jump two jumps only two feet tall. Anyone game?
We culminated Tuesday evening with a small but spectacular Stallion Park Saddle class. Just three entries, but what fabulous horses and talent guiding them: Two former World Champion Park Saddle winners, Stand And Deliver with Mike Goebig and HVK Vibrance with Jenny Taylor shared the ring with newcomer to the saddle division SpiceOLife Present Tense, a son of former World Champion Park Saddle horse Arboria Noble Victor. Present Tense was a multiple winner in the junior park harness division here, but this was his first OKC appearance under saddle. His pilot for this terrific class was saddlebred trainer Dianna Rannells, who guided Stonecroft Trilogy to his Reserve World Park Saddle Championship a couple of years ago. Dianna has been working with Diane Conrady at Paradise Morgans in Kentucky as of late, which is how she came to this class. All three horses were fabulous and there was just the tiniest difference between each. I’m anxious to see the cards, as I’m sure each judge had some variation on the final outcome. It was a dream class and it couldn’t have been easy to pick a winner, but last night belonged to the typey chestnut stallion owned by David James Walker of Alton, Illinois. Add to the mix our mare and gelding park saddle winners and we are all in for some serious eye candy on Saturday night.
I love that so many exhibitors get wrapped up in the idea that it’s October and that means HALLOWEEN! There is candy in every aisle and some awesome freaky decorations. Wander back to Barn 5 and you’ll see that Winter Thyme Manor has really decked it out for this spooky time of year. Be careful walking up the aisle in Barn 1 if you have a horse that likes to double take—there are several of those motion-triggered monsters that BOO when you walk by. Remember a few (maybe more than a few) years ago when we actually had a costume party here at the Grand National? It was an amazing event, and although I can’t remember the details of every single costume, I do remember that Stan and Paulette Bodnar had a really incredible one. Maybe I’ll do a little detective work today and see if Stan remembers what that was… until tomorrow!
--Tami Johnson
