Winona results / Winona wrap-up
Photos by Casual Creation Photography & Brant Gamma
Winona Horse Trials Announces the NEW Technical Merit Awards!
Click here for details
Click here for stabling area map Ride times & entry status - click here
Click here for OTTB entry form, 4 yr. old dressage test, 5 yr. old dressage test
Cross country maps are here!! Preliminary / Training / Novice / Beg. Novice / YEH
See below for important links/information!
Dear Competitor,
Welcome to the Winona Horse Trials. We are looking forward to celebrating the 25th running of the Winona Horse Trials and bidding a fond farewell to the cross country venue at the Huffman farm. Keep your fingers crossed for good weather. Please read this letter in its entirety (even if you have been here before as many things have changed) as it will make things easier for you when you arrive.
We are hosting the Young Event Horse and Off the Track Thoroughbred classes again this year on Fri afternoon from 3:00 – 5:00. They will be competing in the dressage arena and warm up area. When entering the drive, please use caution. For those who want to ride your horses you may ride in parking field near the house. The YEH/OTTB course will be available for schooling rounds (weather permitting) as a fundraiser for our son Kevin who will be competing on the U.S. Mounted Games Team at the Mounted Games World Championships in England in Aug. The Rounds will are $10 / round, cash only please. If you are interested you will need to sign up with the secretary for a scheduled ride time. There will be up to 9 fences which will include an up bank and the water. The water will be roped off after the last schooling round and WILL NOT be available for schooling. Kevin will also be offering a stall cleaning service for $10 and we are offering a raffle for a pitcher and 4 glass set with 25th Anniversary etched on it as well as 25th Speaking of schooling; the cross country course will be open for schooling for 1 hour after the completion of cross country on Sun. (weather permitting). The schooling fee is $25 and you must sign a waiver, wear a pinney and have a ground person.
Now back to the horse trials. All stabling will be at Stone Gate Farm. For those who are stabled on grounds parking is somewhat tight. Since the parking is so close to the stalls, we ask that you unload your horse and immediately park your trailer. If you have stalls from 45 – 58 you may back in along the woods side at an angle so you can get out, please do not block the driveway. Those who are in the pipe barn, stalls 59 – 70 do not have doors or lights so please plan accordingly. Finally, since the driveway is immediately next to the dressage arenas, the drive is closed during dressage in ring 2. The drive WILL be closed at 8:15 and opened from 11:15 – 1:00 and then after 2:30. Keep in mind that the driveway is one way and that we do NOT own the hay field next to the drive; please stay off the hay field. If you will be arriving after 8:15 in the morning you will have you will have to use the day parking on top of the hill.
For those who are stabled, there is a new trail to get to stadium. You will continue past the barns and the trailer parking and just before you get to a mowed grass field there is a trail to the right that will take you to the south of the pasture fence. No hill this direction J
Due to the low entries we had to cancel one of the judges so Deborah Boeh is now the President of the Ground Jury. She will also be going between judging dressage and show jumping and her schedule is rather tight. Please be on time and ready to ride at your scheduled times. Those who have multiple rides, you may ride anytime within your level, but you have been scheduled out of order where necessary. Please note that the stadium courses will be different for each level; please make sure you walk the correct track. There will be course walks between levels but not between divisions. Please check the overall schedule for when the stadium course will be open for walking. You may need to walk your stadium before your dressage or bring your horse with you when come down to walk. Please plan accordingly. To keep dressage running on time, we are asking that as soon as the rider before you does their final salute to please do your circle around the inside of the ring & then exit and wait for the signal to start.
Packets will be available at the stabling barn on Fri. and at the house on Sat. If you are not stabling please park in the parking field at the top of the hill and walk down to the stabling barn as the parking is limited in the stabling area.
For those who have been to Huffman’s before realize that you must pay attention to the ‘Parking Nazis’ in order to get everyone in. With fewer entries it shouldn’t be as bad but it will still be tight. Please don’t be offended if my husband offers to back up your rig for you. He’s quite good at it and can do it very efficiently. If you need or want to come over before competing, please come without your trailer and we will try to park you where you can easily get in and out without taking up trailer parking space.
Finally we are pleased to announce we will be offering the new Technical Merit Award which riders will be judged on correct cross country riding skills. The winner at each level will receive a gift certificate for a 5 x 7 photo from the photographer Brant Gamma and a picture frame with the Technical Merit Logo on it. There is no charge for this award which is sponsored by Joanna Rae and American National Insurance. We also have a few other anniversary awards for those who were with us at our first event as either a competitor or volunteer or any combination of the two. They are: Victoria Frey, Meg Wishart, Karen Schmidt and Carroll Crowl. Many thanks for your continued support. As the only person who rode in both the first event and this one; she will receive a picture from Brant Gamma, Meg Wishart also rode in the first event and was planning on riding in this one except for a recent injury, but she is still coming to volunteer. Both Karen and Carroll have been volunteers at the first event and probably every event since then. They will be receiving a mug with an 25th Anniversary Logo etched on the mug. At the conclusion of cross country please join us for some cake as we thank Bill and Ginny Huffman for all the years of allowing us to use their lovely farm.
Please take the time to review the following information (which will is posted on the website) before your arrival as it should answer many of your questions and hopefully make your stay here a little more pleasant.
Directions and/or maps:
- NEW this year, a link to Google Maps: Click here
Click on Stone Gate Farm for locations and directions to the facilities, off ground stabling sites, hotels etc. You can click on the satellite button and get satellite photos of the area. You’ll have to play around with it a little to zoom in or pan east or west, but hopefully it will be useful. However, I still recommend using the maps and directions that are posted on the Stone Gate website as Google and Mapquest still don’t always send you the best way
- Directions to Stone Gate Farm: please note that the exit numbers have been changed to mileage markers so watch for the exits and route numbers for the exit
- Directions to the Huffman Farm where cross country will be run
- local area map (under the directions tab)
- map of the farm
- cross country maps Preliminary / Training / Novice / Beg. Novice / YEH
Entry Info
- Times can be found at the following link: http://eventingscores.com/sgf/win09/
- Young Event Horse & OTTB schedule - click here
- overall schedule
Stabling:
1. stabling assignments
2. stabling area map (on grounds)
Volunteers: we still could use a few volunteers, please check out the volunteer section of the web page for more information or just contact me directly via e-mail volunteer@stonegatefarm.org or phone @ or 330-222-2089 or my cell which is 330-277-6964.
If you have any questions and or comments, please let us know.
Jackie & Penne
Welcome to the 25th Running of the Winona Horse Trials
As I sit down to write this I thought I would check to see what I wrote for the 20th Anniversary & interestingly enough, most of it holds true today except we’re all a little older, including my kids. Although Gen. Burton still refers to Kyle as ‘the baby’ after feeding him a bottle at Winona ’88. But they do grow up and both boys are now in college so I’m not getting the usual pre-event help to get things ready. Since they’re both competing they won’t be much help over the weekend either. As usual I’m looking for someone to braid their horses on Fri. and keep an eye on them in the warm up in case I’m not around. Although, these days they prefer it if I’m not around.
In any case since most of you weren’t around in the beginning I thought you might enjoy a little history about the Winona Horse Trials. Dave & I got married in the fall of ’83 & in the spring of ’84 we moved to Winona & lived in an apartment across the street from Huffman’s. One nice spring morning we went for a walk around Huffman’s farm & began to dream. We introduced ourselves to Bill & Ginny Huffman and eventually ended up keeping our horses there and hosting the event.
Although we had to beg, borrow or steal many items, by the fall of ’85 we had picked up enough rocks to make the stone wall fence and managed to build enough others to host the first event @ the Novice & Training levels. Since there were about 80 horses we decided to run it in one day instead of 2 which meant we needed to use a neighbor’s hay field for the dressage and stadium was on top of the hill. I called the officials to notify them that we were only running one day, and one of the dressage judges informed me that she didn’t have it on her schedule. Then I got the call that the TD couldn’t make it due to Hurricane Gloria which left Col. Wimert to act as Pres. of the Ground Jury & the TD. Somehow everything else went without a hitch & it didn’t deter us from running future events. We figured if we could survive such an auspicious beginning, we would be fine for future events. We were young and naïve!
In subsequent years we stabled horses & ran dressage at the Canfield Fairgrounds a half hour away. It was a bit of a hassle, but it worked until we were able to buy our own farm. Over the years we have been able to put in the dressage arenas, the stadium area and the stabling. With the addition the 12 stall barn a few of years ago, we thought our days of off grounds stabling were over. However, in recent years we have had to stable as many as 50 horses off grounds.
Sometimes we wonder why we continue to hold events. It just seems that putting on these events is just so much work & that instead of getting easier; it seems that the events are getting harder to run. Then I do a reality check & realize I’m not in my 30s anymore but at least we are no longer sneaking around in the dead of night to confiscate old rail road ties, running around to borrow stadium fences, or better yet, building a fence in the basement @ 11:30 the night before stadium. However, I did stop and knock on a stranger’s door the other day when I saw that they had recently cut down a couple big pine trees and asked if I could have some pine branches.
Five years ago we had the largest number of competitors ever and the most miserable weather, follow that up with a horrendously wet spring the following year and we the fewest entries ever. Funny how history repeats itself; last year we had a very large event despite high fuel prices and this year after a tough winter and economic woes the numbers are down again. Sometimes we really questioned why we continue to run the event especially when it seems that many competitors prefer the big venues with all the amenities. But we are determined to continue to provide the friendly ‘mom and pop’ events that have been the backbone of Eventing for so many years.
Every year when I question myself about running the events, I get my answer on cross country day. I take great pleasure watching the horses & riders going out and having a good time while they learn & develop confidence as they progress around the course. I am happy that I have been able to provide them the opportunity to do so and I thank all of the organizers who provide me and our boys the opportunity to compete as well.
The whole thing goes a little deeper than simply watching horses and riders galloping around having a good time. It gives many people, who enjoy the sport, the chance to work together for something they really believe in and develop lasting friendships as well. We all know we don’t do this for the money, so we must do it for love. Love of the sport, the horse, friends, and family.
Interestingly enough, the original agreement was to only run the cross country at Huffman’s for 5 years until we got our farm up and running. But because everyone enjoyed the Huffman Farm so much we just kept coming back. However, Dave and I have decided that this will be our last year spending 20+ hours hauling nearly 30 portable cross country fences. It’s hard on the jumps and even harder on these aging bodies especially without the boys around to help. We would like to thank Bill & Ginny Huffman for their generosity & the countless hours on the lawn mowers to make the farm look terrific for the thousands of horses and riders over the years. We will continue to run a spring event at our Stone Gate Farm and we plan on unveiling a new track with the recent addition of 17 more acres!
We hope everyone has a good weekend and we hope to see you again.
Jackie & Dave
