20th Annual Great Lakes Haflinger Association

Submitted by Teri Ashcroft

Great Lakes Haflinger Association celebrated its 20th Registered Haflinger Show this year at the St. Joseph Grange Fairgrounds in Centreville, MI on July 6 &7. We were again blessed with nice sunny weather.

Our judge this year was Scott Love of Ohio, who stepped in at the last minute when our scheduled judge had to cancel. We were grateful that he was able to do so on such short notice. He judged the six-horse hitch class on Saturday and that class was judged on Friday by Teri Poli. Mervin Hershberger was our ringman. Judging was not an easy task as the exhibitors did an outstanding job. We also increased our exhibitors to 15 this year, which included exhibitors in both draft and pleasure classes. We increased our youth exhibitors for the second year in a row. This is the future of the Haflinger so we were pleased to see the increase in those classes. We paid out over $6700 in premiums in total.

Friday evening ended with our dinner, provided by Shipshewana Harness. Our thanks to Bob Schrock and his wife for preparing and serving this dinner for us. It was greatly appreciated and enjoyed. Bidding on the fun auction was spirited and we were able to raise over $1300, all of which goes to support the show.

At our dinner, we honored the Heintz family, Clare, Kathy, and Kevin Heintz and Lisa, Hope and Luke Vanderwall. This family is the only exhibitor to show at all 20 of our shows. What dedication to the Haflinger breed! They were presented with a large, rustic plaque to display all their ribbons at the shows.

The Draft Class High Point Championship sponsored by Bob Crawford of Shady Maple Haflingers was featured again this year. Exhibitors were automatically entered in nine of the draft classes and were awarded points for 1st, 2nd and 3rd places. At the end of the last class, winners were announced as follows: 1st Place – Shanahan Haflingers, 2nd Place – Stream-

2nd place winner Stream-N-Acres

N-Acres and 3rd Place – Triple F Farms. These exhibitors received $300, $200 and $100 respectively in additional premiums. Congratulations to them.

We were a double point show again this year for the Haflinger and Hitch Pony Championship Series. The winners of the 6 Horse Hitch competition were:

Friday - Stream-N-Acres – Clare & Kathy Heintz – Kevin Heintz driving.

Saturday – Triple F Farms – Kevin & Michelle Flory – Grant Flory driving.

The winner of the Ladies Cart Class was Shanahan Haflingers – Bob & Missy Shanahan – Jessica Parrish driving.

3rd place winner Triple F Farms

We would like to see even more exhibitors sign up next year. We have a fun family show for Haflinger owners. We seem to end up on Friday night with a water fight among many of the youth and adults. Everyone has a great time and gets cooled down at the same time.

Thank you to all the exhibitors for participating and for all the hard work you put into getting your horses and equipment ready to put on a quality show. It is a pleasure to work with you.

We also thank all our volunteers, class and premium sponsors, advertisers, and everyone who contributes in some way to making the show a success. Thanks to Bob Crawford for keeping the ring in great condition for showing and lining up each class so the show moves smoothly. Thank you to Leon and Gerry Fellows for donating the ribbons for the show.

We are looking forward to another great show this year on July 6 & 7 in Centreville. We hope to see all our exhibitors this year and more new exhibitors. Entry forms and information will be posted next year on our Facebook page – Great Lakes Haflinger Association Show.

Header photo: 1st place winner Shanahan Haflingers