the 2010 Canadian Nationals by Linda White
The 2010 Canadian National Championship Show was a high class production. It always is. The good sportsmanship, integrity and concern for quality that pervade the event seem to grow stronger every year. If testimonials to that effect are needed, everyone who has ever exhibited or been a spectator at Canadian Nationals will be happy to step up to the microphone. Even the horses probably agree that Regina is a nearly-ideal location. Its only drawback is that Saskatchewan is a long drive for almost everybody. Almost everybody, that is, except the lucky souls who live in the states along the Canadian border, just south of the prairie province. That would be Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, and maybe the northern tip of Idaho, none of which you could call densely populated. Exhibitors in the more populous states, with their higher numbers of Arabian horseloving dwellers, are far distant from the action, but those exhibitors, undeterred, s addled up and headed north in 2010. More than 563 owners from 40 states and six Canadian provinces thought highly enough of this show to send their horses. As they have done every year since 1988, when the prestigious show was moved there, the city of Regina enthusiastically welcomed, en masse, the show and the Arabian people that came with it. It has become Regina’s second-highest revenue producing annual event. After every year’s show, the road-weary concede that the Queen City’s hearty welcome took away much of the sting the long drive created, but this year, with parity between the Canadian and U.S. dollars, unsuspecting travelers from
south of the border got a rude awakening. The first time they stopped to refuel their vehicles, the era of “everything is cheaper in Canada” that surely was going to last indefinitely crumbled into dust and ashes. “Indefinitely” had arrived. Visitors’ disillusionment vanished, though, the instant each vehicle drove into the Evraz Place grounds. A sense of well-being settled softly around them, enveloping even the most disgruntled in good-natured acceptance. Sportsmanship, honor and excitement about the upcoming national show prevailed. This year’s total number of horse entries was 756 horses. Show officials had hoped for 720 horses, so that total was above last year’s, and entries this year were 1,891. Excepting last-minute scratches, 426 purebred Arabians and 316 Half-Arabians came to town to compete in the 174 classes offered. The winning exhibitors’ expressions tell the whole tale; the photos each worth 1,000 words. “The entire show was an upgrade,” offers Allan Ehrlick, a longtime Canadian National Show Commission member who was once a professional hockey player and Olympic athlete. Surely destined for Overachievers’ Heaven one day, he also is one of AHA’s all-time leading amateur exhibitors. This was not his first horse show. “The new facility was a huge success—despite a few unavoidable growing pains,” he says. “Once we solved a few problems, it was a truly fabulous show. With 756 horses we were well up from the previous year, and will keep on growing. Everyone seemed to have a good time.”