Spruce Meadows is a well known Equestrian park located to the South West of Calgary since 1976 built by the Southern Family who still control the facility.

Despite being set up as a world class Equestrian Facility it will venture into football (soccer) as Spruce Meadows Sports & Entertainment own the Canadian Premier League and Calvalry FC has SM as its home base in a purpose built modular stadium seating 5000 from 2019.

The Football season will run from October to May so will overlap the Equestrian Events but SM will not foresake its home sport as the main International Ring will never be used for football.

This facility has 360 acres so space is available.

The facility annually caters for over 500,000 horse fans and can stable up to 1000 horses at any one event. They also have their own TV production studio that produces TV quality programs that are viewed in over 100 countries.

The facilities are open 365 days a year and the value to the city was recognised in 2011 when after the owners expressed concern over the residential developements of bridlewood,Somerset and Silverado that were encroaching on the rural aspects of SM and the city agreed to transfer SM into the Muncipality District of Foothills not the City of Calgary. The family have also managed to have Highway 22X formally called Marquis of Lorne trail to Spruce Meadows Trail.

I have visited SM many times since my first visit in 1984 and each visit brings back both great memories as well as new experiences.

The facility has a unique bond with the Canadian Military who mount special displays for each major event such as The Masters which was the reason for my visit this year.

The Masters is a multi million $ show jumping carnival over 5 days that ends with a $3M jump.

My special interest this year was a name in the program that fortunately lead to a special reunion and time to reminise with one of the International competitors.

My association with horses has lasted many years and apart from interest in horses has lead to riding in parts of The United States and the unifying thread has been involvement in the Show movement. No show in Australia is classed as a Agricultural show without horse events. naturally then as both a current and past show President my duties bring me into close contact with the Equestrian community.

I have also had various other horse related contacts such as Polocrosse when as an announcer I called an Australian Championship meeting.

When in Austria I had the opportunity to visit Vienna and watch The Spanish Ridning School training at Hofburg Palace. the Lipizzan horses were going through their haute ecole equestrian skill training.

The previous visit to Canada allowed me to go out into the foothills pf the Rockies and find groups of Alberta Wild Horses that were detailed in a previous blog with photos and indeed this past weekend I again came across a small mob of three.

Calgary as we all know by now is the home to The Calgary Exhibition & Stampede and those years that I visit I always enjoy the sessions with the rescue horses often Mustangs on their last chance.

I always at my shows encourage the participation of Brumby classes often to the ire of more traditional breeders.

The trip to Spain saw us in Andalusa the traditional home to the Andalusian horse breed.

My mother was an avid horse fan having in her youth participated regularlly as a jockey long before females worried about equality etc. She had her own horses for many years of her life.

My mother and I spent many days by the showring fence watching young jumpers progress into adults who have made their mark on a much wider field.

The International Ring at Spruce Meadows on Thursday September 06,2018 at 10am hosted the ATCO Founders Classic 1.50m Table A one Jump off course designed by leopoldo Palacios from Vienna, the sixth horse out was Everse W , a Dutch warm blood gelding born in 2009 a chestnut with an Australian riding him.

Likewise the ATCO Founders Classic of 1.50m at 11.30 also a Table A course by the same designer had a Horse Blue Movie a Mare,of chestnut colouring born in 2006 and a Anglo European Sport horse also ridden by an Australian rider.

This was the motivation that had also taken us to Hickstead in the UK to The All Nations Cup but there was no Australian rider there so Spruce Meadows was our next International event and this time we struck gold.

I did not have a pass to enter the Horse Barns so used a different tactic that saw me talking with Samantha at the Tornament Office and literally within 5 minutes she had arranged a face to face meeting with that Australian rider, in her office.

As the door opened revealing the rider smiles were all round and followed by a warm handshake. Rowan Willis the Australian competitor was one of those young jumpers my mother & I used to watch along with his sister.

Watching later developed into a family friendship with the Willis family and a sponsorship deal from my fireworks business.

I vididly remember finishing work on fireworks in Sydney at 3am and then driving some 500kms to a showground at Bundarra to watch my sponsored riders compete. Often I had comments why would a fireworks company sponsor horses as often the two are not the best of friends at shows, but my belief in helping youth saw that continue.

It was a great personal sense of satisfaction to now in 2019 be at a International event watching Rowan compete on the world stage. An added bonus was Rowan and I tracked down Elsa & David his parents who had just arrived in Calgary to watch Rowan compete.

Of course we all had high hopes of a fairytale win in the $3m finals but that didn't happen but a 7th & 11th placings were welcome results over the carnival and we look forward to continuing success in October in Tyron, North Carolina at the World Equestrian Games where Rowan will be a competitor again.