Saturday, July 17, 2004 was a beautiful sunny day in Mendon, MA for the first Alternative Open Horsemanship Meet, sponsored by the American Association for the Progression of Horsemanship (AAPH). Exhibitors were greeted at check-in with an exhibitor packet and a gift box full of goodies donated by Donna White of White Haven Farm. Exhibitors ranged in age from 4 years old through adult. As the announcer introduced the teams and described the proceedings, spectators enjoyed watching the exhibitors progress through the Ground Work I category. For each horse/handler team, evaluators assessed the team using twelve criteria as the team demonstrated various tasks. For the Ground Work I category, these tasks included orienting horse to handler, leading, front and hind yielding, backing, and loose rating where the horse transitioned through walk, trot, canter matching energy with the handler without use of a rope or line connecting the horse and handler. Exhibitors used both pen and arena to demonstrate different tasks. Two teams, those of Nicole Adams and Tonka (from Long Meadow Farm) and Patricia Carnegie and Yonek (from Spring Willow Farm) moved on to try the Preparing to Ride I category where handlers introduced articles to their horses, directed their horses while sitting on top of the rail, thereby introducing the handler in the upper plane (without actually getting on the horse’s back), and performed unmounted tasks with a saddled horse. Congratulations to all the teams who participated in the Categories of Progression.

Although four freestyle classes were offered, only one garnered entries at this meet. Six teams participated in the Obstacles In Hand freestyle class where handlers led their horses from the ground through various obstacles. The results of the freestyle class follow:
1^st – Vanessa Hull and Crabby Abby
2^nd – Nicole Adams and Tonka
3^rd – Madeleine MacPhee and Just a Little Smidge
4^th – Stephanie Glynn and Mystique
5^th – Vanessa Hull and Sounds Like Thunder
6^th – Laila McCullough and Chief

 Congratulations to all the exhibitors in all classes. Much thanks to our evaluators, Nancy Adams of Tana Farm, Southbridge, MA and Connie Crawford of Providence, RI for their time, input, and support. Spectators expressed their pleasure to have been a part of this first event and some wished they’d brought their own horses. Remember … there’s always the next meet!

 Saturday was capped off with raffles and a barbecue dinner allowing exhibitors, spectators, and volunteers to enjoy each other’s company and reflect on the day’s activities. Unfortunately, due to lack of entries, the Sunday event was cancelled, however, we would like to thank those individuals who emailed and came on Sunday showing interest and support of the meet. Future meets such as this one are being planned for spring and fall of 2005, and other activities will be happening in the meantime, so stay tuned! If you would like to receive email notification of upcoming events, email your contact information to info@aaphorsemanship.org.

This meet would not have taken place without the efforts of many, and we would be remiss if we did not give special thanks to the following individuals: Lorna and David Palmer of Spring Willow Farm for hosting the meet; Donna White of White Haven Farm for loan of two pens, exhibitor gifts, and on-going support; Carol Andrews of Uxbridge, MA for the orientation pen; Chip Wood for his amazing assistance in helping prepare the property for the event; Dave Brown without whom we would not be ring-ready; and Dave Palmer for too many things to list. The organizing team would also like to thank Beth Diccico and Erin MacPhee for their valuable input, Wendy Warner and many others for their words of encouragement, and the Friends of AAPH, for their anonymous donation!

 Many thanks to the following sponsors and contributors to the event:

class sponsors

Meet donations Helping to make this a terrific weekend for all!

Raffles Terrific goodies donated for a great cause – our horses!