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HORSE SHOW

NEWS!

2009 Series Dates:

We are working hard this week to nail down some of the dates for 2009 Summer Series horse shows. We're pleased that some new stables are interested in being part of the series this year, but we're waiting first to hear from all the stables that took part last year. There will be news on dates coming soon!

January 26, More Show News:

Welcome "Skibbereen Farms"!

We are working hard at making the arrangements for the 2009 Summer Series horse shows. We are proud to announce that "Skibbereen Farms" in Orchard Park has joined this year's series and will be hosting the final show in the Series on Sunday, August 9th, the week before the Awards Party and Derby Day. We look forward to working with Chrissy and her crew - they know what they're doing!

We also expect to soon confirm a date for Northfield Farms and Linda Rosenthal. They ran a great show last season!

January 25th:

Quakerfield Stables Summer Series show is now confirmed for 6 months from TODAY, Saturday, July 25th. Noreen and her crew have been great partners in the Summer Series and we look forward to showing at their farm again this season! More news on Series show dates will be coming during the next week or two. We will be advertising the Series heavily this year to help make it the very most fun and most successful ever.

January 24th Update:

Hasty Hills Farm will once again be part of the South Towns Summer Series

We're very pleased to announce that Hasty Hills Farm is confirmed as one of the 2009 South Towns Summer Series shows. Their show will be on the weekend of July 11th, with the main show Saturday, and possibly the jumper show on Friday night, the 10th. We'll post details as soon as they are confirmed.

It is very fitting that Hasty Hills once again joins Longacres as part of a summer horse show series in Western New York. Longacres and Hasty Hills were both in a show series together even before there was a South Towns Summer Series. Both farms were part of the old "Buffalo Summer Series" back when the Buffalo Saddle & Bridle Club and Bechtel Stables were the other members.

Longacres also is ready to confirm that the Awards Party will definitely be held on Saturday evening, August 15th, rain or shine. People seemed to like the way we ran the Awards Party last summer as a "Barn Party", with video, bands, and other displays all in and around our barn. We'll do that and more again this year.

Saturday afternoon and evening, August 15th, will be a full fledged "Horse Fair" at Longacres with every horse business and stable in Western New York invited to set up a display in the barn.

The 39th Annual Longacres Jumper Derby will also be held on Saturday, August 15th, with every effort made this year to run the event on that date unless much better weather is available the day before. You all know the problems we had with weather last summer!

Erie County Fair News:

As long rumored, there will be some major changes to the "America's Fair" Hunter - Jumper horse show in August. I have spoken both with the fair office and with horse show manager, Jason Gates, today and I can confirm the following:

The 2009 Hunter Jumper show at the fair will be an "Open" show and will not be a USEF member show.

The show will have as much as possible the same "look & feel" as always. Brian Flynn will return as one of the judges and as course designer. We will have the same jumps as in the past. Show manager Jason Gates says, "We'll do everything we can to offer an "A" show experience without the "A" show costs."

The show will run on the same Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday schedule as always (August 18, 19, 20th). The USEF exclusive classes such as Small Junior Hunter, Large Junior, Amatuer Owner, Medal, etc will not be offered since there would be no way to count them for USEF points or qualifying. But there will be similar Open classes for all level riders. All other classes from previous America's Fair Hunter Jumper shows will be offered. Many new classes will be added, including Long Stirrup and other lower level classes for juniors and adults. Pony Hunter will be offered, but not separate Small, Medium, and Large pony divisions.

The Jumper divisions have been one of the strengths of this show over the years, and they will all return nearly unchanged. There will be at least two exciting additions to the Jumper division!

Both will be in the popular 2'6" to 2'9" specification. One will be a "Gambler's Choice" event, which offers exciting choices for the riders and a good spectator event.

The second new Jumper event is a "Team Jumping" event. It is being done so nearly the same as the event we host at the Longacres Derby every year, that many will think it was my idea or copied from our Longacres event. But, actually, Jason Gates had already written up this idea and the details before talking with me! Talk about coincidence!

The Team Jumping will be a $500 event and will use the best three scores out of a four person team. Just as at the Longacres Derby, a team may include three or four riders with the best three scores to count.

NOTE: The Longacres Jumper Derby will be held on Saturday, August 15th, just four days prior to the America's Fair show. Longacres will host a nearly identical Team Jumping event at 2'6" to 2'9" with a $1000 payout. With TWO team jumping events in the same week, it might bring out more jumping teams. Our event bombed out last summer with the rain, but in 2007 we had eight teams! Longacres will do whatever we can to help promote the jumping events at the Fair.

How Will all this change your experience at Erie County Fair?

For many of us, going to the Hunter - Jumper show at the 2009 America's Fair will seem just the same as always. Nearly all the classes we enjoyed in the past will be offered, and quite a few new classes that will appeal to local riders. And the really GOOD NEWS is that it will cost us less. Stall fees will be nearly the same, and you will still be required to pay the Agricultural Society membership fee of $18 per owner. Entry Fees will be much the same as in the past. But that's it. No USEF non-member fees, no drug testing fees, no fees to stewards for measuring horses. For the great majority of us who have always loved this horse show, the change is a huge improvement with big $aving$.

The BAD NEWS: We have always had a few stables at this show that do show the regular USEF and PHA circuits. Since there will be no points opportunities at this "Open" show, some of those trainers will not come. I believe we will gain more horses than we will lose, but we will not see a few familiar faces. Also, a few trainers have expressed concern that the quality of the show experience will go down the drain if it is an "Open", unrecognized show. I have assurances from Jason and the show management that everything possible will be done to offer the same professional show experience we've always enjoyed at "America's Fair" in Hamburg. I have participated in this County Fair horse show for 41 straight years without missing a year. Nobody else in Western New York has been there as long. You can bet that I will be there doing what I can to help keep this a successful show with first class showing conditions.

I hope that most of you in the Western New York horse world will join me in welcoming this change as an opportunity to build something that is even better for most of us who show Hunters & Jumpers in our area. With a nod of regret to the few who may choose to go somewhere else that week in August, Longacres looks forward to an exciting new beginning on August 18th to 20th, 2009!!

Bulletin: "Dress" for the fun show is informal - as informal as possible! Wacky and outrageous is good! Use your imagination. Tropical shirts, baling twine accessories, you name it!

Grounds fee = $10; Game classes = $10; regular show classes = $15; Derby = $20

Ribbons in all classes; Medals in many classes

We might add or change a class, but here's our tentative class list for the Friday show:

1) Partner lead line barrel racing!

2) Walk - trot equitation

3) Swat the can race

4) adult equitation on the flat

5) cross rails jumping

6) barrel racing

7) pole bending

8) Junior with an adult pair tandem hunter

9) Outside course eq. o.f. (open)

10) short course jumper class

11) pleasure horse

12) pairs class pleasure horse (walk - trot)

13) pairs class pleasure horse (W-T-C)

14) On & Off the horse obstacle run!

15) Side by side Trot Serpentine Sprint Eliminations!

16) Surprise!

17) Jumper Derby Redo - three heights, one class!

August 17, 11AM:

We'll have a couple of real over fences classes for both hunter and jumper, some game classes, several adult only classes for the mom's, pairs class and tandem hunter class!

THEN we'll have a redo of the Derby at multiple heights from beginner on up, all judged as one class, so if you missed the Derby or want to try the course again, come on out. The Derby will start not before 1PM. We have left over Medals from the team jumping last week and we'll give them away along with ribbons in the Derby event.

Full Derby results from August 8th will be published here soon. Congratulations to Shelly Kearny and "Devil Horns" for winning the 2008 High Derby.

8 AM Friday:

The weather has not been kind to the Derby this year but we are making the best of it. See details below. Come join us during the day today between 10:30 AM and 5:00 PM to see the jumping as we fit the classes in between rain storms.

The Awards Party in the barn with two bands will be from 6 to 9 this evening with Awards at about 7:30. Don't miss it!!!!

8 PM Wednesday: 

Derby Day - "The Both Days Solution" - scroll down for details!

11 PM Thursday Update:

Come on out and join us tomorrow (Friday) to have fun dodging rain showers again and compete for $2000 in guaranteed prize money!

Many of you have other commitments either Thursday or Friday. We are going to run the Derby classes both days, much as we did a few weeks ago for our August 25th - 26th shows.

We will run all five Derby Classes each day and keep the score cards open until the classes have been run Friday. You may ride either day or both days. Your best score will count for your ribbons or prize money in each class. Look at it as a two round competition with your best round to count. Call me if you have any questions on how this will work. (652-9495)

This way everyone who wants to come and ride the very nicely done Derby course can do so, either day - or both days (One entry fee covers both days if you come both - you do not have to come both.)

We will begin at 11AM on Thursday and again at 11AM Friday. We'll run through the classes in order, and we will take breaks if it rains. We will try to wait to hold the two highest classes until 4PM on Friday, but will not wait if rain is coming on the radar.

No party on Thursday night. All Awards and the Party from 6 to 9 PM Friday!

There will be only one change in class specifications. The "Team Jumping Event" at 2'9" will be a separate class and the team medals (if we have any teams besides Longacres!) will be awarded for that class, including a jump-off. Not a speed class as previously announced.

The $1000 2'9" class will be for the Individual medals and money. We WILL PAY the money regardless of number of entries.

Because of the likely poorer footing Friday, the High Derby will be limited to 3'6" and will not go higher in the Jump-off. We WILL PAY the $1000 in the high Derby regardless of number of entries.

Will this be fair? Will the conditions be the same both days? No - conditions always change during a class, sometimes dramatically if a sudden rain storm hits. If you come, you agree to take your chances on what the weather will be, especially if you plan to ride Friday. We will set the course as nearly the same as possible each day.

Wednesday, August 6, 8AM:

We know that many of you out there are frustrated by the back and forth changes on which day is "more likely" for the final Derby Day show and Awards Party. Some would prefer to stick to planned dates and then just do the shows or cancel them completely. We understand.

The only ones more frustrated by this summer of unsettled weather and changed horse show dates than you readers (exhibitors and parents), would be those of us trying to put on the shows for you. It has been the summer from hell for managing horse shows! More than once, Meghan and I have thrown up our hands and been tempted to just cancel the next show completely and wait for show days later in the summer.

But we haven't. We have a big group of riders who come from all over the country to show with us every week. And many other followers of the Longacres Summer Series enjoy showing as much as possible. So we watch the weather and we improvise. And we try to change our schedule ahead of time so you won't often go to a show associated with us and get rained out and have made the drive for nothing.

We are proud that we were able to plan a series of nine shows this summer and we ran nine shows, not counting Derby Day. On three of those nine show days, we changed the date (and once the location for the June Quakerfield make-up show). But we had good weather on the changed days, and we ran a horse show.

Now we're down to the very last event of the 2008 Summer Series and Mother Nature is frowning on us again. We will make a decision tonight on the "least bad" of several poor options. We will have a 2008 Derby and we will give out many great, well earned Championship Awards. And we will breath a sigh of relief when this summer is all over!

Saturday, August 2, 8PM:

THANKS to Quakerfield Stables for hosting a really terrific final show in the 2008 Summer Series! Noreen and all her staff were wonderful to work with. The weather started out early this morning with strong thunderstorms but the show grounds were only a bit wet. The rain then stopped about 7 AM and the ground began to dry. By the time the show began at 11 it was still slippery but the sun was out and it was improving by the minute. By the end of the first few classes, the footing was very good and it was excellent by the end of the day. Thunderstorms passed very close to us several times and the sky got dark. But it only sprinkled a bit a few times. A great day for a show!

We will post points tomorrow night or Monday night. We're headed out for Pasquale's dinner and Kone King - then home to SLEEEEEP!!!!!!!!

The show today was very competitive and many of the season championship high score awards went right down to the final class of this show in each division. Unofficially, it looks like Andrea Bennett locked up the Horse of the Year cooler today in Pony Hunter. Jumper Horse of the Year is much too tight to call until we tabulate every point in every class. We'll know by Monday night - maybe tomorrow night. Since we give out trophies four places back in 13 different divisions, MANY riders will get awards next weekend.

July 31, 1PM:

July 30, 12:30 PM:

All shows during the season count for the High Score Awards in each division. Only your best eight shows out of nine count for the "Horse of the Year" awards. If you have missed one or more shows, this does not matter to you. If you have attended every single show, we will drop the points from your worst show for Horse of the Year Awards. We THINK that every horse that is up for Horse of the Year has missed at least one show.

July 26, 1PM:

COOL!!!! We got both days of showing in with only a few drops of rain and mostly sunshine this morning!

(Actually it is now 6PM and it rained only a few drops all day - we could have run the whole show today, but it worked out fine for everyone to split it over two days.)

Thanks to Quakerfield, Hunters Ridge, and all the rest who came out Saturday for a great little show. We just finished at a little before 1PM.

We'll see you all at Quakerfield next Saturday (NO rain, please!)

- Tom & Meghan

POINTS for Hasty Hills are up now (Wednesday 7 AM) - Longacres points will be up in a few hours - Tom 

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Judging Committee?

For our 2009 season, we're planning to form a judging selection committee including one person from each stable that plans to take part in the Longacres series. You will have a chance to be part of the selection process. You will also find out first hand that it is hard to please everyone all the time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- Tom

THANKS to our Series Sponsors!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Entry and Grounds fees to Rise at some Series shows this summer:

We hate to raise any rates and add to the expense of showing which is already so high this year with increased fuel and other costs. But our costs of preparing for and running shows are way up this year. Longacres and most other stables in the Series will be charging $15 entry fees for most classes, $20 for Jumper & Medal Classes, and $20 grounds fee, up $3 and $5 respectively from last summer. This is in line with Northfield Farms and most of the North West Summer Series shows fees this year.

To give you an idea of how this affects the balance sheet, Longacres will make about $200 to $250 extra on the new grounds fees and an average of about $600 from the increase in entry fees. Or for our four shows, about $2500 more than last year.

At Longacres, we have already spent $2000 on driveway improvements, $3000 on new jumps, $1500 on painting and repairing jumps, and many hundreds on mowing and maintenance to the show fields. Do the math - even with the increases in entry and grounds fees, we're $4000 in the hole before the show season even starts. So, we apologize for the price increases, but we hope you understand the need. We pledge to try to give you good value for your money!! The other stables in the series have put in similar investments in their show facilities.

April 23 Update:

More Jump News:

We've written earlier this spring about all the new "Jumper Course" jumps, including the Butterfly Jump, Kone King jump, and the Sunburst jump. We're making good progress with those. Longacres has always had well painted and colorful Jumper courses, but we had to admit that Liegh over at High Time/Sugarbrook Farms probably had the most impressive jumper courses in Western New York. With our new 2008 jumps we'll give them a good challenge for most dramatic jumper courses in western New York.

May 22nd Update:

2008 Summer Series Sponsors!

May 22nd: LOTS more Sponsors!!

Longacres and the Summer Series send out a huge "Thank You" to all the new Series sponsors coming on board for the 2008 season! Thanks to "Magellan Advisory Services" and the Hiczewski family for sponsoring Schooling Jumpers. Thanks to Liz Burruano and Miranda for sponsoring the Walk-Trot Division. Thanks to Sam and Grace Burruano for sponsoring the Hack Division; Thanks to Marina and Joseph Miguel Roncon for sponsoring the Cross Rails jumping Division. Last, but certainly not least, Olivia Miranda and Yvette Miranda will be sponsoring a division of the Summer Series' choice, which is a great help to us! All of the above are riding and showing out of Bridgeman Stables with Farley Bridgeman, along with the Bennett's, Puffers, and others.

The Summer Series also thanks Noreen Laks and Quakerfield Stables for her generous donation of three Season Championship trophies. Thanks Noreen!!!!!

We now have only six divisions left that need sponsors. We also could use some "Awards Party" sponsors at the $100 level to cover the costs of all the festivities on August 9th!

April 19th:

We welcome the Bennett and Puffer families again as Summer Series sponsors for 2008! They will jointly sponsor the awards for the Puddle Jumper division. Debbie Puffer's "Pet Stop Pet Fence" business will sponsor "Low and Slow" Hunter. Thanks to both families for joining Missy Bessette as 2008 sponsors. We're already up to 25% of the sponsors needed!

We welcome Missy Bessette of Orchard Park, NY as the first official Summer Series Awards sponsor for the 2008 season. Missy was a sponsor last summer and will again sponsor the "Low Child Adult" hunter division. Without generous sponsors like Missy and her family, the Longacres Summer Series would not be what it has become. Thank you Missy.

If you and your family or your family's business would like to sponsor a Division for the high point awards, call Meghan or Tom at Longacres. The cost to sponsor a division is $150. We print the names of our sponsors in each week's show news and announce them at all the shows and at the Awards Banquet on August 9th. If you pledge your sponsorship early, we have a full season to express our thanks.

It is fitting that we get our first sponsor pledge on a day when we are actively planning the MANY new jumps for the Longacres series of shows. We visited Quakerfield Stables this morning and took pictures of the way some of their jumps are built to help our carpenters as we work on our own new jumps. Diane and Noreen from Quakerfield send a big "Hello" to everyone in the Summer Series, and we all look forward to getting together for the first show at Pony Club June1st!

Above: Debbie and Casey Puffer. Casey had a GREAT day at Quakerfield last summer, showing that guys can get it done at horse shows, too!

2007 Summer Series Division Sponsors - THANKS!

Awards Party Patrons:

Thank you! ALL divisions had Awards Sponsors in 2007! Awesome!

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Below: Ad for Longacres

2008 Jumper Derby: Some New Things!

NYS Team Jumping Championships

High Derby

Below: Leslie Ann McCullough & "Fini" - Horse of the Year for 2006!

Below: "Dakota Gold" and Andrea Bennett & family - Reserve Horse of the Year for 2006!

Scroll down for Jumper Derby details!

2006 Horse Of the Year Final Standings:

Below 2005 Season - Champions all:

Horse Show Dates for 2009:

Longacres South Towns Summer Series 2009 Show Dates:

Season Championship Party and Awards at the August 15^th Longacres "Derby Day".

Longacres will keep track of points from Horse Shows on the following dates:

(MORE will be added in the coming months!)

Season Championship Party & Awards at Longacres - Saturday, Aug. 15^th,

Other 2009 Show Dates of interest:

Erie County Fair - Tuesday - Thursday, August 18 to 20th

Longacres Horse Show Prize List:

Show Grounds - 1745 Mill Rd. East Aurora, N.Y. 14052

 NOTE: Some small changes are expected for 2009

South Towns Summer Series Website!

Longacres Winter Horse Loan Program

2004 Horse of the Year was California Girl, Alana Cieri - Reserve - Game Plan, Alana Cieri

Reserve Finalist - Quantum Leap & Tovah Abrams - 124 points (schooling jumper)

Reserve Finalist - Charlotte's Web & Faith Robinson - 130 points ( X-rails horsemanship)

A 2004 Story of the Week; send YOURS for this season: