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History of the Horse Show
by Mike DiBart, Rotarian since 1961
In the early 1970s, Rotary’s motto of “Service Above Self” was
very evident in our Peekskill club. We had many small projects and fundraisers
that took a lot of time and effort. The idea of a horse show was discussed
at length as a project worth taking to replace all the small ones. All
our time and effort would be put for one cause. Little did the membership
know at the time of the many problems, pitfalls and shortcomings they
would encounter, such as:
- Location for show
- Size of arena
- Size of fencing surrounding the arena
- Getting qualified judges
- Getting vet supervision
- Learning the difference between English and Western competition
- Prizes for different events
- Preparing the field for the show
- Safety
- Board of Health regulations
- Crowd control
- Advertising
- Getting permits from all concerned
- Purchasing logs and fencing and storing same
- Setting up jumps and hurdles, according to horse show rules
Everything was new to Rotary and through trial and error, patience and
grit, things started to fall into place. Mother Nature was very cruel
and for the first few years it rained constantly and all concerned wallowed
in mud. How Rotary overcame these many problems and didn’t throw
in the towel is beyond me. The Horse Show has come a long way and with
its many additions and attractions, fantastic journal plus competent
leadership, it will surely generate many funds for our worthy charities.
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