2014 Royal Agricultural Winter Fair Horse Show Underway in Toronto
By Kim & Allen MacMillan/MacMillan Photography – All Photos by Shelley Higgins/MacMillan Photography
The 2014 Royal Agricultural Winter Fair kicked off on Friday, November 7 with a flurry of activity that makes the Royal one of the iconic indoor horse shows of the year. This final stop of the year on the North American Nations Cup show jumping indoor tour, the 2014 Royal Winter Fair Horse Show CSI4*-W features top-tier international jumper riders hailing from Canada, the U.S.A., Colombia, Ireland and Belgium.
These riders are all vying for over $800,000 in total prize money and the top ribbon in the $100,000 Hickstead FEI World CupTM Grand Prix presented by Hudson’s Bay (Wednesday, November 12th), the $50,000 Weston Canadian Open (Friday, November 14th) and Saturday evening’s sold-out $75,000 GroupBy Big Ben Challenge.
The Royal, which received the “Royal” designation by King George V of England, began as a Canadian agriculture showcase in 1922 and has been operating continuously since then except for during World War II. The Royal takes place at the Canadian National Exhibition Place in downtown Toronto. Today the Royal attracts over 300,000 visitors annually. This year’s fair runs November 7 – 16.
Over 800 horses will compete at the Royal Winter Fair including show jumpers, hunters, dressage horses, draft horse hitches, antique carriage teams, indoor eventing competitors, Shetland Pony Grand National steeplechasers, and sport horse breeding class participants. In addition there are many other horses in the Royal Rodeo and in other entertainment programs and demonstrations throughout the 10-day run of the show.
Beyond the horse show, there are cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, rabbits and poultry, as well as crops and garden produce, butter sculptures and 4-H rabbit jumping contestants entered in the Royal Fair. And the “Super Dogs” are back competing in agility. Add to that an amazing array of food choices and shopping booths (offering a wide variety of equestrian, agricultural and mainstream products). There is never a dull moment at the Royal! For more information about Royal Agricultural Winter Fair go to www.royalfair.org .
All photos courtesy of MacMillan Photography. Photos are copyrighted. For information or to purchase photos contact us at photo@LoonCreekEnterprises.com
New to the Royal this year was the Grand National Shetland Pony racing. We submitted this picture to Wikipedia to help them illustrate their definition of “CUTE!” Photo by Shelley Higgins/MacMillan Photography
The Grand National Shetland Pony racing jockeys practicing their “cool” Photo by Shelley Higgins/MacMillan Photography
Winning the opening round of the Greenhawk Canadian Show Jumping Championships on the first night of the Royal Horse Show was the 13-year- old Dutch Warmblood gelding Star Power, owned by Team Works and ridden by Ian Millar of Perth, Ontario. Photo by Shelley Higgins/MacMillan Photography
Flying over the Maple Leaf jump is the nine-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding Appy Cara, owned by Angelstone Partners and ridden by Erynn Ballard of Tottenham, Ontario. Just a year and a half after a horrible fall left Ballard with many broken bones, potential nerve damage and a doctor warning her to give up riding, Ballard amazed even herself at her return to riding and her success in returning to the jumper ring. They took second in the opening round of the Greenhawk Canadian Show Jumping Championships on the first night of the Royal Horse Show. Photo by Shelley Higgins/MacMillan Photography
Winning the opening round of the $8,000 Canadian National Talent Squad presented by the Uplands Charitable Foundation on November 7, was the 7-year old gelding Corrido, owned by Jessie Bonisteel with rider Neil Badcock of Schomberg , Ontario, in the irons. Photo by Shelley Higgins/MacMillan Photography
Cheptel Gaston and his owner/rider by Vanessa Fenwick, Pefferlaw, Ontario, were competitors in the opening round of the $8,000 Canadian National Talent Squad. Photo by Shelley Higgins/MacMillan Photography
Taking fourth in round one of the Canadian National Talent Squad jumping competition was (and it looks like practicing for the Puissance) the mare Just Stella L owned by Gabrielle Pelchat and ridden by Melissandre Lincourt of Montreal, Quebec. Photo by Shelley Higgins/MacMillan Photography
Pinning the Large Pony Hunter Under Saddle Class during the 2014 Royal Horse Show on the first Friday Photo by Shelley Higgins/MacMillan Photography
An eventing clinic was held on the first weekend of the Royal Winter Fair in the President’s Choice Animal Theatre arena. The Animal Theatre is also the location of Super Dogs, 4-H bunny jumping, “Goats Galore” and many other entertaining events. Photo by Shelley Higgins/MacMillan Photography
A ring jammed full of massive draft horses and amazing wagons in the All-Breeds Four- Horse Registered Mares draft horse hitch class. The class started with two groups being judged separately; then the ringmaster brought in all 11 teams back in at one time to line up. The awesome sight of 44 horses and 11 wagons in the ring was impressive. The winner was Blue Ribbon Days Farm with driver Cody Woodbury, owned by the Albert Cleve and Jim Day Families. The team is from Winchester, Indiana, U.S.A. Photo by Shelley Higgins/MacMillan Photography
Trick riding, a preview of some of the action for the upcoming Sunday rodeo at the Royal Photo by Shelley Higgins/MacMillan Photography
Dutch Times, owned by Christina Aharoni and ridden by Tik Maynard of Vancouver, British Columbia. They were winners of the always exciting first round of the Horseware Ireland Indoor Eventing Challenge. Photographer Shelley Higgins says that Tik was interesting in that “he just about never touched the horse’s mouth; there were loops in the reins most of the time!” Photo by Shelley Higgins/MacMillan Photography
Second place in the round one of the Horseware Ireland Indoor Eventing was Free Spirit, owned by Peter Barry and ridden by Colleen Loach. The course was designed by the Canadian International Eventing Coach Clayton Fredericks from Australia. Photo by Shelley Higgins/MacMillan Photography
Photographer Shelley Higgins couldn’t resist including a photo of the diminutive Forrest Nymph, ridden by U.S. eventer Sinead Halpin, Oldwick, New Jersey, and owned by Beth Davidson, in the Horseware Ireland Indoor Eventing Challenge. “Forrest Nymph was only 14.3 hands, but what a trier,” says Shelley. Photo by Shelley Higgins/MacMillan Photography
