Horse lovers will get a chance to see a new show this year in our region.
A draft horse exhibition will take the place of an event that's usually at the CNE and with less than two weeks to go it’s crunch time.
Employees at the Essa Agriplex in Thornton are busy building 300 stables for its biggest horse show yet; the Essa Canadian National Draft Horse Exhibition.
“This is the replacement a group of us have created because the CNE was cancelled as of last summer,” says committee member, John Northcote.
The show is going to be brand new to the area. Northcote and another nine horse owners got together to organize it after they heard the CNE draft horse show was dropped A move that left a lot of horse exhibitors shocked and disappointed. But now, the focus is on the new location.
“This is actually a better facility,” continues Northcote, “it's in the country. We'll get better participation. The number of people that didn't want to drive into Toronto. Taking a horse into Toronto is a challenge, parking. We used to run up against Carabana.”
And the shift to north of the city appears to be working. Hundreds of horse owners from across Canada and even the United States have signed up to compete here next weekend.
“We've got room here for 500 horses, 10 rings that can be competed in. We've got excellent footing in the rings, everything from a sand base to synthetic footing,” says Brad Watts of the Essa and District Agricultural Society.
A lot of work still needs to be done to get ready for the big show. Rings have to be groomed. More stables have to be built. And the excitement is building too.
“There's a lot of people out there that like the heavy horses,” says volunteer Ron Quehn, “and they're very excited to hear something like this is coming.”
The Agriplex can accommodate thousands of people, but they aren't selling tickets. Instead, they're asking spectators to make a donation at the front door and that money will help build a local baseball diamond.
