Show Update 11/6This years show was a wonderful event. We began the weekend with a seminar Friday night given by our judge Jay Constanti. Jay gave us insight into his breeding program at Om El Arab along with some of his judging philosophies and gave us information on the newly formed show that will be taking place in Las Vegas in April of 2007. Everyone welcomed the chance to speak with our judge before the show and Jay was kind enough to answer every question. We would all like to thank Jay again for the time spent in helping to educate and inform us. Afterward we served cake and coffee and we all had a nice time visiting with friends and also making new friends. The classes Saturday were filled with beautiful Arabians and Half Arabians and once again it proves what I have been saying for years that Michigan produces some of the best Arabians in the country. Once the afternoon classes were finished we served hors d'oeuvres and once again took some time to relax and visit and talk about all the wonderful horses that had been presented so far and anticipate the evenings upcoming events. That evening the classes were full of excitement as we watched the weanling champions be named and finally what we were all waiting for, the naming of our Supreme Champion which turned out to be a beautiful Psytanium yearling filly. After Saturday classes the long awaited stallion auction took place. Our auctioneer Doyle once again did a great job and brought much excitement to this our second live auction. This years auction was a huge success, we raised the largest amount of funds in Michigan Arabian Futurity history. Those that did participate in the auction will compete in 2009 in the yearling jackpot classes for an estimated $15,000 in prize money! I personally cannot wait. I would once again like to thank all of the kind stallion owners that have realized how important it is to support such programs as futurities and were kind enough to donate breedings. We had some of the most influential stallions offered in the auction and we look forward to seeing their get compete in our upcoming Futurities. I am pleased to announce our numbers are up, with breedings down all over the country it is always good news to see that people are becoming more proactive in preserving and showing our beautiful Arabians. I would also like to take this chance to remind exhibitors how important it is for the Futurity to raise sponsorships. While class entries pay for the class paybacks the championship money comes solely from sponsorships. Our championship prize money is based every year on what we can raise in the amount of sponsorships thus those payouts can and will fluctuate. Everyone can become involved in raising these funds. The Futurity board is working on even more positive changes for next years show. I would like to remind everyone to periodically check our website for updates. Also we have open meetings and the dates are always posted on the website. Please feel free to join us since we encourage your participation. Also if you have any questions or comments please feel free to contact any of the board members. We only have 10 more months to go before the next Futurity show. You can bet we will be hard at work to keep enhancing our show. We hope you will take the time to become more involved as we continue to make this futurity, your futurity, the best in the country. Best Regards, |
