JUNE 2012 THE RIDER /27 Exhibitor Profile With April Souwand: Living the Dream… On a Budget By: Kathy Avolt
Reprinted in its entirety from The Equine Chronicle •
www.equinechronicle.com Photo Credit: James Youells of River- bend Designs
After 33 years of showing American Quarter Horses, April Souwand is living the dream. For the first time in her show- ing career, she finally has a trailer with living quarters.
During the previous years, she bunked with friends or drove back and forth to the fairgrounds. She didn’t want to take out a loan to buy a trailer with living quarters, so she has been saving and saving and saving. She is so grateful to 4-Star Trailers in Oklahoma and Showtime Conversions out of Indiana for creating the horse trailer of her dreams and budget, purchased through a local dealer, Granton Trailers.
tance. Leo is currently boarded at a Stan- dardbred facility that is also the home of her farrier. The facility is located not far from her house, which allows her to ride almost daily.
She even put the flying lead change on her horse “mostly by herself,” with the help of Nancy Cahill, who comes to Ontario once a year to work with a group of “lead change enthusiasts.” Not only does Souwand now have the horse trailer of her dreams, but Leo, who was pur- chased from a friend as a five-year old, is her “perfect” horse, with a temperament and ability that challenges her to be as good as she can be.
Souwand, of Branchton, Ontario, is also showing her first year in the select amateur division. She shows her gelding, Only A Party For Two, in almost every class she can possibly enter. She lives roughly an hour from Toronto and has owned “Leo” for three years now. Although she describes herself as primarily a “DIY amateur,” she credits her coach Pat Carter for providing won- derful guidance for over two decades and friend Mike Beaver for additional assis-
Souwand prides herself with show- ing on a strict budget. She is organized and prepared, which has been a godsend, as she has never had an emergency or breakdown while traveling to a horse show. She jokes that the only mishap she has had in all her years of showing was when the border crossing guard once confiscated her dog’s food, because it “might” have rice, lamb, or chicken in it. Souwand follows her budget strict- ly, which allows her to show in the Unit- ed States at least four to five times a year. She has attended the Virginia Quar- ter Horse Classic and the former East Coast Championship for the past 15 years. She loves the show in Virginia, because it gives her the opportunity to
ride with Tim Kimura. She takes every opportunity presented to ride with Kimu- ra. She has even organized a trail clinic in Ontario with Kimura every August for the past 12 years, the All-Breed Trail Challenge.
In an effort to help save money, Souwand is constantly on the look out for quality used tack and attire. She bought her Blue Ribbon saddle as a trade-in on the last day of the Congress many years ago. She won her Kathy’s Show Equipment headstall as an Ontario all-around award. She even wears the same pair of black showmanship pants she had made for a trip to the AQHA World Show in 1992.
She says having the goal of fitting into these pants and her other show clothes is a great inspiration to keep fit and trim. Good friend and fellow select competitor, Leslie Mastromatteo, helps her find show clothes and adds crystals and stones to her various jackets and tops.
Souwand loves horse shows that offer the all-in or flat fees, because she likes to show in the open division when- ever possible–especially those shows with great trail numbers.
but has some flexibility with her schedule. She holds a Master’s Degree in Urban and Regional Planning.
April is an Environmental Planner for the City of Cambridge, Ontario, and she has served in this position for 22 years. She is selective with her time off,
April has been with her partner, Robert, for 17 years. Although he is not a “horse person,” he makes sure the truck and trailer are always in pristine, road safe condition. The two of them, along with the dog Buster and horse Leo, will all be making the trip to Amarillo, TX. for their first appearance at the AQHA Select World. They are qualified in Aged Geld- ings, Performance Geldings, Showmanship, Equitation, Horsemanship, Trail, and Western Riding.
Souwand finished her AQHA Amateur Championship with Leo last fall and hopes to still be showing him for another 10 years and still fitting into those black showmanship pants!
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new futurity format beginning in 2012, we are encouraged by the interest of our Ontario Breeders. An impressive amount of mare nominations have been received to date and are still coming in. Reminder that the new format has opened up to all breeds, so if you have a registered quarter horse, paint, or appaloosa foal, be sure to contact us and get your babies eli- gible for the 2012 futurity.
Along with the full futurity and AQHA class list, we will be offering a number of slot classes, offering our exhibitors added opportunities to win $$’s.
2012 OQHBF All Breed Slot Classes:
• Open Yearling Longeline • Open Yearling Halter All sex • 2 year old Open Western Pleasure • 2 year old Open Hunter Under Saddle
• 3 year old Open Western Pleasure • 3 year old Open Hunter Under Saddle
• Non-Pro All Age Western Plea- sure
• Open Trail • Non-Pro Trail
• Open Reining – All age
Entry Fees will be $100 for Non- Pro and $200 for Open.
To purchase your slot(s), con- tact Sharon Hammer at (519) 656- 1093 or
sharonhammer@rogers.com For futurity information
www.oqha.on.ca/futurity/futurity.ht ml
Teen Ranch Quarter Horse Show *************
2 days … 3 sets of points … June 16th and 17th
The 2012 OQHA/Teen Ranch show is just around the corner. You don’t want to miss out on this show being held at the Teen Ranch Facility. Teen Ranch is one of the longest running AQHA shows in Ontario. Be sure to join us! Pattern Book and update show bill has now been posted on the OQHA website. Green As Grass Trail has been added to this show. This class is walk jog only and is open to any horse that has
• Non-Pro All age Unter Under Saddle
not competed in trail at a lope. Open to any level of exhibitor. We would like to thank Greenhawk for sponsoring the exhibitor appreciation draws for this show.
OQHA Trainers Challenge OQHA realizes how impor- tant our professionals are to our shows and association. Each year our amateurs and youth receive year end awards but our profes- sionals don’t get the recognition they deserve. To assist with pro- moting our professionals in the industry, OQHA is offering a train- ers challenge year end award for 2012. This is an opportunity to pro- mote our professionals and offer them a unique and fun filled chal- lenge, allowing them to compete for a special OQHA year end award against other professionals. We are pleased to announce there are 6 trainers to date that have signed up for this challenge. There is still lots of time to sign up to get your points to count towards the year end awards, so if you haven’t signed up yet and are interested, be sure to sign up at the next OQHA show or contact Shawna Crawford at
crawfordqh@gmail.com or 613- 913-7262.
We would like to thank and wish the trainers best of luck for the 2012 show season. • Andrew Dewar • Jessica Lange • Jon Newnham • Jodi Malette • Rick Fleetwood
• Robyn Storey Fleetwood
What’s exciting about this challenge is that our trainers have opportunities to earn extra bonus points by offering and completing certain tasks. These tasks could very well assist you!
Trainers are encouraged to assist novice exhibitors at any OQHA show. If you need assis- tance, be sure to contact show man- agement and they will get one of our trainers to assist you.
Our trainers are also assisting in providing a number of “how to” videos. Please be sure to keep an eye on the OQHA website for these helpful videos.
www.oqha.on.ca/about/trainer.html
For more information on our trainers that are competing in this challenge, check out
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