4/ AUGUST 2017 THE RIDER HON. COL. A.W. FINN CD: Founder


BARRY FINN: barry@therider.com Publisher/ Editor/Advertising Manager


KELLY BOWERS: kelly@therider.com Advertising Sales


JOHN DAVIDSON: john@therider.com Advertising Sales


Established in 1970, Published By 1677846 Ontario Ltd.


P.O. Box 10072, Ancaster, ON L9K 1T2 1-877-743-3715 • (905) 387-1900 Email: barry@therider.com Web: www.therider.com


THE RIDER IS THE OFFICIAL VOICE OF:


• Eastern Ontario Quarter Horse Association • Ontario Cutting Horse Association


• Ontario Paint Horse Club • Ontario Quarter Horse Association • Ontario Reined Cow Horse Association • Ontario Reining Horse Association


By Aidan W. Finn On June 01, 2017 I purchased a ticket


from Westjet to bring my daughter from Van- couver to Hamilton to attend her mother’s fu- neral.


The ticket was a last minute booking at


$1,229.71. I made the decision to use my RBC Avion card and Air Miles to make the purchase. The flight from Vancouver was at 10:00


pm June 2nd with a stop in Edmonton for con- tinuation to Hamilton. The funeral was on June 3rd.


My daughter was on board the Edmonton


bound flight with the doors closed. At 10:10 she was sent a cellphone message that due to an “unexpected event” at Edmonton the flight to Hamilton was cancelled. Of course her phone was already in airplane mode by that time.


The so called “unexpected event” was that


ground crew had timed out and wouldn;t be available. You would think that Westjet would have known this, since it was their employees at the Edmonton International Airport. It was now impossible for her to attend the


funeral. Thanks to the “Owners Care” airline. I contacted Westjet and was very, very


upset that they had caused such hardship. All they would do is offer to give me a $500.00 credit to my account. They would NOT refund the full ticket price. I was very irate at this atti- tude and demanded that I speak to a supervisor. Not so fast. The so called supervisor I was complaining to abruptly hung up. How about


From Our Founder


Remembering July 1983


Our cover featured Murray


Manson on Sheza Dyna Doll round- ing a barrel in the open barrel race at Burlington. The event opened the season for the OBRA. Cody Snyder from Calgary


Westjet “ The Owner’s Care” Airline Not so fast, hold that thought. that?


I wrote a letter of complaint to Mr. Saret-


sky, a Westjet director, who turned it over to an- other employee. Continued attempts to talk to this employee went no where and Mr. Saretsky refused to acknowledge my letter. Fortunately, using my RBC points was a


good move. RBC forced Westjet to return my Air Miles. Later the employee offered to pro- vide a $150.00 credit for my daughter to use on another flight. They gave me a $500.00 credit that has yet to show up on my account. Yes, the “Owners Care” airline appears to


be just a FAKE advertising gimmick. My investigations with the Edmonton In-


ternational Airport revealed that the airport was open and no issues were reported at the time. Here is what I think really happened.


Westjet knowingly let my daughter and other Hamilton bound passengers board that aircraft rather than find alternate transportation to Toronto. I would suggest that the airline did not have enough passengers to make the flight from Edmonton to Hamilton. As it was not profitable for them, it is quite obvious that put- ting passengers up in a hotel was cheaper than providing alternate travel arrangements or tak- ing their regular scheduled empty flight to Hamilton. Be careful who you do business with....


this airline has gotten too big for it’s britches. I am having this complaint forward to


Transport Canada to have them put a stop to this ugly practice.


was running one and two in bull rid- ing. That was one in Canada and two in USA. He raked in over $14,000 in three rodeos.


June 24, 25, 26 was the


WHAO Extravaganza weekend at the Paris Fair grounds. The event also saw many affiliate clubs put- ting forward their candidates for the WHAO queen contest. The four show judges, George Southward, Pat Carter, Roy Ionson and Bob Bellfoy judged the riding portion of the event. Their poise and personal- ity was judged by Irene Allison, Bill


Do you love Fergus? You can buy The Essential Fergus the Horse:


The Life and Times of the World's Favorite Cartoon Equine on Amazon at http://amzn.to/2u4v0BZ


Follow us on:


GLENDA FORDHAM: fordhampr@rogers.com Entertainment Columnist


Proud Members of QR Code -


Scan with your smart phone


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Post Office: Please return to: THE RIDER™, P.O. Box 10072, Ancaster, ON L9K 1P2


• Ontario Trail Riding Association • Quarter Racing Owners Of Ontario, Inc. • Western Horse Association Of Ontario


On the Rise - August 2017 Adversity & Integrity: Mary Jones’ NAJYRC Tale


could” - Cartoon, an 11-year-old Hol- steiner gelding sired by Carinjo that stands just 15.3hh, Mary moved into the FEI ranks in 2017 and quickly saw suc- cess.


able roller coaster of ups and downs and unfortu- nately our down came at a most unfortunate time. We passed the jog and technically could have competed, but the vet at the show was not able to give us a cer-


Hatch and George Hewitt of the Open Roads TV show.


The winner was Christine


Brown, 1st Runner up was Kendra MacPherson and 2nd Runner up was Debra McCort.


The Burlington-Aldershot


Lions Club International Horse show held at the Bay View Park on June 17, 18, 19 was, as usual, a re- sounding success, according to Gary Ormerod, President of the Lion’s Club and his brother Wayne who was the show manager.


perience: “As everyone knows, this sport is an unavoid-


NAJYRC jumping competition, Mary had to make the tough decision to withdraw Cartoon. Here, Mary speaks to the situation and the ex-


the Junior Jumping Team for the 2017 Adequan/FEI North American Junior & Young Rider Champi- onships (NAJYRC) and travelled to Saugerties, NY as part of Team Canada. Unfortunately on the morning of the first day of


BC Open, held at Thunderbird Show Park in Langley, BC in early June, Mary rode in the anchor position for the Maple Leafs team in the CSIJ-A Junior Team Event, which saw Canada and the United States go head-to-head in an FEI nations’ cup team format over two rounds. Partnered with Cartoon, Mary put a clear on the board and helped the Maple Leafs claim the top of the podium. By July, Mary and Cartoon had been named to


During the CSIO 4* Odlum Brown


Photo Credit – Courtesy of R. Michael Jones


important, but nothing compared to how important Cartoon is to me. I continued to tell myself through- out the show that there will always be another cham- pionship, but there will never be another Cartoon. There are many talented horses out in the world, Car- toon probably not being in the top range of them, but that’s not what makes him so special. When I walk into the ring with Cartoon I stop somewhere and take a second to go over my course, then I whisper to him, ‘it’s just you and me now’ and then we go... With no other horse have I felt so strongly that it is really me and him; we are a partnership, an unbreakable bond. “It was still such an honour to be invited to com-


pete and a great experience to be able to be part of Team Canada.”


Levi’s announced that they were the first


major sponsor of the American Junior Quarter Horse Association Championships that were held in Tulsa, Oklahoma on July 31 to August 6.


Jim Dunn of Calgary returned to the Cana-


dian Rodeo circuit after a tour in Australia. Dunn planned a 120 rodeo season for 1983 in the bare back rider events.


Flamboro Downs featured a Chuck Wagon


Race at their track on July 9th. The Ontario Competitive Trail Riders As-


sociation were celebrating their 13th anniver- sary and were encouraging other trail riding groups to join with them.


My Turn I received some news the other day that


two of the originals in our industry are retiring. Don Bailey of Bailey Harness and western sad- dle maker is calling it quits. Don was The Rid- ers’ first confirmed advertiser back in 1970. Thank you Don for supporting us for the past 47 years and two months. We will miss you.


Another is George Hewitt, a horseman,


harness horse driver, show announcer and rodeo rider, who claims that every bone in his body has been broken at least once, is having an auction to sell all his farm equipment and his collection of memorabilia on September 23rd. George has accumulated a fantastic col- lection. He will be offering his own paintings


and carpentry. The ongoing saga of my battle with State


Farm Insurance, aka Certa. I promised I would continue to expose their ignorant attitude re- garding my no fault insurance claim. As you know they short changed me $25.00. My re- quest to have a letter on their stationary regard- ing No Fault disclaimer was ignored. Guess what? They finally sent a letter by Canada Post. It only took 5 months. The rub is that I owe them $52.00 on one of my policies I TOLD them that I would withhold payment of $52.00 until they settled the short change issue. Guess what? They put me into a collection agency. I welcome this and have asked the agency to take this issue to court. I need to ex- pose the Ontario Insurance industry’s attitude of hiding behind the no fault legislation and cheating us out of rightful compensation. After all is said and done the money that we pay in premiums is OUR money not theirs. Please be VERY Careful who you do busi-


ness with.. For the full story contact me at aidan.finn@bell.net or check out this website: https://insureye.com/Reviews/Auto-Insurance- Reviews/24-State-Farm


Thank you once again for looking down in this corner.


Aidan W. Finn CD Founder of The Rider 1970 President, Orange aPEEL www.orangeapeel.com


tain diagnostic, due to FEI regulations. Without this, pushing him to jump posed a risk. I and others work- ing with Cartoon agreed based off gut feeling it was- n’t worth pushing him. “With that being said, yes the competition was


not only a force to be reckoned with in the jumping ring, but a true horsewoman who puts the well-being of her beloved horse above all else. Paired with her “little horse that


Mary Jones, 15, of Vancouver, BC is


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