MAY 2024 THE RIDER /35


The Annual General Meeting and Convention of the Canadian Morgan Horse Association


By Nancy Kavanagh A year ago, during the


AGM/convention held in Al- berta, ON Zone Director Brenda Casteels and I shared a hotel room and spent some our time talking about the next convention which was to be held in Ontario. We discussed locations, guest speakers, topics, and other activ- ities. But a year seemed so far off, but trust me, it came on quickly to where we are today; reminiscing and discussing the highlights of this year’s conven- tion!


We formed a small group of


committee members and selected our date, March 1 & 2nd of 2024 and the hotel in the lovely town of Cobourg, ON was chosen. We have used the hotel before and knew it would be a suitable place to host. The only drawback was the distance from the Toronto Pearson Airport, we would need to arrange transportation for those flying in. Sherri Wilson got to work figuring out prices/fees and managed the printing of our materials. Once we had a timetable and a fee structure in place, we could start getting the word out about this fabulous event. Friday March 1st was the


Board meeting of the CMHA, partially held in person and par- tially in a Zoom call. I want to thank all the board members who joined in and allowed us first to meet quorum and to have a good discussion. Friday evening was hospitality in the Kavanagh room. Much appreciation to Tina and Craig Collins and Brenda Casteels for helping me stock up the beverage and goodie table with plenty of delights to munch on and drink. Tina can put to- gether a nice charcuterie board! Saturday morning was our


panel discussion with some of our CMHA members, Sandra Sanche, Tina Collins, Lisa Ka- vanagh-Ross, David Kavanagh, and Genevieve Kendell-Hayes. The topic was “People who make a living from the horse industry.” We opened the seminar with an introduction. Sandra hails from Alberta


and is a barn owner, coach, trainer, and judge. Tina was our former Office Administrator and is a current EC & AHA Steward. Lisa is a registered Equine Mas- sage Therapist and teaches EMT. David is a professional truck driver who transports horses across the country and US. And Genevieve is a professional sad- dle fitter. We had an incredible and diverse dialogue with the panel, and it was fun, lively, and educational. We had scheduled 1 ¼ hours and we could have kept talking about another hour. The AGM was next on the


agenda, we had a full room of members and guests, and some joined us by Zoom. Again, thank you to everyone who joined us, we met quorum, and we voted on the 2023 financials and the pro- posed bylaw changes. And I am pleased to say that all motions were carried. Just a little tidbit here; when we have our AGM, a copy of the minutes and the fi- nancial statements are sent to AG Canada. As well, when we vote on bylaw changes, those are sub-


HUGE undertaking and we can’t thank Brenda and her team enough for what they have done. Brenda’s organization is the stan- dard for horse rescue! She is also a registered charity and is brought in numerous times by the Ontario Police to assist in res- cues, not just horses although that is her main priority. I encourage you to visit her website: https://whhrescue.com/ The room was filled with


youth and adults alike including some of the new adopters of these beautiful horses. We were delighted to meet them and intro- duce them to the CMHA and the OMHC. The youth were able to


Nancy presenting Hall of Fame to Wendy Inch


spend time with our Youth Chair- person Sandra Sanche. She talked about Show Ring Presen- tation and coaching the World Cup Saddle Seat Team that is heading to South Africa this De- cember and includes two CMHA members, Good Luck Team Canada! She also bestowed the Youth Scholarship Award to Emersyn Hayes and Youth Sportsmanship to Everett Hayes. Congratulations to this amazing brother and sister team and proud parents Dennis and Gen Hayes. The last topic for the after-


Cheryl and Nancy presenting a Jeanne Mellin Herrick print to Brenda Thompson on behalf of the CMHA. Photo by Cheryl’s daughter Julia


noon was the awards presentation for the Ontario Morgan Horse Club, we set aside 30 minutes to give out our beautiful ribbons, trophies, and banners to those who entered and earned top points. Many thanks to Genevieve Kendell-Hayes for putting it all together. The pool was a favourite


destination for many especially the youth and the hospitality suite opened for a quick drink before dinner and the CMHA awards banquet. Dinner was delicious and the hotel staff did a wonder- ful job taking care of us. A whole bunch of tables were set up with the Silent Auction items and it was successful fund raiser, thanks to Steve and Lisa Ross for running it. And thank you to everyone who donated and pur- chased items. Brenda Casteels ran the


Kim Blease and Melissa Blease with Nancy K accepting their Hall of Fame award.


mitted to AG Canada to be passed and then the proposals can be updated into our constitution. I do want to thank our Cof-


fee Break Sponsors that gave us the opportunity to provide coffee, tea and pastries during the meet- ings and seminars. Your support means the world to us!


Canadian Morgan Horse Associ- ation


CMHA—AB & NWT Zone Alberta Morgan Horse Club CMHA


—British


Columbia/NWT Zone BC Interior Morgan Horse Club Ecclestone Horse Transport Sanche Performance Horses Catchpenny Morgans Cyan Star Morgans Blue Gate Morgans Axel & Heather Starck


Tim & Wendy Inch Haywood Farms Manitoba Morgan Horse Club We met back in the meeting


room for our Main Guest Speaker Presentation; Brenda Thompson of Whispering Hearts Horse Res- cue Centre, Hagersville, ON. Brenda was instrumental in or- ganizing the re-location of a large herd of Morgans. And because of her efforts, the CMHA was able to help many of these new own- ers of Morgans to discover the heritage of their bloodlines through DNA. Some of these horses were previously registered but identity unknown while oth- ers were not registered. I believe over 100 Morgans have been placed in homes now and 50 of them either registered or trans- ferred to new owners. It was a


OMHC gift boutique with the help of some of her students: Willow Dobbs, Hailey & Jessica Albero, and Jaime Worboy. They did a fantastic job of organizing the T’s and Sweats etc and keep- ing track of the money, obviously a very important job! Candas Rolls, our new ad-


ministrator with the assistance of Tina Collins presented the CMHA National Awards, Justin Morgan Awards and Versatile Morgan Medallion Awards. This was her first convention as the office administrator, and we


Brenda accepting a token of our appreciation from Tina Collins on behalf of the Ontario Morgan Horse Club


thank her for dedication to her job.


The OMHC Hall Of Fame


awards were also given out this evening to two amazing Morgan Horses and one incredible lady. We honoured Saddleback Sensa- tion (Claire Wahl) and Adanac Brigadier (Kimberly and Melissa Blease) and we were thrilled that they came to receive their award in person. It felt a bit like a re- union with the old guard from yesteryear! Our 3rd honouree was Wendy Inch, a long-time member of both the club and as- sociation. Wendy had no idea this was happening, her family (husband Tim) and friends pulled off a major surprise and she was quite stunned (but in a good way!) We were happy to be able to make the presentation to her in person as well. Such an awesome evening! Their stories will be printed in the magazine and newsletter so everyone can learn about these honours. We had another surprise


waiting for Tina Collins too… ..she resigned as our office ad- ministrator last year after 6 years of doing an excellent job espe- cially during the most stressful period of the pandemic. We can’t thank her enough, but we did


offer our thanks with a gift from the heart. And capturing all the moments was our photographer Cheryl Payne, she is a fabulous photographer and we are blessed to have our on our team, Thank you!


We closed the night with a


bit more hospitality and then to rest. Alas, morning did come, and it was time to pack up and head home. My thanks to Brenda Cas- teels for helping me with airport pick ups and drop offs, she vol- unteered to take the early birds back to Toronto Pearson for their flights while I did the afternoon/evening shift. I know how important it is to have de- pendable folks for the little extras that make it a bit nicer when you are flying into a city that you are not familiar with. Thank you to the wonderful


committee of volunteers for mak- ing it all happen: Brenda Casteels Nancy Kavanagh Sherri Wilson Cheryl Payne Lisa Ross


Genevieve Kendell-Hayes Tina Collins


Morganly Yours, Nancy Kavanagh


Claire Wahl with Nancy K accepting her Hall of Fame award.


Gen Kendell-Hayes, Sandra Sanche, Tina Collins, David Kavanagh and Lisa Ross


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