THE ISLAND 22 EQUESTRIAN PARK
Chilliwack, BC, Canada
The 2006 Forester's Island 22 Horse Trials
Island 22 Horse Trials 2006 was an amazing success this year!!
The weather was perfect for the entire three days and even on the Friday arrival day. We had a tiny bit of rain to hold down some of the dust on Thursday.
We were a little shocked at the number of people wishing to stable on grounds this year and had to build some last minute paddocks. We ended up stabling a little over 120 horses on ground and WOW what a success!
We are very impressed with all of our horse campers and their families as the camp ground worked out wonderfully.
In the end we had 179 rides entered and about 174 rides go after the usual scratches.
Dressage day was long and a little warm but everyone looked beautiful and did a great job. The official photographer was out there snapping away and I hope that everyone checked their photos later because you all looked great.
While the dressage was in progress riders were also walking their cross country courses and being dazzled by it. This year Rolf Wedler and Heinrich Meister with the help of Rick Higginson, put in a very tough technical course designed to test all riders. Our Preliminary course was a bit of a shock to some of our preliminary riders and a real test of their abilities.
But on Preliminary day our riders went out there and gave it their all. We had some AMAZING rides and AMAZING horses. Unfortunately there were a few falls but we are pleased to report that no one was hurt and all of the horses pulled through.
Stadium day was another beautiful sunny day and Pam Arthur dazzled everyone with a technical course. She had a great time creating some wonderful lines using our newly painted stadium poles. They were bright and dazzling: a few horses were a little overwhelmed by it.
The awards ceremonies were great with our incredible sponsors coming through with some incredible goodies for our winners. The victory gallops were a great sight to see.
A very special thank you needs to be said to our core group that has been working all year for the past 19 years. These 20 people make this event possible and without them the event could not be held.
Another very special thank you needs to be said to the other 100plus volunteer that arrived for the weekend and help us in more ways than can be written down. Without these people taking time out of their long weekend no event could ever be possible. Thank you so very much.
Congratulations to all our riders and our horses. We hope to see you all next year for our BIG 20th Anniversary. We plan on making it a very special event!!
