This year was the 20th Anniversary of the MAQHA Corporate Challenge held July 14-17 at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds in St. Paul, Minnesota. The show was put on by the Minnesota Quarter Horse Amateurs and managed by Jay Thesing. We showed to six judges over four days and the show was NSBA Dual approved. The judges for the show were Bruce Army, Andrea Simons, Michael Weaver, Gary Roberts, Karen Watters and Clay Macleod.
As a Minnesota native, this is one of my favorite shows because it brings back so many memories from my childhood such as riding bikes down the hills with my friends as fast as we could and getting ice cream from the food stand.
It was awesome to watch such a great pen of horses! With a flat show fee of $240 for six judges, this year’s classes exceeded 30 entries in the Showmanship, Hunter Under Saddle and Horsemanship classes with really nice horses in every class. The show gave great awards including over $20,000 in prizes! Additionally, there were four NSBA classes with $500 added each class; Three/Four Year Old Open Western Pleasure, Three/Four Year Old Non-Pro Western Pleasure, Three/Four Year Old Open Hunter Under Saddle andThree/Four Year Old Non-Pro Hunter Under Saddle.
I heard many positive comments about the show including the wonderful hospitality by the show staff. They provided fresh baked chocolate chip cookies every morning that were DELICIOUS, hot coffee and there was a pizza party for exhibitors on Saturday evening in the hospitality area.
The show gave a “Humble and Kind” award for an exhibitor who was nominated by peers for their sportsmanship and positive attitude. Recognizing someone for their kindness should be acknowledged more often and it would be great to see more awards like this at other shows as well.
This was a great show and I hope to see both old and new faces next year!
CLICK HERE for The Rock Candids presented by the gorgeous stallion, The Rock who is owned by Minnesota natives, Gretta Graceland and her mother, Lorretta Magnuson.
