UPDATE: Thank you to Tom Persechino, AQHA’s Executive Director of Competition and Breed Integrity, for providing GoHorseShow.com with a statement regarding the Redbud. The second largest AQHA show of the year was cancelled (minus the reining section) due to the temporary closure of State Fair Park.
“To say it’s been a long week trying to sort things out is an understatement.
First and foremost, all of us are glad everyone who was at State Fair Park in Oklahoma City was safe. For sure, that situation could have been much worse and while we are saddened for those who were in the tornadoes’ paths and lost lives, loved ones, property and animals, our hearts go out. There have been many, many good friends and members affected by these bizarre outbreaks.
As you might imagine, we have heard from many people who were at the Redbud asking for AQHA to cut points or do away with qualifying altogether. Without question, we want to be sensitive to exhibitors. At the same time, we also have to think about intended and unintended consequences while looking ahead on the calendar. Cutting points has an effect on upcoming shows and certainly doing away with qualifying, while it likely would increase entries at the world show, could have a serious and negative impact on upcoming summer shows – many of which are big circuits that affiliates rely upon.
That said, there is discussion taking place about possible courses the association could take to help exhibitors. Should anything be done, we will be sure to communicate it through various channels. Above all, and I think it bears repeating, our first and primary concern remains the safety of horses and humans, and we need to keep that in perspective. Life is too precious to lose sight of that.
On a separate but related note, as I type this, AQHA has fewer than 200 shows left to complete results on for Ford Youth qualifying. Our goal – and we are working diligently to meet it – is to have the last of the national qualifiers in the mail by Friday, June 14. Shortly thereafter, the remainder of Adequan Select qualifiers should hit the mail. It feels good to be rapidly catching up and exhibitors should be able to go online to check points.”
Tom
June 3, 2013
It was a harrowing Friday night for many Redbud exhibitors at the Oklahoma City Fairgrounds when a series of tornadoes slammed through the Oklahoma City area that resulted in nine people dead and at least 100 people injured. There was also massive flooding that hampered recovery efforts.
GoHorseShow reported that over 200 exhibitors sought shelter underground at the Oklahoma City Fairgrounds during the storms while praying that their horses were unharmed by tornadoes that at one point were barreling straight toward the fairgrounds.
Click here to check out a video that shows one of the tornadoes that touched down on Friday night in Oklahoma City.
We talked to several exhibitors and trainers after the storm to discuss their frightening ordeal as well as their thoughts about the Redbud Spectacular having to be cancelled. Since in the past, the Redbud has been the biggest show next to the Congress, we wanted to know if there were concerns about getting qualified for the world shows. Let’s find out what they had to say!
Brad Jewett–Let me start by saying things could have been a lot worse. With that said, it’s a lose, lose for everyone. It’s the last thing show management, judges, trainers, and clients wanted. Jackie Krshka did a fabulous job of keeping everyone calm and informed and the state fair facility was very prepared for everything that happened. The Redbud is always a show that we put on our map as a must go to–it’s one of our only chances to get in the world show arena. I feel for all my friends from as far as Connecticut and California who traveled long distances to come–it was a tough pill to swallow for me, and I’m only eight hours away. My heart goes out to all those affected with loss of property, and of course the loss of life. I understand the planning it takes to put on a show and how disappointed everyone involved must be with the turn of events.
Charlie Cole–As far as the tornado itself, I was concerned but never scared for
myself, but I was worried about the horses and feel very lucky the
tornado turned and the fairgrounds didn’t take a direct hit. It was
surreal to drive back to our powerless hotel and see all the downed
trees and telephone poles. Jason and I even watched some crazy people
drive their cars under downed power lines and the power lines touched
the top of the car’s roof!
As far as qualification concerns, I was planning on getting my last few horses finished qualifying for the world, and, the Redbud is usually my last big circuit for the summer because I hate showing in the summer. I’ve been thinking today on my way home how I will get those horses qualified, or, possibly AQHA should consider lowering or maybe even eliminating qualifying for this year. I brought one of my own pole bending horses to get qualified at Redbud, and I picked up 3.5 points the first two days and was hoping to get the last two today. There’s really no other shows that are anywhere close to me that has pole benders, so, I will not get qualified if AQHA doesn’t do something.
Karen Evans Mundy–The tornado scare was quite an experience. We were headed to dinner when we heard that we should take shelter. When we felt safe that the storms had passed enough for us to return to the campground and to take some to their hotel, we discovered all the flooding. Roads were not passable and cars were getting swept off the road, so we turned around and came back to our motorhome. However, the road to get there was under water. I knew a different way to go, so we ended up parking on the road and walking through lakes of water to get to the motorhome in the campground. We all had to bunk in with some of our other Team Mundy members, but we had a generator so we had air conditioner, as the power was out. I had two clients that drove 15 hours and arrived last night and are having to turn around and go back home. It is quite a disappointment, not to mention the expense to pay for stalls, shavings and fuel to get to the show and never get to show. And yes many saved and planned and took vacation time and couldn’t even show. We were all planning on trying to get points towards qualifying for the world shows. So we certainly hope AQHA will lower qualifying points to help.
Jeff Johns–Thanking our Lord and Savior we are all safe and healthy. All I can really say is that our hotel was directly hit by one of the five tornados. We were in the ballroom/shelter when the power went out–our ears popped, screamed and pressure changed and large gusts of winds came through the ballroom. This morning looking at the damage (broken windows, doors, cars, etc)–I realized how lucky we were. I’m thankful our horses were safe too but there comes a point when human life trumps that of our horses. This was an experience I’ll never forget and never wish to relive again. The depressing part though is driving through Moore, Oklahoma and realizing how much scarier it was there two weeks ago. God has a plan for all of us and I believe he let that plan be known last night. I’ll end this with saying that, “There is always another horse show next weekend.”
Kelley Watts Rampey–The Redbud is a great qualifying show for us in the fences because the numbers are good. Kaylee (her daughter) was disappointed because she was looking forward to showing in her first quarter horse hunter derby. I absolutely stand behind the decision that was made especially with the FEMA designating the area as a state of disaster. According to Betty Wells and Nova Boyd, there were many scared exhibitors and family members last night. I think some made a decision late last night to go on home. Unfortunately, we cannot control mother nature, and I am so thankful the tornado lifted and turned when it did. Also thankful all owners, exhibitors, family members, and horses are safe. Many will remember this disaster the rest of their lives, but I hope they will also remember how everyone rallied together to help others stay calm and safe during this deadly storm.
Joanne Garnett–The experience was very unnerving and frightening at times. I thought Jackie Krshka did an excellent job of keeping everyone apprised of the situation. Thankfully, everyone and all the horses were unharmed. Seeing the damage after the storm was very unsettling. I am very disappointed that show was canceled. It is one of my favorite shows that I like to go to every year. With the power out and all the damage, it was probably the best decision. I am down to just a couple of trail points to qualify, so I will just find some other shows to attend. I know it had some people concerned about getting qualified because that’s such a big show. But I think more importantly we were all glad to be alive and the horses were safe.
Cathrin Gutmann–I’ve never seen anything like that before in my life as there is nothing such as tornados where I come from in Europe. That afternoon we drove out to Purcell because Allison Clark took Sky (Blue Couture) home for the two days we weren’t showing–we were lucky she did. We had a storm shelter so we knew we actually had a place to go once we’d get hit, but it was quite scary. We were lucky because it didn’t really hit Purcell because finally the winds turned once again but what we saw coming towards us was enought to really get scared. As far as the show being canceled, I decided to be positive and work out Plan B. Tomorrow we will be leaving Oklahoma City for Iowa to show there.
Cole Gower–The tornado warnings were very scary. I think we were all very concerned about our well being, but also for our horses. These horses are our partners and we care deeply about them and there was not much we could do for them except put them up in their stalls and pray. It is disappointing the entire show was canceled but show management tried their utmost to make it all work unfortunately it wasn’t able to continue. As far as qualifying points, the youth qualifying period is over, but for the amateur and open it has to hurt. This is one of the biggest shows of the year, exhibitors came from a long distance expecting a ten day show, but we were only able to show two days. When circumstances such as this hits, horse show exhibitors are one big family; everyone looked out for each other and in the end we all made it through and none of the horses were injured. We are extremely lucky.
Michelle Tidwell–We went to the one of the available shelters on the grounds, along with many others. The group that I was with in the restroom had a good outlook and made the best of what could have been a bad situation. Everyone kept calm and we all had cell phones out with many tuned into local news stations to keep up with the tornado. Fortunately for all of us it went just south of the fairgrounds. So the only problem we had was some wet stalls. At the end of the tornado, we were all alive and unharmed, along with the horses. As for the show canceling I’m sure that every option was thought of by the staff with that being the best solution. Our customers were okay with the decision to cancel the show. Fortunately, they were all qualified. I know they would have loved to show and school for the upcoming world shows, but they were all happy to be unharmed.
Brister Shum–Jackie Krshka and the show management team did an incredibly good job of insuring everyone’s safety and keeping us informed–my hat is off to them. After the show was canceled, trainers quickly called for stalls at the other shows in Iowa and Indiana. I waited a couple of hours and when I called, stalls at both shows were already filled. I am disappointed because Steve and I took a week off work (very expensive when you own your own business). Kind of like we are all dressed up with no where to go. Steve and I are both World Show qualified, but it has put a kink in some personal goals we had regarding points…but that is so not a big deal! Guess we’ll be cleaning the barn, house, yard, trailer, truck, car, cat and dogs this week.
Shirley Houchen Phillips–I can tell you what a harrowing ordeal my husband and I went through during the Oklahoma City tornadoes. I’ve lived in Oklahoma almost my entire life and have never experienced anything like this. We had left the fairgrounds to do errands, and we ended up in Purcell trying to get away from the tornadoes–but we couldn’t. We stopped at a fire station and they sent us to a church nearby. Approximately 100 people poured into the church basement. Before we went inside, I looked up at the sky at that moment, and I saw evil. The cloud was churning, turning and a hot suffocating wind hit us. After what seemed to be hours of hiding out in that basement, a police officer came and gave us the all clear.
On another note, it is disappointing the biggest and best show had to be cancelled. All of us are there hoping for the points we need to qualify for World. Now we and many others are trying to figure out what to do next. Where can we go? Are we qualified for 2013? Is it going to be difficult and require a lot of traveling to qualify for 2014. We are thankful the fairgrounds was spared. Our friends and horses are safe. We will figure it all out and move forward. Even though we are all emotionally spent, we will continue and look for places to go show. That’s what we do–we find the next show, pack up and go!
Jeff Burley–The tornado definitely made Redbud 2013 one to remember. I was at dinner with several people when we realized we needed to seek shelter. We quickly went across the street to my hotel where they were very organized and put everyone in rooms on the inside first floor of the hotel. When the power went out they were very prompt in handing out battery powered lanterns. Yes, all people and and animals were safe after this with flooded stalls being the only thing damaged for our barn but this has put a damper on qualifying. We are concerned about some open and amateurs that need a few points but we do have until July 31. However, our biggest concern is our novices that still have judges they need to get qualified for the novice world show this year. We have planned all of the shows we needed to, to accumulate the number of judges and now we have to figure out the next step in order to get our customers qualified.
Maria Squires Salazar– It was an absolutely terrifying experience, especially since we’re from Oregon, and have essentially no natural disasters. It is very unfortunate that the show had to be cancelled, but I see why they had to make that call for the exhibitors and horses’ safety. In regards to points, the show’s cancellation puts an absolute wrench in my plans. Since last year, my plan has been to go to my first AQHA World Show in 2013 because I’ve been away at school and riding for University of Georgia. We had to put together a very specific summer schedule in order to qualify, and Redbud was a major component. My horse and I were having a great show, and I’m really disappointed that we couldn’t have kept showing. Since we’re in Oregon, we can’t just zip back to Texas or the Midwest, for another big show. If we stay showing in the Northwest, our shows aren’t as large as what we had in Redbud. So yes, our plans definitely have the potential to be compromised which would be disappointing. I hope that AQHA might make adjustments on qualifying due to extenuating circumstances.
Kathy Tobin–It was very frightening to be listening to the live TV news on our iPhones and hearing a tornado is headed straight towards you in a hotel banquet room and then straight towards all your friends and horses at the State Fair Park. The TV announcer actually was saying and using the exact words, “The State Fair Park was going to receive a direct hit and there are 200 exhibitors huddled there for an event.” Jim Searles had earlier called his friends at the fairgrounds and told them all they had to be in a shelter–that was very emotional for me. Needless to say, with the power out, and a frightening experience that none of us wanted to go through again, most of our barn decided that night we were leaving the next day. It was a shame that all this had to happen to good people, but thanks to God, all was well for everyone and every horse there.
Jason Wanderer–I cannot use the word disappoint in regards to the cancellation of the Redbud but rather express delight that all horses and humans were unharmed due to the quick work of Jackie Krshka and her team in making decisions that prioritized safety and that is all that matters. There will always be another horse show.
GoHorseShow would like to thank everyone for sharing their stories and we are extremely thankful that none of our horse show friends and their horses were injured during these destructive tornadoes!
