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January 4, 2011Well we are in preparation for our first practice which will be held on January 28 from 1-3 at RJ Ranch I know everyone is keen to slowly get their horses back into work. This is a slow and steady procedure to ensure our horse remain healthy and happy. Please remember to renew your AEF membership and notify Danielle that it is done before this practice. It is also important to bring a blanket along as horses tend to get sweaty at practice as they are not used to doing much right now and we don't want them to get a draft on the way home or after being turned out. We are also happy to announce that both Shelby and Shaina have started training to head to France and represent Canada in July! We wish both girls plenty of luck and want you to know your club backs you 100%. Also be advised if you don't see your picture on yet, we are under construction to fix that December 4, 2011Well as things go we are finally back to updating the website. Summer seems to just take over with so much going on so please forgive as we begin a "Year in Review" phase...It has been quite a year for our 23 members with 2011 being our biggest growth year yet! We left off in mid June with terribly rainy weather which just simply continued to improved and in the end left our fields beautiful and green. In fact the fields and weather were so great we were able to play every Wednesday and Saturday on our home field at South Glenmore Park! As our field is located within the heart of City of Calgary it does afford us many benefits. One came to light at the end of June when we were approached by one of the news broadcasting companies here in Calgary. They had heard of our club and were interested in seeing this sport "Polocrosse" and asked if they could come and do an interview with us as well as watch some of the aspects of the sport. They were very excited to see our younger players performing such great feats on their horses and look forward to coming back for a follow-up. The interview was aired every hour for 24 hours straight! What a great feather in our cap. July came along swiftly and the weather held up well. Emily Brodigan our Australian Exchange girl landed and the fun began. It was a whirlwind of activity starting with the 99th Annual Stampede Parade, we placed 3rd in the "Mounted Color Parties" division this year. Not the first place finish that we were hoping for but we will try again in 2012. Our next club maneuver was off to the Millarville Tournament where we had some fun camping, playing and enjoying the weather. We also had the pleasure of hosting Paul and Susan Johnson for the week they were here to pick up there new filly from McArthur's Australian Stock Horse barn. While here Paul blessed us with some fun coaching as well as some of his umpiring techniques. Susan of course was full of help and great knowledge as usual. August felt almost lonely without Emily around but we turned our sights and energy to our tournament. Our club was just FANTASTIC at pulling together to bring this event off the ground. All of our members really need to pat themselves on the back for their part in making this such a successful event. I am sure there is not one person that did not volunteer to do some sort of task in order to see it a success. Thank you all so much for your involvement. The weather was spectacular and the play was rather un-eventful but VERY exciting. We had a small mishap with one of our favorite horses "Julio" but he healed up just great. Our club did very well in this tournament, in fact 2 of our girls were on the A division winning team! Well done Shelby and Shaina! Shaina managed to do this on a horse that she had ridden for 30 minutes prior to play, nice work. September brought us the Canadian Nationals that were held as the first tournament down at the "Buckin' Eh Ranch" in Nanton. As usual the Foothills club pulled another nice location, weather and tournament out of the hat for us. There were plenty of great plays, pictures and times had by one and all. Once again everyone stepped up to the plate and chipped in with getting horses there, lending horses and arranging places for everyone to stay as it was VERY cold out at nights and a warm hotel was a great score....It sure takes more than cold weather to bring the spirits down with this group! In fact we also began Fox Hunting and headed off for our annual camping "Wind-up" in the woods...We headed to Mesa Butte with a large group to ride for the weekend so our horses could look at some different scenery... Nothing goes without event with this group though. Between a couple of strange fellows showing up to sing and play for us and Sheldon mysteriously "flying" off Daisy this weekend was no different. A special Thanks also goes out to Paige for bringing her cousin Taryn to provide some great entertainment around the fire for us! October we still had fantastic weather and took every opportunity to enjoy it. We hunted every Sunday and rode back and forth to Glenmore Park several times as a group as well as joined up with some friends from Fox Hunting to ride to Fish Creek Park! Of course the high-light was the Halloween Fox Hunt which several of us took part in this year. I must say "Whitey" stole the show again being painted as a zebra and Cully her warrior. This little $90 pony has definitely stolen several hearts in her break through year. Who knew that she could jump with the "big" kids! November held all kinds of fun and excitement in it! The horses for the most part were off to there winter homes, doing other jobs or simply turned out for a well deserved rest. We were off enjoying banquets and Wind-up/Christmas Parties. First off was the Polocrosse Canada banquet held at the Millarville racetrack. The Millarville club did a fantastic job of organizing and hosting this event and our club had a great season with some exceptional wins...Evan won "Top Under 14 Junior, Connie won "Top C Grade female", Shaina won "Top B Grade female and Julio won "Best Horse". The following weekend we enjoyed our Polocrosse Calgary Wind-Up and Gift Exchange where we feasted like "Kings" and enjoyed a great time together at the Springbank Equestrian Centre. With the club having grown so much and everyone having played so well this year we added some new awards for our club. The winners were: "Desi" for "Best Horse", "Whitey" for "Most Improved Horse", Rob for "Top D Grade Player" and Kiara for "Most Improved Player". With growth comes change and we found it important that these "D' grade players efforts be recognized as they practice and play hard to learn a new sport as well as learn to ride in some cases. For this reason Calgary thought it important to support their efforts by presenting some beautifully embriodered saddle pads for winning the 'D' division in the Canadian Nationals. Congratulations Irish, Rob and Paige! We also enjoyed an evening at the Calgary Western Riders banquet, where as a group we did very well again. Evan won the "Pee Wee" division "High Point", Rob won the "Junior" division "High Point", and several of us placed 2nd in our divisions. Our Polocrosse club walked out of the party with an 8ft long table full of prizes stacked 2ft high! As I am sure you know I could go on for hours about the fun we have during our season as we enjoy many good laughs and stories while "horsing" around. Each and every member is a pleasure and is enjoyed simply for who they are. Don't go changin' and stay tuned for continued updates as we are officially under repair again! Pictures and riders profiles will be updated for the new year so if you would like to provide your own in each case, by all means drop a line to Lesley and she will take care of it. If not, she will also provide that information... Happy Trails and Happy Holidays! Click below for map to our field at South Glenmore Park
Click for map to Foothills Club field
Click here for map to RJ Ranch Tournament Entry FormClick to download the entry form for our 2011 tournament, the "ADD Smackdown", which will be held on August 20 - 21.
2011 Membership forms: Polocrosse Calada Membership
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Design elements and images are the intellectual property of Allison ©ully, 2007 - 09
