Written for Opulence Magazine, October/November 2008 issue
“It’s not often that people have enough money to make their dreams come true.”
Jane Beveridge and I are tooling around the Spruce Meadows Grounds in a golf cart. A volunteer for the past 19 years, Beveridge is graciously sparing me the 360-Acre walk around the Grounds. I know next to nothing about Spruce Meadows and even less about horses, so I am glad not to be on foot; even gladder for my knowledgeable and chatty host.
Beveridge is one of Spruce Meadows’ 500 volunteers and is telling me about Ron and Marg Southern, who started Spruce Meadows more than 30 years ago.
“Both daughters were great riders,” says Beveridge, “but they would never get chosen for a Canadian team because they were from the West.”
So the Southerns did what any forward-thinking entrepreneurial Albertan with a few extra million would do: they built their own show-jumping facility.
“From there, they have developed a great group of riders, “adds Beveridge prior to my drop-off at the International Ring.
In fact, Spruce Meadows has grown into the premier equestrian venue of its kind in North America. In 2008, Spruce Meadows will be awarding $6.2 Million in total prize money and even has its own television broadcast. Annual attendance to the grounds exceeds 450 000 people, so I’m not sure how it has come to pass that in my six years in Calgary, I have never been one of them.
It is a bright summer afternoon and the $1 million North American Championship is on its final day. This is also the last of five tournaments which make up the Summer Tour and word has it that the championship will be determined today by the legendary Chrysler Classic Derby.
There are so many things to see and so much to try and absorb. Wild things are being said which make absolutely no sense to me, such as “Look at this Horse; he’s on the muscle.”
Luckily, some crib notes have been provided which explain some show jumping lingo. I am reading up on clear rounds, take-offs and knockdowns; I am perusing rider biographies, getting a handle on the varying types of competitions and skimming the notes on different kinds of jumps. I am so busy, in fact, that I am almost missing the event. The lady sitting behind me knows all the ranks and horses by heart and the finals are already in full-swing by the time I become versed on the essentials of horse jumping.
The audience is rapt when Quebecer Mario Deslauriers, the last rider of the competition, rides without incurring any jumping faults. Later I find out that multiple clears are very rare in the Chrysler Cup, happening only five times in its history.
This great round creates a jump-off with Calgarian John Anderson. This means that two horses have equal faults and the tie for first place must be broken. The horse and the rider ride a shortened course and the winner is the horse/rider with the fewest faults and the shortest time.
I am just getting everything figured out when the Championship is over and Anderson is crowned winner.
Spruce Meadows is an impressive patch of grass and is about more than just the competitions. There are also pony rides, a playground, an exhibition hall, a chapel, a Festival Stage and much more, none of which I would have had time to see were it not for Beveridge and her golf cart. For this city-dwelling neophyte, it felt like a great escape and a rather lovely day in the countryside.
“It’s not often that people have enough money to make their dreams come true.”
Jane Beveridge and I are tooling around the Spruce Meadows Grounds in a golf cart. A volunteer for the past 19 years, Beveridge is graciously sparing me the 360-Acre walk around the Grounds. I know next to nothing about Spruce Meadows and even less about horses, so I am glad not to be on foot; even gladder for my knowledgeable and chatty host.
Beveridge is one of Spruce Meadows’ 500 volunteers and is telling me about Ron and Marg Southern, who started Spruce Meadows more than 30 years ago.
“Both daughters were great riders,” says Beveridge, “but they would never get chosen for a Canadian team because they were from the West.”
So the Southerns did what any forward-thinking entrepreneurial Albertan with a few extra million would do: they built their own show-jumping facility.
“From there, they have developed a great group of riders, “adds Beveridge prior to my drop-off at the International Ring.
In fact, Spruce Meadows has grown into the premier equestrian venue of its kind in North America. In 2008, Spruce Meadows will be awarding $6.2 Million in total prize money and even has its own television broadcast. Annual attendance to the grounds exceeds 450 000 people, so I’m not sure how it has come to pass that in my six years in Calgary, I have never been one of them.
It is a bright summer afternoon and the $1 million North American Championship is on its final day. This is also the last of five tournaments which make up the Summer Tour and word has it that the championship will be determined today by the legendary Chrysler Classic Derby.
There are so many things to see and so much to try and absorb. Wild things are being said which make absolutely no sense to me, such as “Look at this Horse; he’s on the muscle.”
Luckily, some crib notes have been provided which explain some show jumping lingo. I am reading up on clear rounds, take-offs and knockdowns; I am perusing rider biographies, getting a handle on the varying types of competitions and skimming the notes on different kinds of jumps. I am so busy, in fact, that I am almost missing the event. The lady sitting behind me knows all the ranks and horses by heart and the finals are already in full-swing by the time I become versed on the essentials of horse jumping.
The audience is rapt when Quebecer Mario Deslauriers, the last rider of the competition, rides without incurring any jumping faults. Later I find out that multiple clears are very rare in the Chrysler Cup, happening only five times in its history.
This great round creates a jump-off with Calgarian John Anderson. This means that two horses have equal faults and the tie for first place must be broken. The horse and the rider ride a shortened course and the winner is the horse/rider with the fewest faults and the shortest time.
I am just getting everything figured out when the Championship is over and Anderson is crowned winner.
Spruce Meadows is an impressive patch of grass and is about more than just the competitions. There are also pony rides, a playground, an exhibition hall, a chapel, a Festival Stage and much more, none of which I would have had time to see were it not for Beveridge and her golf cart. For this city-dwelling neophyte, it felt like a great escape and a rather lovely day in the countryside.
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