UPHA Pink Ribbon Class at Pro Am Raises Awareness
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
(Editor’s Note: The following speech was read by announcer Mark Farrar, Friday, April 4, 2008 at the Pro Am Horse Show.)
It is time now for the Ladies Five-Gaited Stake. This year the class has been designated a UPHA Pink Ribbon class – a chance for all of us in the horse show community to raise money for breast cancer research. We have five women waiting to compete in this class. In a few minutes we will watch as these women ride hard for the championship and ride hard for the cure.
But first we have some special guests that we would like to invite into center ring. We would like to honor some wonderful women who have battled the disease of breast cancer. We would like to celebrate the courage and strength of Terry Johnson, Kayce Bell and Helen Rosburg.
We would also like to welcome some other guests into center ring. Mrs. Portia Louise Hein who is here in memory of her mother, Genevieve "Jenny" Hein; Mr. Todd Davidson who is here in memory of his mother, Johnny J. Davidson; and Mr. Doug Flor who is here in memory of his wife, Mrs. Clara Flor.
Pro Am is especially honored to be hosting this UPHA Pink Ribbon class because of Clara Flor. Clara lost her battle with breast cancer in 2005. She was the UPHA Chapter 17 Chairman for 13 years. She also sat on the Pro Am board of directors for 16 years.
The Ladies Five-Gaited Stake at Pro Am is already dedicated in her honor each year and has added prize money in her name so this is extra special to have this wonderful UPHA Pink Ribbon class in the division she loved so much.
There are, in addition, many women who have been honored, celebrated or remembered by a donation tonight, who could not join us in center ring. Tonight in our efforts to raise money to aid in the battle against breast cancer, we also celebrate Phillis Sterritt who is being remembered by her daughter, Kay Henderson, of Pine Haven Stables.
And now, we turn our attention to the in gate where five more women are waiting to enter the ring. They ride tonight to win. They ride tonight to celebrate someone they love. They ride tonight with hope and determination to find a cure.
The Ladies Five-Gaited Stake is a showcase of the best gaited Saddlebreds and the best women riders in the Southeast region. Tonight, together, we have made it into something more: an opportunity for us all to come together as a horse show community to support and celebrate those among us who have been touched by a terrible disease and to raise money to aid in the effort to find a cure.
We have all participated in this effort, coming together as a larger collective and community. We thank you all for wearing pink to support our riders and the cause, bidding and purchasing at our silent auction, donating by purchasing pink ribbons, buying t-shirts and hats, sponsoring riders and horses. This is such a wonderful program that the UPHA has set up and Pro Am is honored to be a part of it.
Congratulations to everyone here. Now it’s time to find a winner...
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