midwinter celebration and high point awards

Helen Alfaro (right) was the winner of our Member of the Year Award. This award is given to someone who stands out as a truly dedicated member of our club, someone who steps up when nobody else will and who humbly goes the extra mile without expecting praise for their work.   Helen is a long time GKCAHA member and club secretary, she also spends a huge amount of time volunteering at our Mo-Kan Border Bonanza horse show. You may also know Helen as an expert seamstress who specializes in altering show clothing for the horse community. 

 Here are our two “Golden Pitchfork” winners. This award goes to someone who does not show themselves but supports a family member and the breed. This year it went to Brian & Tristan Flood. For those who don’t know, Tristan has autism. Social situations can be very difficult for people on the spectrum. Tristan has anxiety with strangers.  The horses have helped build his confidence and the Arabian community has embraced him to the point he feels comfortable helping with the out gates at shows and is now taking riding lessons! He goes to board meetings and sees many familiar faces at shows and so many say hi to him that the Arabian horse community are not scary strangers. Thank you to everyone that has made him feel so accepted. 

Brian had zero interest in the horses and was simply the supportive hubby in the background that would occasionally be guilted into doing something horse related. Now he’s volunteering at shows, helping sponsor and talking about wanting to show amateur in the future! 

These two were definitely surprised and talked about the award all evening!