Locals excel at Arabian championship

September 10, 2013 · 0 Comments

Matthew Harbridge, Natalie Hunt and Michelle Harbridge show off their hardware from the recent Arabian national championships.
Submitted Photo
By Jeff Doner

King Township was well represented at yet another horse show recently, this time at the Arabian and Half Arabian Canadian National Championship Horse Show in Brandon, Manitoba.
Schomberg natives Michelle Harbridge, her 10-year-old son Matthew and Natalie Hunt came home with sparkling results.
Michelle Harbridge showed her Half Arabian, Slam Dunk KS, in the two events available in the Half Arabian hunter pleasure division for amateur riders, earning the title of National Champion in both events.
Matthew showed the family’s Arabian horse, Sir Royal Bey Montana, to a top 10 award in the Walk/Trot division. Matthew has been competing for three years now, but this was his first time competing at a national event.
Michelle also competed with Sir Royal Bey Montana, earning top 10 finishes in three different events.
Hunt competed with Dancin’ to Victory, an Arabian stallion, in the two events in the Arabian western pleasure division for amateurs. Natalie won the championship title in both events.
The event is one of the largest horse shows in Canada for Arabian horses, with roughly 750 horses a coming from all over Canada and the US.
Although this may be the biggest show of the year for them all, Michelle said it was certainly not the only one.
“For all three of us, we do our show season throughout the year and compete at a variety of shows,” she said. “For me, I compete in shows not only throughout Ontario, but also in Ohio, New York, Virginia. Natalie was competing in shows in Texas, Louisiana and Arizona, because her horses and trainer are in Texas.”
Michelle has competed at the championships in the past, but it was a first time for her son, Matthew.
“It was a dream come true,” Harbridge said. “I have competed at this show before and I have been fortunate enough to win top 10 awards before, but it was so exciting for me. Not only did I come home with one championship, but the fact that I actually won twice and got two national championships, that was incredible.”
The three competitors also had plenty of family support while they were there. Natalie’s mom, Lynn was on hand to cheer the team on, as was Harbridge’s other son Ben.
“My kids were so thrilled to be out there and it was great that I was able to share this experience with them. They really enjoyed it and I really enjoyed to be able to share it with them,” she said.
“My grandparents used to breed Arabian horses, so when I was a kid I grew up around Arabian horses. That’s how I spent my summers and I was able to share that with my family growing up. It was great to be able to share this with my kids. It was a really enjoyable week.”