Calling all quarter horse heroes

June 30, 2020

June 30, 2020

By Kristena Schutt-Moore

The Canadian Quarter Horse Association is looking for nominations for their first ever Quarter Horse Heroes awards. These heroes could be anyone in the horse community who have gone above and beyond for horses and people during this difficult year.

Anyone can nominate a person, the one stipulation being that the person nominated must be a member of the association. There is a $10 membership for one year, or $15 for a full family. They don’t have to own a quarter horse, but they do have to work with horses in some capacity.
One of the coordinators of this awards program is Wollaston local Cindy Feurth. Her hope is to get nominations from “North of Seven” as oftentimes the horse community in the north isn’t as well noticed as those in the southern areas in the province.

“Anyone can apply for nomination,” says Feurth. She uses the examples, “A nurse on the front lines of COVID-19 who volunteers with support horses that help those with mental or physical disabilities or the gentleman who saw a barn on fire who not only stopped on his way down the road to tell the barn owner but stayed and helped pull four horses out of the barn. They may not be a hero for what they do in the horse community but they are involved with horses somehow.”

Once nominated, the applications will be presented to the nominations committee. The committee will review the applications and select the winners. Those individuals will receive a phone call for an interview and a chance to tell their story.

There will be a number of winners each month picked and their stories will be told on the Canadian Quarter Horse Association Facebook page and website www.cqha.ca. The association also plans to host possibly three celebrations in 2021 for the winners of the award in the east, west and central areas of Canada during some of the biggest horse shows the Association puts on annually. With COVID-19 regulations always changing though, they currently do not have an official plan on how this will happen.
Those interested in nominating themselves or someone they know who has made a big difference for horses or humans during the upheaval caused by COVID-19, are asked to contact Feurth at [email protected] for more information. The application for the nomination can also be found on the Association’s website.

For the month of June, Fuerth has received three nominations and is welcoming more. Roughly five names will be selected to be awarded the title of Canadian Quarter Horse Hero. Winners will be announced every month from June of 2020 to June of 2021, so there is still time to nominate a Quarter Horse Hero, and nominations are open in every province and territory in Canada.