{"id":2707,"date":"2012-09-04T02:16:03","date_gmt":"2012-09-04T02:16:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tournaments.angelstone.co\/wp\/?p=2707"},"modified":"2020-08-25T14:23:06","modified_gmt":"2020-08-25T18:23:06","slug":"rockwood-farm-hosting-world-class-show-jumping-events","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/angelstone.ca\/tournaments\/rockwood-farm-hosting-world-class-show-jumping-events\/","title":{"rendered":"Rockwood farm hosting world-class show-jumping events"},"content":{"rendered":"

Article by Scott Tracey, Mercury staff from GuelphMercury<\/a> on Sunday, September 2nd. – <\/span><\/p>\n

ROCKWOOD \u2013 As a member of the Canadian equestrian jumping team, Keean White has competed in some of the world\u2019s best facilities.<\/p>\n

But that experience has also allowed the Cambridge native to recognize the lack of top-caliber jumping facilities in his home province.<\/p>\n

Two years ago, the CEO of Angelstone Farms outside Rockwood decided with his business partner, Angelstone vice-president Ryan Clermont, to expand into the world of tournament hosting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tried to take the best from every big show I\u2019ve done and brought it here,\u201d White said Sunday during the<\/p>\n

Up and Over Jacqueline Steffens of Harriston leads Quercus von Generhese over a jump Sunday during the Junior Amateur class at the Angelstone National Phase 2 tournament near Rockwood.<\/p>\n
Scott Tracey\/Guelph Mercury<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The second phase of the Angelstone National tournament, which began Aug. 29 and will conclude one month later with the $50,000 Grand Prix of Rockwood on Sept. 29. \u201cWe wanted to put on an event that\u2019s really special.\u201d<\/p>\n

White said most competition facilities, especially in eastern Canada, have been slow to adopt new technologies, such as all-weather surfaces made from recycled felt and carpet fibers mixed with sand.<\/p>\n

He hopes Angelstone will continue to develop a reputation in the horse industry as one of the country\u2019s top facilities, and also inspire the owners of other facilities to upgrade them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe horse show industry is really being run by the old guard who has been doing things the same way for 25 or 30 years,\u201d said Clermont, a Guelph native whose family runs Clearview Stables on Victoria Road South. \u201cWe thought we could bring a youthful energy to it and really make this one of the premier sports facilities in Ontario.\u201d<\/p>\n

In just their second tournament year, the feedback has been positive.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a lovely facility and Keean and his whole crew are trying really hard to do the right thing for our sport,\u201d said competitor Amy Millar, daughter of Canadian show-jumping legend and 10-time Olympian Ian Millar.<\/p>\n

The first two weeks of this year\u2019s tournaments have seen between 2,000 and 3,000 competitors and crew from all over North America and as far as Europe and Columbia, as well as approximately 4,000 spectators.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think next year this place is going to double in size when word gets out,\u201d Millar said.<\/p>\n

She agreed with White\u2019s assessment the show-jumping industry in Canada is stagnant.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have fantastic riders in Canada but the reason we\u2019ve always struggled is that we don\u2019t have the horses, and the reason we don\u2019t have the horses is that we don\u2019t have the money behind us,\u201d Millar said.<\/p>\n

She refused to comment on other Canadian facilities, except to say the Angelstone tournament is one of just two in which she has competed in Canada this summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe rest of the time I\u2019ve been in the States,\u201d said Perth, Ontario, resident. \u201cI don\u2019t want to have to do that. I want to show in Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n

White and Clermont hope to attract people who have not traditionally been involved with the horse industry, noting there is no cost to attend their tournament events and watch world-class jumpers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re convinced if we can get people out here to see it, it\u2019s something they\u2019ll really want to be part of,\u201d Clermont said.<\/p>\n

The partners are also \u201ctrying to reduce the stuffy image of the equestrian world and bring it to the people,\u201d Clermont said, with Saturday night rock concerts immediately following the Grand Prix events and the on-site Cloud 9 nightclub overlooking the main show ring.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to put on an event and not just a show,\u201d White said.<\/p>\n

With thousands of competitors staying in the area for the duration of the four-week tournament schedule, Clermont said, \u201cthe economic impact of this facility has been huge.\u201d<\/p>\n

That fact is not lost on Lou Maieron. The mayor of Erin attended the opening weekend of the Angelstone National and was impressed.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be honest it was a bit of a surprise,\u201d Maieron said. \u201cI had no idea there was so much going on out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Angelstone is actually located in the southeast corner of Erin, which for the past two years has approved a special occasion liquor permit for the tournament \u201cbut I wasn\u2019t too familiar with what they were doing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great for tourism and economic development in this area,\u201d Maieron said. \u201cIt\u2019s a great thing for the Town of Erin.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information about upcoming events, including the Grand Prix of Rockwood at which Ian Millar is expected to compete, visit\u00a0www.angelstone.ca<\/a>.<\/p>\n

stracey@guelphmercury.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Article by Scott Tracey, Mercury staff from GuelphMercury on Sunday, September 2nd. – ROCKWOOD \u2013 As a member of the Canadian equestrian jumping team, Keean White has competed in some of the world\u2019s best facilities. But that experience has also allowed the Cambridge native to recognize the lack […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/angelstone.ca\/tournaments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/angelstone.ca\/tournaments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/angelstone.ca\/tournaments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/angelstone.ca\/tournaments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/angelstone.ca\/tournaments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/angelstone.ca\/tournaments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2707\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/angelstone.ca\/tournaments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/angelstone.ca\/tournaments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/angelstone.ca\/tournaments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}