By Jana Preston

The Ohio SSHBEA Celebration sponsored by SOSSHA and Adams Co. Dare Program took place July 7th and 8th 2001 at the Adams County Fair Grounds in West Union, Ohio. The weekend was full of first as this was the first time that SOSSHA joined the Dare program in raising money for educating the Youth about the harms of drugs and alcohol. Also with the growing interest in SSHBEA Sport Horse in the Ohio area the Ohio SSHBEA Celebration added SSHBEA Sport Horse classes for the first time. 

The show began Saturday morning at 10 am with SSHBEA Sport Horse classes, including Trail Obstacles where many tried this event for the first time.  Several people brought their yearlings out to try over the obstacle course in hopes that these horses will make future Sport Horses. Other Sport Horse classes included Jumping, Saddle around the barrels and poles, and Soggy Barrels and Poles. Along with Sport Horse classes the morning included several classes for the popular Mountain Horse and a lead line class. After a full morning of classes a break was in order, but this was not an ordinary break as The first Ohio Cowboy Mounted Shooting Association put on a sharp shooting demonstration. The demonstration gave the audience a chance to see how skilled both the horse and rider  must be to complete running patterns and shoot at targets at the same time.

The evening show brought out  horses of all ages and of one of three breeds. Spotted Saddle Horses Mountain Horses and Racking Horses were brought out to show their stuff. The evening ended with the exciting championship classes. Sunday, the afternoon show was kicked off with running and Sport Horse events. The youth came out for the exciting running events, and showed the adults how to get the pattern ran. Then the show returned to the main arena for classes ranging from Equitation to a miniature horse class. As always the Jack Benny class for the slightly older riders and the costume class turned out to be the favorites and gave everyone a good laugh. 

Trish Plymesser, Show Manager, and the Show Committee would like to thank all the Sponsors for their contributions, which help to make this show a success.

SSHBEA Sport Horse would like to thank SOSSHA for adding Sport Horse classes to their show and introducing Sport Horse to their arena. Special Thanks to Mike and Trish Plymesser and Matt and Sarah Layton for building obstacles and jumps in support of SSHBEA Sport Horse.