{"id":868,"date":"2007-02-01T02:31:26","date_gmt":"2007-01-31T19:31:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/?p=868"},"modified":"2007-02-01T02:31:26","modified_gmt":"2007-01-31T19:31:26","slug":"md-barns-silver-spur-finalists-narrowed-to-three-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/industry\/md-barns-silver-spur-finalists-narrowed-to-three-2\/","title":{"rendered":"MD Barns Silver Spur Finalists Narrowed to Three"},"content":{"rendered":"

Amarillo, Texas, January 30, 2007 <\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u201c The American Quarter Horse Association is pleased to announce the three finalists for the 2006 MD Barns Silver Spur Award. This year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s winner will be announced at the AQHA Convention held in Houston on Sunday, March 4, during the evening\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Hall of Fame Induction banquet.<\/p>\n

Five finalists were chosen from the large number of entries and were featured on AQHA\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Web site. AQHA members voted, narrowing the finalists to three. These top-three contenders are Panamas Sun, Smokin On A Star and Temecula Toy Boy, in no particular order.<\/p>\n

Panamas Sun<\/strong><\/p>\n

Panamas Sun is truly an All American, serving with the United States Army\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Morale, Welfare, and Recreation Program at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.\u00c2\u00a0 This special horse serves in two official capacities:\u00c2\u00a0 training and recreation.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Sun\u00e2\u20ac\u009d directly impacts human welfare in providing training opportunities for our deploying soldiers and recreational opportunities for their families left behind.\u00c2\u00a0 His responsibilities far exceed that of any horse in this community and country.<\/p>\n

A scarring injury in 1999 ended Sun\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s show career and left him without a job until he was purchased for Fort Bragg. Sun, with his docile manner and positive work ethic, has proven himself to be a dedicated member of our Armed Forces community.<\/p>\n

Sun provides a willing mount to train the elite United States Army Special Forces soldiers for equestrian missions in the Middle East during times of war.\u00c2\u00a0 Learning equestrian skills enhances their mobility, safety and survival.<\/p>\n

Sun provides training opportunities for U.S. Army Special Forces Medics to learn livestock management skills such as immunizations, farrier science and infection control skills as they provide both economic and humanitarian support during their global pursuits.<\/p>\n

When Sun is not providing official Department of Defense training, he is providing a morale and recreational mission for both the military and civilian communities.\u00c2\u00a0 Sun serves both the formal western and English riding academy programs. Sun grooms his students for their first horse competitions at Fort Bragg.<\/p>\n

Smokin On A Star<\/strong><\/p>\n

Smokin On A Star, a.k.a. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Smoky,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d came into the lives of the Frank Green family of Pavo, Georgia, when she was 18 months old.
\nFrom the beginning, Frank and Smoky developed a special bond that has only gotten stronger as the years have progressed.\u00c2\u00a0 Prior to her arrival, Frank proudly served the United States in the armed forces and the Vietnam War.\u00c2\u00a0 He came home to face some very serious health problems. Frank \u00e2\u20ac\u0153blacks out\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or has seizures on a regular basis. As Frank\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s health problems progressed, he quickly turned to Smoky for companionship and friendship.
\nSmoky considers it her duty to protect Frank, and she takes her job very seriously.
\nFrank and Smoky love to go on trail rides.\u00c2\u00a0 He often invites friends to accompany him.\u00c2\u00a0 These friends will testify to the fact they have seen her wobble over the paths to keep him on her back when she feels him having a seizure.\u00c2\u00a0 When he collapses in the saddle, she stands still until he regains his consciousness and asks her to walk off.\u00c2\u00a0 When he does fall, she stands patiently at his side until he can remount to continue their ride.<\/p>\n

As time passes, the bond between Smoky and Frank only becomes stronger.\u00c2\u00a0 One can sense and feel the love she has for him through the look in her eyes.\u00c2\u00a0 The love the owners have for her can be seen by the tears in their eyes.<\/p>\n

Temecula Toy Boy<\/strong><\/p>\n

Temecula Toy Boy, foaled in 1995, was bred to be a reining horse.\u00c2\u00a0 Around the age of 2, Toy was involved in an accident, severely damaging his right eye.\u00c2\u00a0 Surgery was unable to save Toy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s eye, and it was removed.\u00c2\u00a0 A few years later, Toy had a bout with colic and endured another surgery to correct this latest life-threatening illness.
\nWhile Toy was recovering from having his eye removed, Tara Carlson of Temecula, California, was recovering from multiple surgeries to save her kidneys.\u00c2\u00a0 By the time Toy colicked, Tara was suffering from high blood pressure, kidney disease and scoliosis.\u00c2\u00a0 The scoliosis can not be corrected due to the kidney disease and the long surgery it would take would be too hard on her small body.<\/p>\n

Toy and Tara were fixtures at the barn. When Toy left in early 2005 to be retired, everyone was sad.\u00c2\u00a0 In June 2005, Toy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s current owners were offered the opportunity to buy Toy.
\nIn the year since Tara got Toy, both horse and child transformed.\u00c2\u00a0 The year prior to owning Toy, Tara had missed 30 days of school and was having frequent migraine headaches brought on by her hypertension.\u00c2\u00a0 She was on many medications and was headed toward kidney transplant.\u00c2\u00a0 Her scoliosis was at 33 percent.<\/p>\n

Tara\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s blood pressure has since stabilized requiring half the medication she normally took.\u00c2\u00a0 Her kidney failure stabilized at stage three, thus prolonging the time until transplant.\u00c2\u00a0 Her scoliosis, which had required bracing, stopped bothering her and she no longer wears the brace.
\nToy has turned all his trust to Tara.\u00c2\u00a0 He spins toward his blind side without hesitation.\u00c2\u00a0 His stops are awe inspiring.\u00c2\u00a0 The horse and his young rider have won many championships, including the NRHA Western Affiliate Finals this past September.\u00c2\u00a0 This is a union of two \u00e2\u20ac\u0153special beings\u00e2\u20ac\u009d who have truly bonded as one.<\/p>\n

For more information on the MD Barns Silver Spur Award, visit www.aqha.com<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0 or call (806) 376-4811.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Amarillo, Texas, January 30, 2007 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c The American Quarter Horse Association is pleased to announce the three finalists for the 2006 MD Barns Silver Spur Award. This year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s winner will be announced at the AQHA Convention held in Houston on Sunday, March 4, during the evening\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Hall of Fame Induction banquet. Five finalists were chosen […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aqha","category-industry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}