05/25/2026
You haven’t heard much from me lately as I am out at TBird on the West Coast of Canada working as a national Jumper steward. Today is a day off to get laundry done, catch up on business and recharge for the next six days of, what are often, 12-14 hour days. Like most officials I started down this path to give back to a sport I have spent a lifetime in and love. I am also a combined driving TD and steward. I like that I am here to try to keep the playing field level, keep both humans and horses as safe as possible and help educate professionals and competitors who occasionally forget or have not kept up with the latest rule changes. 99% of the time this is a great way to stay involved. You get to work with other like-minded and dedicated officials, watch beautiful horses, and see some superb sport. But, and there is always a but, not everyone plays well in the sandbox. This may be attributed to our industry becoming more of a business rather than a sport that involves amazing animals that not only take us into the ring, help us achieve our goals and, more often than not, bring us out of the ring in one piece. Sometime politics play a role in poor behaviour. Sometimes it is just a bad day. We officials are here to help. I love this part of my industry life.
