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Friday, August 1, 2025

Virden Indoor Rodeo

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On July 26 and 27, the Virden Agricultural Grounds played host to the biggest and smallest horses from across the prairie provinces as the combined Draft and Mini Show came to town

Miniature Horses

Judge for the Miniature Horse show in Virden was Dee Longfield, of Prairie Hills Miniatures. Longfield lives near Bradwardine and has recently become certified as a judge. Longfield said, “As much as I missed showing with everyone this was an amazing experience. When you are showing you notice everyone's pretty horses but being in center ring gave me the opportunity to recognize and appreciate the quality of horses and drivers…The best part was being able to step back and watch the great sportsmanship in our club. Everyone cheering for each other and lending a hand where needed.”

Miniature horse enthusiast Shannon Boreham said, “We had 55 miniature horses. There were 27 exhibitors in total, 15 adults and 12 youth.” She noted that there were 4 exhibitors from Virden, with others coming from Minnedosa, Portage, Brandon and Rivers. Boreham said, “The biggest class was a halter class

called Open Color, where the judge is just picking the best-looking horse, in their opinion. There were 20 entries!” Most of the classes had between 5-10 entries, with the biggest driving class having 8 entries.

A unique class offered at the Virden show is the Versatility class. In this class exhibitors performed driving on the rail. They then lined up and attendants entered the ring and helped the exhibitors unhitch and groom their horses. The attendant then took the cart and equipment out of the ring. Next, they were judged on confirmation and finally did a jumping class. There were eight entries with four youth and four adults competing.

Draft Horses

In the Draft horse section the judge was Herman Miller who breeds and shows Belgians from his ranch in Topeka, Indiana.

N-er-Gee Belgians from Olds Alberta, originally from Virden won Supreme Belgian Horse in a class sponsored by Nic Gee’s parents Kim Gee & Grant Gee of Roselea Belgians.

Meadowlark Percherons won Open Supreme Champion and Supreme Champion Horse.

West Spring Percherons won the Overall Chore Teamster award.

Heavies and Minis show off in Virden

By Dale Davison