30th Celebration Reunion Of Region 9 Horse Person of the Year
In honor of the 30th anniversary of the Horse Person of the Year program, a reunion of recipients was held on October 7, 2023, during the Region 9 Championship Show at the Great Southwest Equestrian Center, Katy, Texas.
The HPOY program began in 1993, to recognize people who helped promote dressage in Region 9. (The boundaries of Region 9 were originally a part of Region 5). Becky Snell was the first Regional Director for the newly formed Region 9. She was also the first recipient of the HPOY Award.
The past recipients who attended the celebration included:
- Lurena Bell-1994
- Sherry Arndt-1996
- Leigh Olejer-1999
- Michele Voorhees-2004
- Sarah Jane Martin-2005
- Lyndon Rife-2009
- Meg Flemming-2011
- Vera Muckleroy-2012
- Kathleen Jones-2013
- Bess Bruton-2014
- Leslie Rohrer-2016
- Carolyn VandenBerg-2018
- Arlene Gaitan-2021
- Donna Meyer-2022
- Nettie Olsen-2023
The celebration began at 3 PM with refreshments and a meet and greet. Commemorative tote bags were presented to everyone with a special 30th HPOY Region 9 logo designed by Nicole Miller. Each person’s name was embroidered on the bags.
HPOY anniversary celebration attendees. Left to right: Left to Right: Sarah Jane Martin, Sherry Arndt, Leigh Olejer, Arlene Gaitan, Bess Bruton, and Carolyn VandenBerg.
30th Anniversary of HPOY Award past recipients present. Left to Right: Bess Bruton, Vera Muckleroy, and Donna Meyer.
HPOY Anniversary tote bags
Since the theme of Regional Championships this year was “board games”, Angel Gunn designed a beautiful HPOY-themed board game poster to put on display.
The evening ended after a delicious dinner, with the HPOY game of matching pictures of the recipients’ earlier years. Arlene Gaitan put the old photos together for this clever name matching game.
Guess who?
It was a fun time renewing old friendships and seeing horse people from past decades. Many great stories were exchanged, and new memories were created at this fun event. We hope to catch up with everyone again in 10 years!!