2025 marks the 40th running of the Winona Horse Trials! We are making plans to celebrate the longest and ONLY remaining USEF/USEA recognized event in the state of OH and we would like you to join us. We have already started Winona Wednesdays where trivia questions are posted on the SGF Facebook page about the event. Riders can reminisce about events of yesterday year and for those who weren’t around back then, they are learning a little bit of the history of the Winona Horse Trials. We invite you to follow along not only for Winona Wednesdays but for more updates on our plans to celebrate our 40th.
If you have been following us on FB you have seen that plans are underway for updating the show jumping course. The original fences served us well and in 2009 whole course was packed up and taken to PA where Penne Colao, Molly Tubbs and Chris Pingree refurbished the jumps, painted them and made the new Patriotic Wings. They looked fabulous! A few years after that, thanks to Laura joining the family, the Hot Air Balloons, the Sailboats, and the Butterflies were added, replacing the Wishing Wells and the Brick Wall. Rails and gates were repainted and replaced as needed and few of the original gates were cut down to a more useful size, but it became painfully obvious that the course needed to be upgraded so in July of 2020 we put in another order for new poles and in the spring of ’21, Kevin built all new and easier to handle wing standards. Laura went to town designing new wings and painting them all. The only wings that were not replaced are what we refer to as the ‘Disney’ wings: the Hot Air Balloons, Butterflies and the Sailboats which did a fresh paint job. Once again, the course looked great, but unfortunately the rails are not holding up after only 5 years of use. They are rotting and breaking, and we have almost run out of new poles to replace them with.
Repainting and replacing rails has become a real issue in both time and money. The current unpainted $30 rails are now $50 / rail, and the price of paint has gone way up as well. It has been decided to replace ALL of the rails with the Jump4Joy poles which will take care of the rotting, breaking and repainting issue. Although the cost per rail is higher, it will be a huge savings in the long run. Since the wings that Kevin built are still in good shape the initial plan was to only replace the rails but then, looking at the Hot Air Balloons and the Butterflies and the Stone Gate Farm & Sailboat planks, it was decided to put those on the ‘wish list’. And of course, the fillers that I have been intending to get for a while now have also been added to the ‘wish list’ which takes the cost from $3,675 for just the rails to $10,134! Yikes, I can’t quite swing that at this time, but I sure would like to have the whole course looking great for the 40th running of the Winona Horse Trials for all of our competitors to jump not only at Winona but for the other competitions and clinics for years to come.
It is my hope that the riders, owners, trainers and all Event enthusiasts would be willing to help us celebrate the 40th year of the Winona Horse Trials by becoming a sponsor of the Show Jumping Course Upgrade. Please review the information below and share this with anyone who you think may be interested in becoming a sponsor.
Levels of Sponsorship:
- Platinum: $2,000 and up
- Gold: $1,500 – $2,000
- Silver: $1,000 – $1,500
- Bronze: $500 – $1,000
- Friends of Stone Gate Farm: $25 – $500
Donors will Receive the Followi
- All donors will be recognized on our website and social media as well as the new digital programs for the 4 scheduled events.
- Any donation of $250 or more will receive a Winona 40th Celebration T shirt. Please don’t forget to reserve a T shirt in your size
- Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze donors will have their name, company name or farm name on display at the Show Jumping pavilion.
- Platinum and Gold sponsors will have signage at their sponsored fence and an ad in the digital program.
Link to the File showing all the proposed fences with prices
- If you are interested in a custom jump, panel or filler contact Jackie
- Please note, prices do not include tax and shipping
- Color schemes are subject to change
How to fill out the Sponsor Form:
- Before filling out the form you may want to open the Show Jump Upgrade file that will show you what fences are available to sponsor.
- Scroll down until you see the fence that you are interested in sponsoring.
- There are 5 fences that will be entirely new fences including wings, standards where applicable, rails and fillers. If you decide to sponsor the entire fence you will need to click on each item. If the item shows multiple available, ie 3 rails, you will enter the number 3 in the quantity box. The remailing fences are simply rails and fillers.
- You do NOT need to sponsor an entire fence; you may simply choose what you are interested in sponsoring. Please follow the directions above.
- For those who are not interested in a particular fence, you may simply sign up as Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze or Friend of Stone Gate Farm sponsor and indicate the amount of the donation where applicable. Scroll to the bottom of the page to view these options.
One final note: I will be placing the order in early 2025 as the jumps are being shipped from England then to Illinois and then here and we want to make sure the jumps arrive in time for Winona! Additionally, it takes longer for them to do any custom work.
Thank you for your consideration and stay tuned for more updates on our 40th celebration!!
Dave & Jackie
Sample of new fences
