Competitive horse racing events are coming back to Laird for the first time in years this weekend.
Workers were hurrying this week to finish renovations on the Laird Agricultural Ground’s horse arena in time for two Algoma Horse Association (AHA) shows on Saturday and Sunday that will draw riders from as far as Sudbury to compete in equestrian events like barrel racing, pole bending, and flag racing.
The township invested around $40,000 to rebuild and purchase new equipment for the arena.
“It was a large investment but we either had fix it up or close it down, and closing it down wasn’t an option,” said Mayor Dick Beitz.
The renovations were designed and overseen by Laird’s resident professional horse racing expert Peter Jurich, a competitor in the sport for over 35 years.
Jurich, who raced his first show at the arena when he was 11, said the location hasn’t really been able to draw high-caliber equestrian events for about 12 years and he wants to bring it back to its former glory.
He's calling this weekend the 're-grande opening'.
“It used to be packed with hundreds of cars, you used to have to park way over in the field. There were so many vendors and spectators - every bleacher would be full. I remember if a competitor didn’t get here by 3:00 pm on a Friday afternoon with their truck and trailer they couldn’t even get a spot and would have to go park on the outskirts because it was already filled up. We want it back to that, and it’s going to come back to that,” said Jurich.
Jurich’s career has taken him across Southern Ontario and Michigan to compete in National Barrel Horse Association and Ontario Barrel Racing Association events across Canada.
One time he even came close to competing at the world-class Heritage Circuit but his horse got sick so he pulled out.
“Years ago I had the opportunity to compete at the worlds. I was qualified as the winner of the pole bending. The previous year’s record at the worlds was 23 seconds and the horse I was riding at the time could do it in 21 seconds,” he said.
Jurich has taken his years of accumulated knowledge and used it to make sure that the new renovations are done right.
The biggest concern was making sure the floor of the arena was made with the right mixture of sand and silt loam because without good flooring competitors won’t risk the safety of their animal.
“When that 1100 lb animals takes off, their feet need to dig into something. It’s a delicate line between what is too loose and too hard. Also factoring into that is watering the ring, and working it up properly with an arena groomer to get that footing the way you need it for the horses,” said Jurich.
The new arena size will fit the official OBHA dimensions of 190 ft x 120 ft.
Also included in the cost of the renovations is the purchase of a new 3-in-1 arena groomer and a ‘Charlie Program’ timekeeper device.
While Darwin Belleau Construction has been hired to install Jurich’s floor design, most of the other work was done over the last few weeks by Jurich himself along with volunteer Heidi Reinecke, a horse-racer who also hopes to use the new arena.
Jurich said that after being rebuilt the arena will go from being used one weekend a year to about 15 weekends a year and available for live events as well as horse training.
“I just want to say a big thanks to the Laird Township Management Board because without them this would never have happened and, this is going to be great and exciting for the area,” he said.
On Saturday and Sunday this weekend the AHA show will have barrel racing, pole bending, flag racing, doorway, and dash for cash horse events.
Visit the AHA's Facebook page for more details.