Dear Editor,
On Sept. 10 and 11, with the help of members of the community, Bowen Island Horse Owners & Riders Association completely rebuilt the riding ring in the meadows. Our BIHORA group is not big and this was a major project for us.
With the help of J & E Backhoe we removed the old posts, or what was left of them. Thanks Zak Reilley for being the operator. Twin Island supplied and delivered our gravel. Bowen Building Centre helped us get our supplies ordered and delivered to the ring. While working, we were able to enjoy coffee donated by the new Four Corners Coffee Shop – thanks JP. A Grant in Aid from our municipality helped us financially and was much appreciated. Tom McComb, from Metro Parks, supported us and cleared the way for the project. The Johnstone family lent us and operated their auger and tractor, which was invaluable. It’s hard to imagine digging all those post holes by hand. Thanks so much. Doug and Cindy Mercer did an impressive job doing a professional survey for us and Cindy was pretty good with the tools as well.
One of the best parts of the project was all the help from our community, people not even involved with horses. We had a new Bowen family, kids in the photo, who worked all weekend just to be helpful. We had a Bowen person just arrived, Thomas in the photo, who came out as well. We are in good hands for the future with these kind of people. Thanks so much.
BIHORA members, old and new, came out from everywhere to take part. With all the help we were able to replace the embarrassing, falling-down fence with a beautiful strong new one. There are too many BIHORA people to mention but you know who you are and how much your input in work and machinery meant. All the gates were hung and we even had enough time and energy to put in three holding pens. It was all we hoped for and more. Please come down and have a look. We are planning a grand opening of the ring at the end of October in conjunction with our annual Halloween with Horse event. Keep an eye open for the exact date and time and come along with your kids and costumes. We will be proud to show you all our hard work and much-improved ring
Vivian Pearce
BIHORA
