Summer Activities

Not too long ago, when you talked about Aiken’s equestrian activities, you would just be talking about things that happen in the colder months, between, say, November and May. Over the summer months, Aiken’s horsemen kept a low profile, training their horses in the early morning hours before the sun got too strong, or turning them out for the summer, or leaving town altogether.

These days however, the calendar has expanded, and there are organized horse activities all summer long. For polo players, there will once again be a summer league at 302 Polo Club. This is the fifth year of organized summer polo in the county.  Practices will be Sundays at 9 am and Wednesdays and Fridays at 6 pm. This is a change from prior years, when all of the practices were held in the morning. The league starts on June 23. Check out the 302 Polo website for more information. (www.302polo.com).

For the eventing crowd, there will be clinics at both Full Gallop Farm and Paradise Farm. Full Gallop will have Steven Bradley in June and Ryan Wood in July, while Lellie Ward, who owns Paradise Farm, will conduct her own clinics in June, July and August. Full Gallop will also have one unrecognized combined training event per month, culminating in their recognized horse trials on August 28 and 29. (For more information: www.fullgallopenterprises.com orwww.paradisefarmaiken.com)

For the hunter/jumper crowd, there will also be shows, including economically priced schooling shows at Belvoir Farm in Windsor (www.belvoirfarm.com), as well as at Red Top Farm in Johnston. Highfields Event Center will hold a local show on July Fourth weekend. In addition, a number of trainers will continue working with their horses and students in Aiken while showing in North Carolina, Kentucky and farther afield.

Things might be a little slower around town, especially in the month of July, but the Aiken horse world does not grind to a halt just because it is a little bit warm. Of course, many people in the community are just resting up for another action-packed September.

Denise Boudrot Hopkins Dies

Denise Boudrot Hopkins, a pioneering female jockey who rode over 1,000 winners on the New England circuit, died this May from brain cancer. Denise, who was 57, rode in her first race in 1972, just three years after Diane Crump broke the gender barrier by riding in a parimutuel race at Hialeah racetrack. She gained national fame in 1974 when she rode 94 winners in 92 days at Suffolk Downs in Boston, giving her the autumn riding title at the track. This feat garnered her a glowing profile in Sports Illustrated, which hailed her as the first of a “second generation of female riders.” Her ability to find the winner’s circle with the most unlikely of mounts earned her the nickname “Longshot Lady.” In the early 1970s, she bought her parents a farm in Elloree, S.C., which was called Longshot Lady Farm.

Denise later married Roland Hopkins, a racehorse owner and newspaper publisher – they first met when he hired her to pilot his longshot, Mostly Jesting, in a race at Suffolk Downs in 1982. (The horse paid $134 when he won.) After 13 years on the track, she retired from professional riding, and hit the horse show circuit. In the mid-2000s, she trained her Quarter Horse gelding, Cleve Kadiddlehopper to be a trick horse, and began traveling around the country performing an act called “The Reluctant Racehorse” in which Cleve would do such things as lie down on the track and sit in a beanbag chair. Denise brought this show to town in 2008, when she and Cleve performed at the Aiken Trials.

Denise will be posthumously inducted into the New England Turf Writer’s Association Hall of Fame on July 29.

New Adoption Center for Aiken SPCA

Seventy-five years ago, a group of New York ladies who spent the colder months in Aiken as part of the Winter Colony got together to create the Aiken Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. In the beginning, the organization was chiefly dedicated to protecting working horses, cattle and mules, doing such things as supplying “any farmer” with “free of charge a rustless snapper bit in exchange for his old wire bit” and giving out leather tubes to put on working harnesses to prevent chafing.  Other activities included an annual pet dog show, which was held at the Tea Cottage in the Hitchcock Woods as early as 1935. This was a precursor to today’s annual Westmuttster show, which is sponsored by the Aiken SPCA every fall.

Over the years, the society grew and changed. Today, the SPCA, which is a 501c3 charity and is not affiliated any other humane or governmental organization, is based on Wire Road. There, it operates an animal shelter, a spay/neuter facility and an adoption center for animals found or surrendered in the City of Aiken. It is a no kill shelter, and frequently accepts adoptable cats, dogs and other animals found in Aiken County and the surrounding areas. According to Gary Willoughby, who is the SPCA’s executive director, the main shelter, built in 1981, was not really intended to be a shelter.

“It was originally designed as a spay/neuter clinic,” he says. “But it evolved into being a shelter as well.”

Starting last January, members of the Aiken SPCA board have been working on a plan to build a new shelter, adoption center and spay/neuter facility on a 10-acre parcel of land that they own on Willow Run Road between Richland Avenue and the bypass. The plan calls for a state-of-the art building, with safe and comfortable living areas for dogs and cats, as well as a barn for horses, goats and potbellied pigs. There will also be an expanded spay/neuter facility with the capacity to perform up to 12,000 operations per year, an education and training center, a retail shop, a medical center and special adoption areas. The 2-acre dog park, complete with splash pool, opened last December.

The new building will cost in the neighborhood of $5 million. For the past year, the SPCA has been in the “quiet part” of the fundraising campaign, according to Gary Willoughby. In that time, they have already raised about $3.2 million, mostly from their board members and other major donors, who have given gifts as large as $350,000.  About two weeks ago, they launched their general campaign, soliciting donations from the community at large.

“Folks can buy bricks that will be installed on paths in the dog park, or bricks and photo tiles that will be installed on the inside of the building,” he says. “There are also naming opportunities for benches and paths in the dog park, as well as for all of the rooms in the facility. You can also donate a live oak tree, like the trees that line South Boundary, which will be planted on either side of our driveway.”

Although the new facility will be able to take in and house more dogs and cats, the focus of the expansion is on the quality of care that the SPCA can provide, not on the number of animals it can accommodate. The expansion of the organization’s spay/neuter program is probably the most important element in the project.

“We can’t adopt our way out of pet overpopulation,” says Gary, explaining that with the new facility the Aiken SPCA will be able to offer spay/neuter services to animals within  a 50 mile radius of Aiken.

“We’ll have a larger facility so that our animals can live in better conditions,” he says. “Dogs will be in rooms where they can’t see their neighbors, so they won’t be stressed out and there will be less barking. The cats will live in colonies with climbing walls, perches and covered screen porches so that they can get some fresh air.

“Our mailing about the facility just went out about three days ago,” he continues. “And we’ve already gotten about 100 envelopes back. There are a lot of big animal lovers in Aiken.”

Organizers hope to be able to break ground before the end of this year, and expect that the new building will take about 10 months to complete.

“We hope to be open by Christmas of next year,” says Gary.

A complete, 18-page brochure with drawings of the new facility may be downloaded from the Aiken SPCA website (www.aikenspca.org). If you would like to donate to the project, volunteer to help the fundraising effort, or buy a brick, a tile or a tree, contact Gary Willoughby at 803-648-6863.

South Carolina’s Heritage Horse

As of this June, South Carolina has its own official State Heritage Horse. This is the Marsh Tacky Horse, a rare breed native to the coastal areas of the state. Descended from the original horses brought to the new world from Spain, the Marsh Tacky once roamed in feral herds throughout South Carolina’s low country. Sure-footed and hardy, the horses were often used for transportation and are said to have been the mounts of General Francis Marion, the Revolutionary War hero, whose forces repeatedly stymied the British by disappearing into a maze of swamp trails along the coast. This earned Marion the nickname “Swamp Fox” as well as the title “Father of American Guerilla Warfare.”

The Marsh Tacky is a small horse, standing 13 to 15 hands high. It comes in a range of colors, but is often dun, grullo or roan, colors often associated with horses descended from Spanish stock. Its most notable trait is its calm, level-headed temperament. People who ride Marsh Tackies says that they are extremely comfortable, and a recent study conducted at Mississippi State University showed that the horses are actually gaited, performing a “broken trot” in which the diagonal pairs of legs are disassociated as they hit the ground, creating a smoother ride. The gait is quite distinctive, and appears to be closest to the marcha batida gait performed by the Mangalarga Marchador, which is the national horse of Brazil. The Marsh Tacky gait doesn’t have an official name yet, but some candidates include “Swamp Fox Trot” and “Barrier Island Shuffle.”

The American Rare Breeds Conservancy lists the Marsh Tacky as “critical” on its endangered species list. The Carolina Marsh Tacky Association, formed in 2007, currently has just 252 horses listed on its registry, but is in the process of devising a strategy to preserve the breed while optimizing and protecting its genetic diversity.

The bill to get the Marsh Tacky recognized as the official breed of South Carolina passed the State Senate in April and the State House on June 1. It was ratified on June 7. Also this June, the North Carolina House of Representative designated the Colonial Spanish Mustang as that state’s official horse. Governor Bev Perdue is expected to sign that bill into law this month.

Aikenite’s Preakness

On May 15, Aiken had a local horse to cheer for in the Preakness Stakes at the Pimlico Racetrack in Baltimore.  Aikenite, a 3-year-old colt owned by Dogwood Stable, drew post position one, on the inside rail. The morning line put his odds at 20-1, but people who knew the horse thought he might have the ability to pull off an upset. He came to the race as one of two colts trained by Todd Pletcher. The other was Supersaver, the horse that won the Kentucky Derby just two weeks earlier.

Aikenite, who won his maiden in Saratoga as a 2-year-old, earned just over $300,000 in his eight starts before the Preakness. Although he hadn’t been back to the winner’s circle since Saratoga, he had run several impressive graded stakes races, and his late-closing style seemed to indicate that longer distances might suit him.

Dogwood’s president, Cot Campbell, gave the jockey Javier Castellano, his instructions before the race.

“I told the rider to take him back about ten lengths off the pace, and at the half mile pole to push the button and come running,” says Mr. Campbell.

But the race would not go Aikenite’s way.

“It just wasn’t a good day for him,” says Campbell. “He didn’t like the racetrack, or for some other reason, the real Aikenite did not show up that day. After the race, the jockey said to me ‘I pushed the button, but there was nobody home.’”

Although he did make a good move for short while, Aikenite finished near the back of the pack, along with his stablemate Supersaver.

“I felt bad about it for the City of Aiken, because so many people were rooting for him,” says Campbell. “He’s just a lot better than what he showed that day.”

Aikenite is entered in an allowance race at Belmont Park on June 19, and his connections will assess his future after that.

“If he runs a big race, maybe we’ll go back to stakes races. Right now we need to win a race with him, to get his confidence back,” says Campbell.

Dogwood has some other horses to get excited about, among them Lou Brissie, who made his debut at the Aiken Trails this March. A son of Dogwood’s champion Limehouse, Lou Brissie was second by a nose in his race at the Trials, which does not count on his official race record. He then went to Keeneland in Kentucky, where he broke his maiden on April 15. He won his second race, the Grade III Kentucky Juvenile Stakes, on April 30.  His next race will be the Bashford Manor Stakes at Churchill Downs on July 3.

“He’s following in the exact same pattern as Limehouse,” says Cot, noting that Limehouse also broke his maiden at Keeneland, then won the Kentucky Juvenile, and went on to win the Bashford Manor. Limehouse won seven of 21 starts in his career, which included a fourth place finish in the 2004 Kentucky Derby behind Smarty Jones. In 2005, he was named Aiken Trained Horse of the Year. He now stands at stud at Vinery in Kentucky. Lou Brissie is from his second crop.

According to Cot Campbell, Dogwood is having a good season, and already has more winners this year than they did in all of 2009. The stable moves to Saratoga for seven weeks in the summer, where many of their 2-year-olds will run their first races.

“We’re happy,” says Cot. “We’ve got a lovely bunch of 2-year-olds, and we’re excited about them, but we’re excited every year about the 2-year-olds. That’s the nature of the game.”

New Medication Rules for Polo

Polo’s Medication Rules
A Pilot Program

By Pam Gleason

Just one year ago, 21 polo horses in Florida suddenly collapsed and died after being injected with an improperly compounded vitamin cocktail. The horses, from the Lechuza Caracas team, were on their way to a quarter final match of the United States Open Polo Tournament that was to be played at the International Polo Club Palm Beach. It was the Sunday game. The majority of the horses were stricken at the field, and frantic attempts to save them were in full view of the crowd of spectators and members of the polo community. The incident became national and international news, as Food and Drug Administration and Florida Department of Agriculture investigators tried to determine what had killed the horses. Unofficial speculation was rampant: perhaps the horses were given a dangerous performance enhancing drug; maybe their vitamins were tainted with cleaning fluid; maybe they were intentionally poisoned by someone who had a vendetta against Victor Vargas, the Venezuelan banker who owns the team and most of the horses on it.

In the end, it was concluded that the horses were killed by selenium, a trace mineral that was accidentally put into an intravenous vitamin and mineral mixture at a lethal dose. In the media frenzy surrounding the event, reporters often noted that polo in the United States had no medication laws whatsoever. Most other high performance horse sports do have anti-doping laws, including Thoroughbred racing, show jumping, driving and dressage. Over the past several years, many people in the polo community had been thinking that it was time to introduce some kind of medication rules into the sport. The tragedy in Florida got the ball rolling.

Several weeks after the incident, the United States Polo Association announced the formation of its Polo Pony Welfare Committee (PPWC), which included 21 volunteer members and was headed by Dr. Bill Patterson. Among the topics addressed by this committee was whether and how to institute medication rules for the sport.

“We met in my office every Wednesday afternoon,” says Peter Rizzo, who is the executive director of the USPA and sits on the board of the PPWC. “First we went into a research phase to see what all the other organizations do. We’re not the first sport to face these issues, of course. What we concluded was that getting the correct rules is going to take time, and that we probably won’t get it right the first year, but it was time to get a program going.”

The PPWC presented its conclusions at the annual meeting of the USPA board of governors in October 2009, where it was unanimously agreed to start a drug testing program. On February 25, the USPA announced a pilot program for “Equine Drug and Medication Testing,” publishing a list of permitted, regulated and banned substances, and giving members of the association one month to familiarize themselves with the new regulations before they went into effect. As of March 28, anyone playing in a USPA event is implicitly agreeing to submit their horses to random drug testing. The list of permitted substances is fairly liberal, and the rules include provisions for filing veterinary reports, documenting that individual horses are being treated with various regulated substances for therapeutic purposes. The complete rules and regulations are posted on the USPA website (www.us-polo.org).

“It isn’t our intention to stop people from medicating their horses,” says Peter Rizzo. “We just want to make sure that whatever people are doing, they are doing under the supervision of their veterinarian and that it is for a legitimate, therapeutic reason.”

The rules permit the administration of antibiotics (with the exception of penicillin procaine), hormonal therapies (such as Regumate) anti-ulcer medications (such as Gastroguard) and dewormers. Some other drugs, such as the corticosteroid dexamethasone (Azium) and various nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories (such as Bute) are permitted at restricted levels. There are specific prohibitions against “any stimulant, depressant, tranquilizer, local anesthetic, psychotropic (mood and/or behavior altering) substance, or drugs which might affect the performance of a horse.” The rules also state that “all other drug classes not specifically permitted herein these rules are prohibited.”

One class of substances not mentioned in the rules are the chondroprotectives, which are chemicals that protect and lubricate cartilage and joints. These include oral supplements such as glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate, as well as intramuscular and intravenous formulations such as Adequan and Legend. Chondroprotectives mimic chemicals found naturally in the body, and are among a small number of therapeutic agents that are legal under Fédération Équestre International (FEI) rules, which govern international horse sports such as the Olympics and the World Equestrian Games.

“All the chondroprotectives are allowed,” says Dr. Bill Patterson. “We didn’t know there would be so much confusion about that.”

In addition to rules about medications, the new regulations contain specific prohibitions against various ingredients in the vitamin cocktail that was administered to the stricken horses in Florida. For instance, you are not allowed to give selenium injections “in any application and dosage amount” nor can you give any vitamins and minerals “no matter how applied, when given in excessive dosage quantities for non-therapeutic reasons.”

“We wanted to take a stand,” says Peter Rizzo. “We wanted to name those substances. Medication rules would not have prevented what happened in Florida. But when you hyper-medicate horses, anything can be harmful. So some of it is a statement: things like selenium you can’t do.”

The drugs and medication program will be administered by the United States Equestrian Federation, which is the organization that oversees many equestrian sports in the U.S. Drug testing teams will act independently of the polo organization: the USPA will give the USEF a list of tournaments across the country, and the USEF will choose where it will send its agents, without informing anyone in polo.

“There will be testing at USPA tournaments all across the country at all handicap levels starting on March 28,” says Dr. Patterson. “Essentially, we’re looking at doing 20 to 22 tournament events this year. Testers will take samples from 12 to 16 horses at an event. The horses sampled will be chosen at random.”

In the first year of the program, although violators of the medication rules will be informed about a positive test, the USPA has not established any specific penalties. Proposed sanctions will be ready for discussion at the USPA fall meetings, held the last week in August in Santa Barbara.

So far, reaction to the program has been overwhelmingly positive. In early March, the USPA held an open telephone forum to discuss the new rules with any members who wanted to call in. About 25 players participated. Many people had questions about details of the program, but most also said that they thought it was about time that the association had some medication guidelines.

“I look at it from a positive perspective in that I think that it will get people to think about what they are doing with their horses, and encourage an ethical use of therapeutic agents,” says Bill Patterson.

“It’s all about the welfare of the horses, and we want the heightened awareness of that,” says Peter Rizzo. “We could talk about drug profiles and testing and clearance times, but the bottom line is that this is meant to preserve the welfare of the horses. We want people to use their vets and their best judgment to take care of their animals. That’s what polo is all about.”

For more information about the pilot program, go to the USPA website. The USPA welcomes questions about the details of the program.

Aiken Polo Pony Race

When riders lined their horses up for the Post Trophy, the second annual Aiken Polo Pony race at the Aiken Trials, pretty much everyone knew there was one horse to beat. That horse, Eli Yale, was a 7-year-old Thoroughbred gelding who started his career on the racetrack before moving on to polo. In 2009, he took the inaugural Aiken Polo Pony race easily, setting a track record of 17 seconds for the 300-yard distance. His chief advantage then was that he got away so fast from the standing start that no other horse came near him. This year, he would be challenged by two of the same horses from 2009, along with three newcomers.

The polo pony race was the fourth on the card, scheduled to run between the three races for 2-year-olds and the two longer races for older horses. The sprint was 300 yards, the length of a polo field, with the start at the head of the stretch. The starter, Peter Krebs, lined the horses up, and then dropped his red flag. This time there would be no advantage for Eli Yale: the four horses on the inside of the track broke together and started their dash to the finish line. The two horses on the outside were caught a bit flat-footed, but were soon in on the chase.

It took only a few strides for Eli Yale to take the lead once again. Aztec, the second place finisher in 2009, was hot on his heels for the first half of the race, but by the time they went under the wire, it was Eli Yale all the way. He won by four lengths, bettering his 2009 time by 2.75 seconds. This lowered the track record to 14.25 seconds, and made the polo pony race, yard-for-yard, the fastest of the day.

Eli Yale is owned, trained and ridden by Pam Gleason, who plays polo at the Aiken Polo Club.

“In last year’s race, I just let him run,” says Pam. “This year, I wanted to see how fast he could go, so I asked him a little bit. He gave me a lot.”

Aztec, owned by The Aiken Horse, LLC, trained by Gary Knoll and ridden by Theresa King, was second. Third was Concepcion, owned, trained and ridden by Christine Cato. Tom Uskup, who came to the race dressed as the Easter Bunny, was fourth on a very good natured horse named Cederic. Party Til Dawn, ridden by Elissa Fridley and Callie ridden by Courtney Schwegler rounded out the field. Both horses are owned by David Smith.

The Aiken Polo Pony race was sponsored by The Aiken Horse.

Aiken's Snow Storm

Snowbirds Get Snow

Ask horse people who came to Aiken from the North why they are here, and most of them will reply “to get away from the snow,” or some variation of that statement. That’s why it was a bit ironic that many horse people in the community were so excited when snow was predicted for the evening of Friday, February 12.

Of course, snow is not entirely unheard of in Aiken. Every few winters there will be snow in the forecast, and sometimes there are even a few flakes, or a cool dusting that throws the local forecasters into a tizzy. Usually, however, the snow never comes, or if it does, it’s hardly enough to whiten the sidewalk.

The winter of 2010, however, was a winter for snow everywhere. There were feet of it in North Carolina, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and all points north. When the snow started to fall in Aiken on Friday night, it was real snow, with big, determined flakes. It was clearly going to stick.

By the next morning, there were about five fresh white inches in downtown Aiken, and farms in the Wagener area recorded as much as seven or eight inches. There was so much snow that they had to postpone the classes at the Progressive Show Jumping horse show at Highfields Farm in Aiken, as well as the Saturday divisions of the United States Eventing Association horse trials at Pine Top Farm in Thompson, Ga.

Saturday morning, the earth was white, the sun was bright, the air was warm, and pretty much everyone in the county took a snow day. Children, adults and animals alike played in the snow. People took pictures, threw snowballs, made snowmen, and commented, over and again, on how beautiful it all was. Numerous websites of local stables now feature photographs of their barns and paddocks covered in snow. Perhaps their owners were so carried away with the novelty, they forgot that a snow-covered barn is hardly a way to advertise Aiken as a great place to ride in the winter.

Of course, snow in Aiken is different from snow in most other places. For one thing, no one had to worry much about digging themselves out. As the day wore on, the sun grew stronger, and the snow started to disappear. By the late afternoon, it was mostly gone, lingering a little longer under the trees, like a reverse shadow. On Sunday, the snow was just a memory. And like so many things you see only briefly, it certainly was beautiful.

Aiken’s Triple Crown

If it’s spring, that means it’s time for the Aiken Triple Crown, the three-weekend-long celebration of horse sports that includes The Aiken Trials, The Aiken Steeplechase and the USC Aiken Pacers and Polo match. These three events are among the biggest spectator sports on Aiken’s equestrian calendar. The spring steeplechase is undoubtedly the largest draw, bringing in as many as 20,000 spectators to Ford Conger Field for a day of racing and socializing in the sun. Steeplechase weekend (March 19-20) always includes a gala party under the trackside tent the night before the races. This year, the party is called “The Great Gatsby,” and will feature music by Too Much Sylvia. Proceeds benefit Public Education Partners. Contact the Aiken Steeplechase office for reservations to the party or for tickets to the races. (803.648.9641.) Or visit the website for more information. www.aikensteeplechase.com

The first weekend of the Aiken Triple Crown is the Aiken Trials, a day of racing for fledgling race horses at the Aiken Training Track. The trials have been an annual tradition in Aiken since 1942, providing young horses the opportunity to experience a real race in front of a crowd before they head out to the parimutuel tracks.

This year, the Aiken Trials will take place on Saturday, March 13. The day will feature six races, four of them for 2-year-old maidens, and one, the Cup of Aiken, for older horses that have already won a race. One race (probably the third) will be the polo pony race sponsored by The Aiken Horse. Last year was the first time that the polo pony race was held at the Trials, and it was a big success. There were six entries, all proven polo ponies ridden by actual polo players. The horses raced 300 yards (the length of a polo field) from a standing start. The winner, Eli Yale, set a track record of 17 seconds. Eli is a former racehorse and the grandson of the great Storm Cat, but his Trials win was the first of his career. He is expected to return to defend his title.

Polo players who have a fast horse should start getting ready now. All horses in the race must be playing ponies, and all riders must be polo players. If you are interested in racing, send an email to editor@theaikenhorse.com, or give us a call at 803.643.9960.

If you would like to watch the races, gates open at 10:30. The events start off with the Aiken Driving Society carriage parade at 1 pm, followed by the first race. The races are usually over by around 4:30. Tickets may be purchased in advance at various locations, including Boots, Bridles and Britches and Aiken Saddlery. If you buy in advance, tickets are $10. They’re $15 on the day of the races.

Other events surrounding the Aiken Trials include Breakfast at the Gallops, a popular morning program that will take place at the Training Track on Thursday, March 11, from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. This will be a fundraiser for the Aiken Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame and will feature local trainers who will discuss horses and horse training. Tickets are limited, and this is often a sold out event. Finally, on March 14, the racehorse Quality Road will be honored as the Aiken Trained Horse of the Year at 12:30 pm in the courtyard of the Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame in Hopeland Gardens. For more information, visit the Aiken Training Track website: www.theaikentrainingtrack.com or the Hall of Fame website (www.aikenracinghalloffame.com) or call 803.642.7650.

The final leg of the Triple Crown, the USC Aiken Pacers and Polo Match, is the first official polo event of the spring season. It will take place on Powderhouse Field on Saturday, March 27. This match usually pits a Burger King team against a Biddle Realty team, and is one of the best attended polo contests in Aiken. The game is a benefit for the University of South Carolina Pacers baseball team. In addition to horse polo, it will also showcase a bicycle polo exhibition, put on by Boxwood Bicycle Polo Club.

Celebrating Aiken

In case you haven’t heard, the city of Aiken was founded in 1835, so this year, it is turning 175, quite a respectable age. To commemorate the occasion, the city is having a yearlong party called “Celebrate Aiken!” The festivities began on January 9 with a kick-off party called “Sights, Sounds and Tastes of 1835,” an event designed to educate people about the early history of the city. The party took over the downtown area around the Alley, and included such nineteenth century attractions as a flea circus, clogging (a popular folk dance style of the period) and a washboard band. There were also numerous historical interpreters dressed in 1835-era clothing who showed what it was like to live and work in Aiken 175 years ago.
The first quarter of the year is dedicated to “Horses, Health and History,” and includes some specifically equestrian events. The first was the dedication of a historic water trough at Banksia, the grand Winter Colony home that now houses the Aiken County Historical Museum. The cement trough, which had been languishing unused behind the Aiken County courthouse, was moved to the bottom of South Boundary Avenue, near the entrance to the Hitchcock Woods. Its original location was at the corner of Richland Avenue and Laurens Street, where it was a public water supply for people who rode or drove their horses into the city.
County workers took about two weeks to move the trough, refurbish it and install it in its new location. It now provides fresh, potable water for horses that have come from an outing in the woods. The county also installed a drinking fountain for people, and there are plans to fit the trough with a heater so that the water doesn’t freeze in the winter.
On Saturday morning, January 23, the water trough was officially dedicated to the memory of Summer Squall, the great racehorse owned by Dogwood Stable, who died in 2009. Over 100 people came to the dedication, which took place after a meeting of the Aiken Hounds and before a hunt breakfast at Banksia. Numerous people arrived dressed in period costume, including Aiken’s mayor, Fred Cavanaugh. The Henrys, a father and son bluegrass duo, provided musical entertainment.
Other Celebrate Aiken! festivities on tap for the first quarter of the year include a tea party at the Green Boundary Club on February 18. This party, which costs $10 and will have two seatings, encourages “period hats and gloves,” and is already sold out. On February 27, there will be a walking tour of downtown Aiken that starts at Aiken Prep. Then, on March 7, there will be a program at Rye Patch called Aiken’s Horse Heroes. This event will feature speakers and presentations about a selection of the racehorses that are members of Aiken’s Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame.
For more information about Celebrate Aiken! go to the website: www.celebrateaiken.com