The Portuguese Bend Nationwide Horse Present is a household affair with far reaching impacts

by Garrick Rawlings

The sixty fourth annual Portuguese Bend Nationwide Horse Present (PBNHS) drew opponents and spectators from across the nation over the September 9 via September 11 weekend. The A-rated present marks the top of the season for Pacific Coast Horse Exhibits Affiliation (PCHA). Riders accrue factors all through the season, and the highest riders are invited to compete within the medals finals, held on the Ernie Howlett Equestrian Facility, in Rolling Hills Estates.

Former champion present rider Robin Serfass has managed PBNHS for the previous 35 years, beneath the steering of the Peninsula Committee Kids’s Hospital, which hosts the present.

PBNHS was based in 1957 when Mary Duque, board president of the Kids’s Hospital Los Angeles requested Peninsula resident Betty Discovered for assist elevating funds for CHLA’s new restoration room. Discovered enlisted Betty Davidson who was energetic within the Peninsula equestrian neighborhood. Davidson stays on the PCCH board, 65 years later. She is now 101 years previous.  

Since its founding, PCCH has raised over $19 million for CHLA.

The primary horse reveals had been held on the Portuguese Bend Stables, in Rancho Palos Verdes.

 A landslide required transferring the present to the Empty Saddle Membership, in Rolling Hills Estates. In 1992, the present was moved once more to the bigger  Ernie Howlett Equestrian Heart.

At every present, the PBNHS honors a CHLA affected person. This 12 months’s honoree was 9-year previous Sebastion Ascencio, a leukemia survivor. Sebastion was recognized on the age of three by his pediatrician, who helped his dad and mom, Tanya and Steve, get their son admitted to CHLA. Sebastian is absolutely recovered, and not thinks of himself as a child who had leukemia.

Together with the Present Leaping Horsemanship Finals, the three day occasion supplied a stick horse competitors, pony rides, and a petting zoo for teenagers; a hay bale boutique for adults, and magic reveals by Alex Kazzam.

Over 350 friends attended the normal Saturday Night time Supper, catered by the Authentic Crimson Onion. Boomer McLennan and the Rhythm Rangers created the suitable Western environment.

On the ultimate day of competitors, The Lengthy Seaside Mounted Police made an look, using in on silver trimmed saddles, atop their golden Palominos.

The Nationwide Anthem was carried out by Peninsula native Isabella Navarro, a UCLA College of Theater, Movie and Tv graduate, whose musical profession started at age 4, in a manufacturing on the Palos Verdes Performing Arts Heart.

PCCH president Carey Romer has labored on the horse present since 2001. Horse Present Chairperson Meredith Edward has participated within the present since 2011. Each work year-round on the present. 

Publicity chair Maureen Hazard is a 5 12 months horse present veteran and helps with promotion main up the the present, and  day-to-day operations via the weekend. 

The organizers rely upon the almost 200 households who put in 12 to 14 hour days through the present.

Edward’s dad and mom pulled her in, and an in depth pal of Hazard’s pulled her in. Neither of them are equestrians, although their daughters are. Household and associates is a method of creating positive the volunteers know what they’re moving into. This 12 months particularly, the hours had been scorching, in addition to lengthy and soiled. Volunteers should have supportive household, and be prepared to pay their dues. Novices begin within the parking zone and flipping burgers. It may be a number of years earlier than they work with the horses.

Blue and white checked shirts are the unofficial uniform.

When requested what could also be new or totally different within the upcoming years for the PCCH and the PBNHS, within the spirit of ‘if it ain’t broke…’ President Carey Romer so rightfully responded, “It’s been working for 65 years. We’ve got loads of actual loyal patrons and guests on this neighborhood who  actually work laborious. That’s what makes the present particular.” 

CHLA is California’s top-ranked youngsters’s hospital and ranks within the prime 10 within the nation by U.S. Information & World Report. This 12 months all proceeds from the horse present will likely be donated to the Associates Chair in Endocrinology and the Affiliate’s Chair in Transplant Surgical procedure.

For extra data on the Peninsula Committee Kids’s Hospital go to PCCH.net.

For extra about Kids’s Hospital Los Angeles go to CHLA.org. Pen