A trail that hasn’t gone cold

Friday, November 20, 2009

By Fran Odyniec
Managing Editor

Sometimes good things happen when you least expect them, or even dream of them.

In 2008, Kay Tracy walked into Green & Sons, Ltd., a farm implement dealer in Mt. Sterling, with only one thing in mind: Convince Dick Green to take a $100 class sponsorship in the “Saddle Up for a Cure Horse Show” she and Chip Jackson, both of Washington Court House, were putting together that year in Circleville. The show was formed to benefit the Stefanie Spielman Breast Cancer Research Foundation at The Ohio State University.

Kay got the class sponsorship and a whole lot more. Inspiration had struck Dick Green during his and Kay’s conversation. Pequea Machine, Inc., of New Holland, Pa., one of Green & Sons’ manufacturer/suppliers, has this fund-raising program for breast cancer research that features a 25-bushel pink manure spreader.

After a word or two with his son, Bill, and a quick telephone call to Pequea, Dick told Kay that she had this pink manure spreader called “The Spreader of Hope” that she could chance off as part of the Circleville horse show.

To boot, as Kay reached the front door, Dick asked if she had a trailer to transport the spreader after it would be delivered to the dealership. By the time she got to her vehicle, Kay had not only a class sponsorship in hand and a pink manure spreader on the way, but she also had both a trailer and a hitch.

“When Dick started talking about the spreader, I was dumbfounded,” recalled Kay over a recent breakfast at Ben and Joy’s in Mt. Sterling.

One year later, and that trail hadn’t gone cold — not in the least.

Green & Sons and Pequea Machine again teamed up and donated “The Spreader of Hope II,” and Pequea provided one of its trailers for the spreader, both of which this summer logged 5,500 miles. That’s 1,500 miles more than last year.

Kay and Chip, a show judge and ringmaster, respectively, towed the spreader to horse shows from Sioto Downs, Western Kentucky University, Medina, Westmoreland to Liberty, Columbus, Steubenville and points in between.

Their travels this year led to the “Tough Enough to Wear Pink?” show they held Sept. 12 and Sept. 13 at the Champions Center at the Clark County Fairgrounds in Springfield.

Between chances sold on the spreader and this year’s show, Kay, Chip, and their committee raised $19,500 for the Spielman foundation. Last year the proceeds mounted to $13,057.

“It gets talked about,” said Chip. “A pink manure spreader is rather unique.”

A comment he had heard many times after a person took a ticket on the spreader was, “Oh, you’ll never guess what I bought a chance on.”

Given the natural attraction of horse shows, tickets were sold to folks from Mexico, Canada, New Jersey, California, Maryland, Ohio, Indiana, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Arkansas, West Virginia and Illinois among others. Todd Schling, of Perrysburg, Ohio, was the winner.

While the excitement of the horse show circuit is like taking a trail ride on a crisp, clear fall morning, Kay and Chip never lose sight of the need for increased awareness of the dangers of breast cancer. That gives them that extra boost they sometimes need.

“About the time when you’re dead tired, somebody comes up and tells you a story about a loved one,” said Chip commenting on the fact that his and Kay’s work with the spreader never gets old.

At the three-day show held at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds in Steubenville, the last day was miserable, said Chip. “A couple came up to us, and the guy was a two-time survivor of testicular cancer. They told us that what kept them going was that their daughter was a three-time Ohio High School Rodeo Queen. We talked for about 45 minutes.”

Another time on their way out of Medina, they pulled into a McDonald’s. As Kay went in for an ice tea, Chip noticed a couple looking curiously at the “Spreader of Hope II.”

Not wanting to pass up an opportunity, Chip yelled out to them, “Hey! It could be yours.”

They told Chip not to leave, that they would be right back.

“They came back and bought $20 worth of tickets,” Chip recalled. “She is a breast cancer survivor.”

Those kind of stories and encounters “just recharge your batteries and you’re ready to go again,” he said. “The stories never end and they just get better. You never know when one’s a-comin’.”

“They’ve been to hell and back,” he continued. “They’re fighters, and they found something to keep them going, that glimmer of hope that they can make it.”

According to Chip, the “Tough Enough to Wear Pink?” show “was wild.” It was a combination open horse show and rodeo that included a huge silent auction.

The speed show on Saturday had six classes with 119 entries. On Sunday, the pleasure show featured 35 classes with 557 entries.

And Saturday night’s rodeo included mutton bustin’, junior steer riding, chute doggin’, steer wrestling, barrels, bareback broncs, team roping and calf roping, and bull riding.

Both shows and the rodeo offered guaranteed money.

The pleasure show had three special classes among the 35. Anyone who is a survivor of any type of cancer could participate in the “Survivors Walk/Trot.” In the second class, “In Memory of Walk/Trot,” a person could ride in memory of anyone they knew who had lost their battle to any type of cancer. The third class, “Heather’s Pink Egg & Spoon,” was held in memory of WBNS-TV10 newscaster Heather Pick, who lost her battle to breast cancer in November of 2008. Chuck Strickler, who co-anchored news casts with Pick, served as special judge for the class.

As if to prove Chip’s point that the stories keep “a-comin’,” a woman who is a breast cancer survivor very much wanted to ride in the survivors’ trot, but had never ridden a horse before.

“She deserved to be recognized,” said Chip. “She is currently undergoing chemotherapy.”

So, a gentle enough horse was found, and the woman proudly rode in the class, assisted by an escort who walked along side.

And then there were the 11- and 12-year old girls who are cancer survivors and have been cancer-free for one year who participated in the survivors class.

The event’s title sponsor was Tribute Equine Nutrition followed by nine gold sponsors who contributed $500 or more; 75 silver sponsors who contributed between $100 and $499; and 45 bronze sponsors who contributed up to $99.

While the dust has just about settled from “Tough Enough to Wear Pink?,” Kay and Chip already are working on the 2010 show, which is set for Sept. 25-26 at Roberts Arena in Wilmington, Ohio. They expect the prize money and the classes to be “substantially bigger,” said Chip.

And a pink manure spreader, “The Spreader of Hope III,” should be ready to take to the circuit sometime in March. So will Kay Tracy and Chip Jackson and their committee of volunteers to continue their efforts to raise awareness of the need to fight breast cancer and find its cure.

“We have to get the awareness out there,” said Kay.

Fran Odyniec can be reached at (740) 852-1616, ext. 21 or by e-mail at editor@madison-press.com