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2012 Equine Canada Annual Awards Presented During Gala Ceremony
February 9, 2013, Ottawa, Ontario --- During its Annual Awards Gala held at the Delta Ottawa City Centre on Friday, February 8, 2013, Equine Canada presented its prestigious annual awards.
The recipients of the Equestrian of the Year Award - The Doctor George Jacobsen Trophy; Junior Equestrian of the Year Award - The Gillian Wilson Trophy; the Media Award - Susan Jane Anstey Trophy; The Canadian Bred Horse of the Year Award; Canadian Breeder of the Year Award; the Lifetime Achievement Award; and the Sponsor of the Year; were honoured in front of a sell-out audience.
Canadian Breeder of the Year Award - Andre DeBellefeuille
Betty Cooper photo
(left to right --- Gary Yaghdjian and Andre DeBellefeuille)
The Canadian Breeder of the Year Award will recognize a Canadian breeder for their contribution the quality of Canadian-bred horses. Nominees must be members of a breed association affiliated with Equine Canada.
CQHA member Andre DeBellefeuille of St. Basile le Grand, QC, is the recipient of the Canadian Breeder of the Year. Introduced to reining about 20 years ago, DeBellefeuille has been involved in the sport at all levels - as a rider, owner, breeder and volunteer at the provincial, national and international levels.
DeBellefeuille's careful matching of the best mares and stallions has proven time and again to be the correct choices.
2011 was a great year for DeBellefeuille's home-bred horses: Spooks N Sparks won the National Reining Horse Non Pro Futurity in Oklahoma City; his horses finished in the top 10 in four different levels at the National Reining Horse Association Futurity out of 880 entries; and Please Me Whiz became World Champion in two different levels.
His success continued in to 2012 with his horses winning the Quebec Derby Open Champion and Reserve, the NRHA Pink Ribbon Open Champion and Reserve Snaffle Bit Champion, and the Open Level 3 Co-Champion at the Congress Futurity.
"Thank you to Equine Canada," said DeBellefeuille. "It is quite a gift and an honour to win amongst all the different disciplines and breeds. It has been lots of work, but after getting this honour, I can only say that it is wonderful. At home we have a young, talented trainer that has contributed to our success - Matt Hudson. Thank you to our team, from the barn manager to the veterinarian. You are all the reasons why we have won. This award is a result of a team effort."
When presenting DeBellefeuille with his award, Gary Yaghdjian said, "Andre breeds Quarter Horses and Paints specifically for reining and over the years has obtained the best blood lines available in the industry. The National Reining Horse Association recognizes Andre as one of the best reining horse breeders in Canada.
His expertise is also recognized by other organizations. The Quebec Equestrian Federation (FEQ) invited him to lecture on breeding (how to proceed to produce a champion) at their 2011 annual convention and the Quebec Reining Horse Association inducted him into their Hall of Fame in 2010.
Andre is constantly thinking about how to improve the quality of his program and great care goes into selecting the stallion for each brood mare to produce the best offspring possible. Even though his own stallions are some of the best, if Andre thinks another sire would be a better cross on a specific mare, he has no hesitation in breeding to that stallion. One famous stallion Andre used to own was $1million earner Rowdy Yankee. Andre allowed this famous stallion to re-enter the show ring for WEG 2010 qualifiers.
Last year Spooks N Sparks ridden by Veronica St. Onge won the National Reining Horse Non Pro Futurity in Oklahoma City. Her dam - Whizicle - was the 2006 Futurity Non Pro Reserve Champion at the All American Quarter Horse Congress along with many other successes at prestigious events. Whizicle's s 2012 baby is by the WEG 2010 gold medal winner Gunner's Special Nite. With a total of at least 880 entries Andre's horses finished in the top ten in four different levels at the NRHA Futurity 2011. Please Me Whiz, champion at many events in previous years, became World Champion in two different levels the same year.
Andre's resident trainer, young Matt Hudson, a native east coast Canadian and former Young Rider is kept busy because he is responsible for Andre's horses to continue to rack up NRHA championships and awards across North America as well as training the young horses. Andre himself is a very accomplished rider and has added non pro championships and successes to his horses' resumes. Some of Matt's accomplishments with Andre's horses include:
2011
NRBC Derby in Houston- Open Level 1 & 2 Finalist
North Carolina NRHA Derby - Open Level 1 Champion
Quebec Derby - Open Champion
Quebec Futurity - Open Champion
Congress Futurity - Open Level 2 Champion and Level 3 Reserve Champion
Oklahoma NRHA Futurity - Open Level 3 Finalist
Trainer of the year - AQR
2012
NRBC Derby in Houston- Open Level 4 Finalist
North Carolina NRHA Derby - Open Level 3 Champion
Quebec Derby - Open Champion & Reserve Champion
ARQ Snaffle Bit Futurity - Open Champion & Reserve Champion
NRHA Pink Ribbon - Open Champion & Reserve Snaffle Bit Champion
ARQ Futurity - Open Champion
Congress Futurity - Open Level 3 Co-Champion
Year End Open Champion - AQR
Two of Andre's horses competed on the Canadian silver medal team at the World Equestrian Games 2006 in Aachen: Snow Gun and Lil Santana. Snow Gun was a third place finisher at the NRHA Futurity prior to her silver medal and has earnings of $122,000 and the famous stallion, Gunner's second leading money earner, in spite of being deaf. Along with many other accomplishments she placed sixth in the Mallorca Western Reining Festival, seventh in the FEI World Reining Open Masters and one of her first babies - Wimpys Snow Step - won the Go round of the Level 4 Open Futurity in Austria and beat 68 horses to become champion in the Novice Horse Open. Wimpys Snow Step is owned by 23 Quarter Horses of Incisa Scapaccino, Italy and ridden by Bernard Fonck, one of Europe's leading riders. A good testament for Canadian bred horses. These fine horses are also sold across Canada, the US and Mexico.
Other brood mares in Andre's stable consist of top ten futurity finalists, derby champions and producers of horses earning over $220,000. To protect these valuable creatures and to allow the younger brood mares to continue collecting the championships and awards, Andre breeds the mares and transfers the embryos to surrogate mares.
Andre continues to work for and promote the Canadian industry and talent worldwide. He is a well respected and knowledgeable member of the industry and fully deserving of this award," concluded Yaghdjian.
CQHA is very proud of member Andre DeBellefeuille for representing Canada and the discipline of Reining with such professionalism, great success, and for winning this prestigious award from Equine Canada.
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