Tbird Offers Fifty Free Weeks of Horse Showing

For professional Holly Grayton, the start of the 2023 show season at Thunderbird Show Park will forever be synonymous with a big win—in the show office!

She and her husband Alex Grayton own and operate Grayton Farms out of Calgary, Alberta and migrate to Langley each year, compiling a lot of entries for their stable.

At the April Season Opener, they’ll have one less entry to pay for. Holly’s mount Baron Genius will compete for free, thanks to a new initiative in honor of Thunderbird Show Park’s 50th Anniversary: tbird Picks Up the Tab.

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Every Friday during each of tbird’s 10 major show tournaments, five exhibitors will be chosen at random to receive a free entry at the horse show. Throughout the course of the season, tbird will pay for 50 entries total.

This week, in addition to Grayton, Jordyn Wilkins (Cornet Flight), Riley Bate (Danton), Austyn Thorsteinson (Notable) and Heidi Seidelhuber (Shadowfax) were winners when the random draw was conducted Friday. The group is represented by a range of professional, junior and amateur riders across a variety of divisions: Wilkins is entered in the Children’s Jumper division; Bate will contest the Low Children’s Jumpers; Seidelhuber is entered in the Small/Large Working Hunter; and Thorsteinson is set for the Short Stirrup.

Grayton and Baron Genius will compete in the Open 1.20m this week—all on on tbird’s tab.

“It’s just so nice,” Grayton said. “Baron Genius is a horse I’ve had forever, and sometimes I feel guilty bringing him on the road, because it’s just for fun. When tbird picked up the tab this week, it took all that guilt away.”

Every horse entered at tbird is automatically added to the draw each week. Check back next Friday to see who tbird picks up the tab for next!