Just around the corner, scheduled for Sunday, January 27, 2013 at the Northern Quest Resort and Casino, the annual Gallop Stallion Service Auction takes place. Once again presented by Rhodes River Ranch, the upcoming auction will mark its 30th year. The event will kick off at 12 noon, PST, enabling national and international locations to participate in the bidding. All the stallions will be presented on thirty-foot screens at the event, while Internet onlookers will be able to watch the event streamed live to their computers. On screen, they’ll see a flashing toll free number which they can call to speak with one of the Gallop phone operators, and bid on services of any stallion, or vacation packages in the line-up.
This is your opportunity to help families in crisis who need to be with their child in a hospital. How can you do that? Well, first mark your calendars for Sunday, January 27, 2013 for one of the Nation’s most successful fundraising Equine Events- the Gallop Stallion Services Auction!
The Gallop Annual Charity Auction is rated as one of the best in the country and features the most impressive lineup ever. Each year new stallion owners join the ranks of current Gallop stallion donors who want nothing more than to support the mission! This year’s event has stallions participating from Kentucky, Washington, Texas, California, Mississippi, Utah, Oklahoma, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Georgia, Arkansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Arizona, South Dakota, Ohio, Iowa, Oregon and Minnesota. Stallion breeding fees range from $500 to $5,600 per service. “We like to keep a pocket book range so everyone has the chance to be a part of the event, mission, and heighten the bar of their breeding program,” explained Gallop Event Manager, Barbara Turner. This year’s event offers services to National & Congress Champions along with World & Reserve Champions. Nearly half of the lineup is two-time World Champions, while others are five times or more World Champions. Many of you will recognize their names, as they are leading sires of their breed, producing World and Reserve World Champion offspring. You will have the opportunity to purchase services to some of the finest Halter, Western Pleasure, Hunt Seat, Working Cow, Cutting, and Reining stallions in the world!
Each year, with compassion for the mission, close to 40 new stallion donors contact the Gallop Coordinator offering a breeding for the auction. The Gallop process allows the previous stallion owners the first rights of refusal. After that process, reviewing new applicants takes place. Generally, only a half dozen (if that) spots are open.
The 2013 stallion lineup is now closed, and the website is nearing its completion on the non-service auction items. Now is the time for you to do some homework on the mare care facilities, costs, and breeding procedures of stallions and ranches that are of interest to you. It also gives you an opportunity to take a close-up look at these stallions. Visit the Gallop website for more insightful information at www.gallopauction.com. If you are looking at transporting semen, be sure to research prior to the event to find out what your costs will be. In addition, check on what their “Live Foal Guarantee” consists of. Those costs will be between you, the successful bidder, and the stallion owners or breeding farms.
Can’t or don’t think you can make it to the event? Pre-bids are currently being taken, or bid live the day of the Gallop event, Sunday, January 27th, with one of the Gallop telephone operators. Just go to the website at www.gallopauction.com and starting at 11am PST, you will find within the Gallop template a flashing toll free number for you to call. Have your credit card ready for the information that the operator will be asking, and try not to call in earlier than one to two services before your interested service hits the auction block. Not going to be near a computer the day of the event? On the road, working, hauling home from a horse show? Maybe you’re not confident with your dial up speed or you’re not computer friendly. Let Barb Turner know ahead of the event and arrangements can be made to contact you before your interested service comes up on the auction block.
Event underwriter Rhodes River Ranch returns for their thirteenth year of presenting the Gallop Event. They are located at the foothills of the Cascades, just an hour and a half north of Seattle/Tacoma International Airport in beautiful Arlington, Washington. The Ranch is dedicated to breeding, raising and training future world champion performance horses, and providing top quality service to their clients. They also offer some of the finest performance prospects with bloodlines such as, Peptoboonsmal, High Brow Cat, Soula Jule Star, Nic It In The Bud, Starlights Joy, Shine By The Bay, CD Olena, Topsail Whiz, TR Dual Rey, CD Lights, and Shine Like Hail. They welcome visitors to tour their site and/or contact them for more information regarding a service, stallion, sales or just to visit. To learn more about the Ranch, go to www.RhodesRiverRanch.com. The Gallop Charity Auction is indebted to Jean Rhodes and all other sponsors for making the event possible.
The non-service packages in Gallop’s Auction will be just as outstanding as the breeding services offered! Non-service packages are auctioned off in between breeding services. They allow many in the Equine Industry (or not), an opportunity to support and participate who may not have mares to breed, or any horses at all. These packages will continue to be added up through the last week prior to the auction, so keep checking back on the website for additional added packages.
Here are some of the packages to date: a 2 night, 3 day All-Inclusive Five-Star Resort vacation at the Resort at Paws Up in Montana. Rated third in the world for five star resorts! A 1 night, 2 day all-inclusive Dude Ranch vacation at K-Diamond-K Guest Ranch located in Republic, Washington. Limited Edition prints by well noted artists from the Picture Peddler. A Hells Canyon Wild River Jet Boat Tour for 2, from Killgore Adventures. Professionally framed art by Added Touch Framing. A Halter Show Package from Woods Western with a Slinky from Robinhoods. Our popular ‘Limited Edition Autographed Painted Ponies’ package from the artists themselves: Vickie Knepper-Adrian and Lynn Bean. New to the event this year is a western barrel racing saddle! Catch everyone’s eye with its extra shiny patent turquoise Ostrich print 14-15” seat. The deep ostrich seat is very well padded and great for long hours in the saddle! The saddle has fancy silver conchos on the skirt and cantle, along with intricate hand tooling on the skirt and seat jockey. The underside of the saddle is lined with thick fleece for horse comfort and the tree has been well balanced to eliminate pressure points.
Or, maybe you’d be interested in bidding on … A night at the Country Music Awards! Package includes 2 Bronze-Level Tickets to the 2013 CMA’s in Nashville, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum platinum package for 2, and a 3-night stay at the ‘Renaissance Nashville,’ with airfare for 2. Up for a cruise? Here is an opportunity for a 7 night, 8 day Caribbean Cruise for 2 aboard Celebrity. This package will include a Veranda stateroom, special on board Bridge Tour or Gallery Tour, priority tender and disembarkation, one night seating at the Captain’s Table or with the Officers’ Table and no expiration for the cruising date! Are you a NASCAR fanatic? Then choose your favorite NASCAR race with a 2 night weekend stay which includes a daily full breakfast for 2, premium tickets (above row 25) to your choice of one NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races, and round-trip coach class airfare for 2. Maybe you’re a pro sports fan? Well here is your opportunity to choose your favorite MLB, MBA, NFL, or NHL game for 2 lower level seats, or 2 ground passes to a non-major PGA golf tournament. This getaway will additionally include a 2 night weekend stay at the Hyatt, Marriott, Sheraton or Wyndham, daily breakfast for 2 and round trip coach class airfare for 2. Is baseball what you favor? How about seats at Chicago’s Classic Wrigley Field Rooftop, with dining for 2 while watching a regular Chicago Cubs home game? If so, get ready to spend a 3 night stay with daily breakfast and round-trip coach class airfare for 2 to Chicago, IL.
Want an opportunity to do something really unique? Something you will remember for life? Then consider a Churchill Downs (Kentucky) VIP Experience including: VIP Private Jockey Club Suite for 2 at Churchill Downs during the Spring or Fall 2013 meets, Race named in your honor & trophy presentation, 3 night stay at the Hyatt Regency Louisville, and round-trip coach class airfare for 2 from within the contiguous U.S. and Canada to Louisville, KY. Each week check back at the Gallop website as new and exciting items are added.
But the excitement doesn’t end here! Only for those attending the event, are the silent auction tables. Items on the tables will include: tickets to Triple Play and Silverwood Theme Park, dining & western store gift certificates, multiple gift baskets, beautiful Western Art from Big R Ranch- Trent, gift package from Medical Spas, a ton of Barn Dry from Aslin-Finch Feeds, black leather bridle & silver bit, silver hoof pick, pooper scooper, halter & lead, 36” neo cinch, silver spurs, l lb. boxes of ‘Sees’ candy, a pair of high end ‘White’s Boots’, multiple valentine gifts, overnight stay & golf package from Coeur d’Alene Resort & Casino, Cowboy Living Barbwire 3 piece bath accessory set, and much, much more!
Let’s not forget the backbone of the event … 46 stallion services offered for Leading Sires in our Industry: World, Reserve World, and Congress Champions! Gallop & the Ronald McDonald House Charities are indebted to all the donors who make this event possible! You need to come on down and get involved with the silent auction, Gallop festivities, and enjoy the opening ceremony kick off!
Watch as the stage comes alive with talent and entertainment that will astound you! Gallop’s Opening Ceremony at 12 noon, PST, brings Actress/Singer Valerie Stichweh to the stage. She has been performing at the Gallop event for over a decade entertaining the audience and Internet viewers, along with the highly skilled performers, comedians, and actors Randy Wilcox and Kevin Wakefield. As in past years, they are sure to create a festive vibe and bring spectators to their feet!
With all of this excitement, don’t forget the primary mission. All net proceeds from the Gallop Stallion Services Auction go to the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Spokane, enabling them to continue serving hundreds of families.
Imagine if your child was sick. What would you do if you had to fly to a hospital in a different city far from your home? Would you know where to go? When you arrived at the hospital, where would you put your extra clothes? Where would you shower? Where would you wash your clothes? Who would you turn to for help? These and many other questions are all answered daily by the volunteers at the Ronald McDonald
House Charities of Spokane.
Families are provided temporary lodging, comfort and support while their children are accessing medical services. These basic needs are met while they help their children overcome their medical struggles. The House provides a consistent and caring helping hand, lessening the mental and financial strain on the families. It allows them to focus on the most important thing… supporting their children.
At the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Spokane, families have an opportunity to write their thoughts and inner feelings in their Journals. We would like to share this entry from the Journal.
January 26, 2011
My daughter was born on January 14, 2009 in Boise, Idaho. After she was born, they told us that she was very sick and had a syndrome called ‘Heterodoxy.’ This is where everything inside of her was reversed. Her heart was in very bad shape and the doctors didn’t give us a lot of hope that she would live, but on the seventh day she was having her first open heart surgery in Salt Lake City, Utah. After that she had three more open-heart surgeries, two caths and two stomach surgeries.
She is a miracle! I have lived in the hospital more than at home over the past two years. In two months, she is going to her final heart surgery, if all goes well. We pray to God everyday that she will live many years.
I have been in three different Ronald McDonald Houses in three different states. I am so thankful for them! They truly give me a home away from home while dealing with my daughter’s illness. We thank you!
God bless the house and all of the families with a special girl or boy. Remember, God has chosen us to be their parents and we are blessed every day that goes by.
Veronica
Unfortunately, stories like the one above are the reality of a multitude of families living at the Ronald McDonald House. Fortunately, people like you support the mission when participating in the Gallop Event!
Ronald McDonald House Charities of Spokane is indebted to Gallop’s Sponsors, Donors, Committee Members and Stallion Owners for their support in both the RMHC mission and Gallop Auction.
You can be a part of the RMHC family. You can make a direct impact on the life of a child today. Ronald McDonald House Charities of Spokane looks forward to seeing you all at the Gallop Stallion Service Auction on Sunday, January 27, 12 noon for a “Fun-raising” event. For more information about Gallop or the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Spokane, please contact Barbara Turner at 509-990-4167.