Riding tall
Alexa Shillington held the Circle J Ranch flag proudly during the Capital Cowgirl’s training session Tues., May 21 in preparation for their fundraiser barbecue and silent auction June 15. Glover photo

METCALFE – Every Tuesday night, the Capital Cowgirls drill team is hard at work, practicing new formations and patterns at the Circle J Ranch for their upcoming Showcase Fundraiser and barbecue on Sat., June 15, and other future events.

“This is a going to be a lunch time event with a barbecue, a silent auction and it’s free admission for families,” said Capital Cowgirls coach, Jen Byvelds. “All the money raised from the event will go towards the team to help fund different costs of the coming year. We’ll be upgrading the team uniforms, getting full cowgirl chaps with the fringe, and covering travel expenses, as well as other little expenses.”

The team has some exciting appearances to make in the coming year, expecting to cover the cost of 10 days of events this year alone. One of the major, and most exciting, events they will be travelling to right after their showcase event is the Sunset Ceremony for the RCMP, where they will be opening for them all four nights.

“There’s 15 of us on the team, so we need about five trailers to get all the horses,” said Byvelds. “Our trip to the RCMP Sunset Ceremony in Ottawa will be a big one, it’s a great honour to be opening for them again. Upper Canada Village will probably also be our farthest trip for Horse Lovers Weekend. We don’t charge going to these events, we also go to all of these fairs, free of charge, so we really just make our money through fundraising and this showcase is our biggest one.”

The team has also been working on some new formations and drills for the upcoming event with a new batch of horses and members to keep the audience engaged.

“Every year, we have new members and new horses,” said Byvelds. “We try to mix it up every year to keep our audience entertained and not anticipating the same routine over and over again. There’s going to be a completely new routine, while also incorporating some new acrobatics and trick riding.”

The Capital Cowgirls fundraiser and barbecue will be completely free of charge for admission and held at the Circle J Ranch Sat., June 15 from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.