Horseman's Hall of Fame

The Virden Indoor Rodeo and Wild West Daze has established a Horseman’s Hall of Fame to honor local horseman who have made an outstanding contribution to the equine industry as breeders, competitors, committee members and in countless other ways.

This year’s inductee is Shawne Hagan.

As a youngster, Shawne grew up envisioning life as a cowboy. That is what he became – daily using horses while managing the cattle on his ranch. In the beginning he started out showing horses at local fairs and entering gymkhanas. His desire to be a roper led to him practicing on his dad’s cattle even when he wasn’t supposed to.

Now days any young person wanting to get involved in rodeo has ample opportunity to learn from the many accomplished competitors in this area. But when Shawne started out it was much different as he was one of only a few trail blazers in this area. To begin with he entered close to home – Miniota and Oak Lake rodeos. In his early years he spent weekends competing in rodeos in Manitoba and Saskatchewan with calf roping his main event.

In 1976 he became a member of the Manitoba Rodeo Cowboys Association and began competing at 20 to 30 of their sanctioned rodeos each year – in calf roping and steer wrestling. In the late seventies, MRCA began holding their finals in Brandon, with the top 10 in each event qualifying. Shawne qualified for that finals and continued to reach that mark for most of the next 20 years.

When the Virden Indoor Rodeo started in 1989, Shawn was one of the many people involved with the production of this event in its formative years. Shawne says one of the highlights of his rodeo career was twice winning calf roping here at his home town rodeo.

When the PMU industry expanded, Shawne became a producer. He continued that enterprise for 15 years raising quarter horses and draft horses.

In 2009, the first of 13 yearly Hagan Horse sales was held. Shawne and each of his sons, Alistair and Thomas and their wives, each consigned a select number of quality ranch horses. The sale was supported by buyers from across Canada and into the U.S. The sale horses were ones they had used in their every day ranch work, with a few competition horses added in.

As his calf roping days began coming to a close Shawne switched to team roping, often with his sons as partners. At this year’s rodeo, Shawn is partnered with his grandson Slade. After 50 years of roping – it doesn’t get any better than that.

In the carriage with Shawne are his wife Joceyln, and their grandchildren.

Congratulations Shawne on being inducted into the Virden Indoor Rodeo Horseman’s Hall of Fame. The award was crafted by Kelly Lyng and is being presented by Lonnie Brown

Thank-you to the Flower Attic and Gifts for donating Shawns boutineer.

Thank-you to the Gompf Family for providing the team and carriage for our presentation. This outfit was originally Garnet Gompf’s until his passing.

This year’s recipients are Darryl and Faye Horn of Bel Clyde Farms.

Darryl comes from a family steeped in horsemanship. His parents Ken and Elaine Horn showed a Clydesdale 6 horse hitch and when Darryl and Faye became Equine Ranchers in 1983, the Clydesdale breed was their primary focus. They added Belgiums to the brood mare band as they were easier to source. Thus, the name Bel Clyde Farms.

In the early years Faye spent hours in the barn helping tend to the mares on the line. As their children Carlanna, Crystal, and Brady grew, they joined their parents’ doing chores.

They began showing a 6-horse hitch of Clydes mainly in Manitoba and Saskatchewan and continued that endevour for much of 20 years.

Faye drove a team in Ladies classes but preferred her role as a barn person.

As Clydesdale breeders, Darryl and Faye take great pride in the success of other exhibitors showing horses raised at Bel Clyde Farms. Over the last 30 years virtually every major Clydesdale hitch in North America has at one time or another include horses bred by the Horns with one of the major customers being the renowned Budweiser hitches.

To highlight only a few of the successes others have had with Horns raised horses- the champion gelding team at the 2011 Clydesdale World Show were raised at Bel Clyde Farms. Three of the mares in the Champion Mare 6 horse hitch at the 2015 Clydesdale World Show were raised by Darryl and Faye and that hitch was again named champion at the 2018 show.

But in addition to being a successful breeder and exhibitor, Darryl’s draft horse knowledge has been utilized as a judge and a ring steward. He has judged over 70 shows stretching from Monroe Washington to Frederickton New Brunswick. He has acted as Ring

Steward at countless shows including 2 World Congress shows held in Brandon. He and Faye have been on the organizing committee of shows such as the Virden Draft Horse show and the Clydesdale Classic at Austin Thrashermans Reunion.

For the last number of years Faye has owned the Virden Flower Attic and Gift shop and has provided corsages for the honorees at this event.

The award is presented tonight by Virden Indoor Rodeo and Wild West Daze president Thomas Hagan and was crafted by Kelly Lyng

Thank-you to Silver Hills Percherons, the Spud Strain family for providing the team and carriage for our ceremonies. They were driven last night by daughter Maddy and tonight by son Dillon.

Each year the Virden Indoor Rodeo and Wild West Daze recognizes a volunteer who has made an exceptional commitment to the production of this weekend’s events by awarding them the Gerry Holmes Memorial Award. It is presented in memory of Gerry Holmes who was a dedicated leader of this event for many years, and is co sponsored by the Gerry Holmes Family and The Virden Indoor Rodeo and wild West Daze. This year’s recipient is Lyle Brown. 31 years ago, when the decision was made to add a Western Rodeo to the Virden Fire fighter Rodeo weekend, the committee turned to Lyle for advice. Lyle had competed on the Canadian Professional Rodeo circuit and his rodeo knowledge was invaluable.

The first few years were more as a trouble shooter and then he joined the committee where it was easier to help shape the direction the rodeo needed to go . He then brought some family and friends aboard with rodeo experience and a positive vision developed looking to the future of the event. Many of these same people or their families are still involved in the event today.

Lyle has filled numerous executive positions on the board over his 31 years of involvement. He was at one point vice president ,and then president of the Wild West Daze weekend. He also served for a time as chair person of the Rodeo committee. For many years his responsibilities included hiring the stock contractor as well as the various rodeo personnel.

The tremendous sponsorship support has been a huge part of this rodeo’s success, and Lyle was involved in the initial shaping of that program. At one point there was a ” Big 3 Truck Award” given to the Hi point cowboy or cowgirl from Selkirk, Swan River, and Virden rodeos and Lyle was instrumental in the development of that concept.

As well as being an accomplished rodeo competitor, Lyle is a purebred Percheron breeder and exhibitor, and as such was instrumental in bringing the Pennwoods Draft Horse Classic Futurity to the weekend, which has been well received by our fans. When the MRCA Finals needed to change their venue for a year, Lyle was at the head of facilitating it’s move to Virden. When the Manitoba High School Rodeo Association was considering hosting the Canadian High School Rodeo Finals, it required a substantial outdoor arena. Lyle’s vast experience in varied rodeo facilities made his input invaluable in the design and development of our outdoor arena. This let to Virden hosting the Canadian High School finals for a 3 year commitment and perhaps as importantly left this community with arguably the best outdoor rodeo arena in the province.

When you stop and think about it, there isn’t virtually anything about this rodeo weekend that doesn’t have Lyle’s imprint on it. Congratulations Lyle on being chosen to receive the Gerry Holmes Memorial award as this year’s outstanding volunteer. Lyle is accompanied in the carriage tonite by his wife Kathy. The award is presented by Gerry’s grandson Bo Brown. Our award recipients this evening are escorted in the arena by Bob Schroeder.

Thank you Bob for providing the team and carriage for the presentation tonight. Also Thank you to The Flower Attic and Gifts for providing the corsage and boutonniere for our honorees tonight