Second Time’s a Charm for the Mckee -Pownall Equine Services FEI Groom Appreciation Award

Dr. Ali Miletic, Molly Atkinson and Noah Muntwyler present Mia Malstrom, Caretaker of Nicole Walker's Falco van Spieveld with this week's Mckee-Pownall FEI Groom Appreciation award.

Photo by Ben Radvanyi Photography

The Classic at Palgrave Phase 2 CSI2* (May 24-28) at the Caledon Equestrian Park in Caledon, ON marks the second presentation of the Mckee-Pownall Equine Services FEI Groom Appreciation award.

Mckee-Pownall Equine Services are onsite at the Caledon Equestrian Park offering equine veterinary care focusing on: Lameness, Sport Horse Medicine, Pre-Purchase Exams, Dentistry, Preventative Health Care and Emergency Services, and have generously sponsored the new FEI Groom Appreciation award.

Throughout the 2017 show season at the Caledon Equestrian Park, during each FEI horse inspection, the Ground Jury will select a recipient for the Mckee-Pownall Equine Services FEI Groom Appreciation award which is based on turnout and presentation of their horse.

This week, ground Jury members Cathy Roy (CAN) and Gerald Kuh (HKG) selected Falco van Spieveld, a 12-year-old Belgian Warmblood Gelding owned and ridden by Nicole Walker, presented at the FEI Horse inspection on Wednesday May 24th by Mia-Antoinette Malmstrom.

Mckee-Pownall Equine Services has expressed that the inception of this award is a great opportunity for riders, trainers, owners and associated horse show staff to show their appreciation for all those important members behind the scenes.

Mia, who was asked to work exclusively with Nicole by her employer Cian O’Connor has been working with Falco van Spieveld since December of 2016. She traveled to the United States for the Winter Equestrian Festival located in Wellington, FL in January of 2017, to continue working with them both there.

With much of the sport offering long and laborious hours, it’s often a challenging task to stay motivated, but Mia says she keeps positive by simply getting up in the morning. She says “When you come to feed them (the horses) in the morning, they are always really happy to see you. The passion for the sport is a responsibility for the groom, Cian always says that it’s a groom’s responsibility to make sure they (the horses) are happy, when they are happy they perform…you need to always be their friend”.

It's with great pleasure that we congratulate Mia -Antoinette Malstrom as this week’s recipient of the second Mckee-Pownall Equestrian Services FEI Grooms Initiative. She was presented with a $200 prize money cheque along-side a McKee-Pownall Prize pack.

The next opportunity to vie for this prestigious award will be during the Summer Festival CSI2* Horse Show at the Caledon Equestrian Park, Aug 1-6, 2017.

In conjunction with this initiative McKee-Pownall is also pleased to introduce the 2017 Groom Appreciation Instagram Contest offering a $200 cash prize and a McKee-Pownall Prize Pack to the winner.

Full Contest details can be found at www.mpequine.com/groom-appreciation-contest-rules. For more information on the Caledon Equestrian Park, please go to www.caledonequestrianpark.com.

Photograph may be used one time only in relation to the above news item.