The Watch Lake-Green Lake Gymkhana is part of the fabric that makes up life here in the South Cariboo.
Touted as the longest-running gymkhana in British Columbia, the event is a draw for competitors and spectators alike with its picturesque treed surroundings.
“It’s certainly the longest one we know about,” said Enid ‘Dimps’ Horn. “I know we have ribbons from the 50s and 60s. We don’t know historically.”
Shorty Horn, Neil Livingston, and the Gammie family are some of the names that come to her mind when asked how the gymkhana got its start.
The original location was on the old Green Lake stampede grounds where Jack Boyd used to hold the Green Lake Stampede.
“That was way before my time, that would have been in the early 1900s into the 20s,” she said. “In those days that was lots of the entertainment because this was really country then.”
It was in the mid to late 60s when the gymkhana moved to its current location on North Green Lake Road.
“We ran it there without any buildings, or without anything. We just ran it out there on an open field,” Dimps said. Back then, there was no community association. The families in the area pulled together and ran it as a community event until the Watch Lake/North Green Lake Community Association (WLNGLCA) was formed in the 70s.
At this time, the association applied for grants that enabled the construction of the buildings on the gymkhana grounds.
Now, every summer on the second Saturday of July and August the gymkhana takes place. The event continues to flourish and in 2022 organizers saw around 85 participants sign up, more than ever before.
Horn said the main events are divided by age into seniors, intermediate, juniors and peewees. The novelty events are open to any age except the lead line and peewees as the competitors need to get on and off their horses.
The events at this year’s July gymkhana included barrel racing, pole bending, stake race and the keyhole race. Two novelty events, the boot race and the three-person team baton relay, rounded out the afternoon.
“It’s all fun,” she said. “Every one of them is fun.”
Events like the Watch Lake-Green Lake Gymkhana are a good place for young children to learn. The entry fees aren’t high and there is a wide variety of events they can try out. The lead lines class is designed to let these younger children feel like they are part of the event and to keep them interested in participating in horse sports like gymkhanas while they are still young. “They’re there with their family. They pay their entry fee and they get little prizes,” said Horn.
Plus, it is competitive.
“Anybody can win a race at any time. It’s not like ‘oh that person wins over and over and over again,’” she said. “You can knock over a barrel or a stake, it doesn’t matter how good you are. Everyone, once in a while, that happens.”
Horn has been the face of the gymkhana for several years now. She said it had come to a point in time when she decided she should not be the only person to know everything. So, in March of 2023, she decided it was time to hand the reins over to new organizer, Jolene Fremlin.
Fremlin said when Horn asked her to take it on she was definitely interested.
“I really wanted to keep it going as it has been going on for so long and we had always enjoyed it.”
Competitively, her kids have been going to the gymkhana for around six years. Watching them compete and having fun and playing with their friends is a highlight for them.
Horn noted that their sponsorship has been fabulous, one of the key factors in the continued success of the event. Equally important is the great group of volunteers who help out every year.
“We have somebody that runs the beer gardens, we’ve got a lady that does the concession, another group, the Women’s Institute does the bake sale. Somebody runs the gate and then we have the people that help at the arena. There’s a couple of judges, a couple of timers, our announcer,” Fremlin said.
Fremlin herself used to be the whipper-in, the person who stands at the gate to tell people what the order is and to get them into the arena in a timely fashion.
Many of the people Free Press spoke to in making this publication said the Western lifestyle is in danger of being lost. Fremlin said she and her family were at a Little Britches Rodeo this summer. “One of the main things there is that you have to wear Western attire. So boots, jeans, button-up shirt, hat in order to even be in the arena or in the area that competitors are in,” she said. “And I think that that’s important, because if we don’t do that, then those things will be lost. There’s less and less people that are cowboys and living that lifestyle. And so yeah, it’s important to keep it going.”
In the case of the Watch Lake-Green Lake Gymkhana, part of the longevity comes from the families who still support the event even though they no longer compete and just come to enjoy a hamburger and a visit with neighbours. Just to get together, renewing their friendships every year.
It’s been the second Saturday in July and the second Saturday in August for eons now.
“Seeing everybody and watching the kids grow. Lots of the adults were there as kids. The Pincotts and the Teichgrab family and the Gammie family - we still all get together and just look forward to the day,” said Horn.
