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U.S. Nationals
Meet the Volunteers
October 30, 2009
John Simmons
Off-Duty
For the past five years, John Simmons of Kearney, Missouri, has spent his vacation time from the police force to volunteer in the barn office at U.S. Nationals.
A cop for 36 years, Simmons has loved Arabian horses for about 20 years, and his wife married into the passion. Donna Simmons enjoys riding Western pleasure. Together they own three purebreds and three Half-Arabians. Simmons loves that he has made friends from all over the country through the years. "I have show friends all over the country and have met some really neat people," he says.
At this year's show, Gilberto Valdez showed Simmons' Half-Arabian yearling gelding Marc Of Chall REA (Magnum Chall HVP x REA City Psylhouette) in the HA/AA Yearling Colt/Gelding Breeders Sweepstakes Championship to a third-place finish on Thursday. Their horse held the reserve champion slot up until the last horse showed.
Simmons got his start in horses when he was a kid. His first horse was a Fox Trotter. His first Half-Arabian was Delta Dawn. "She was so gorgeous," he says.
Simmons also has served on the advisory committee for the American Royal Arabian Horse Show the past four years.
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