A busy president

Press, 14 March 1980, Page 10

A busy president

This year’s president of the Methven Agricultural and Pastoral Association (Mr Alan Hampton) will have every reason to look back on the early part of 1980 as a particularly busy time. He is also president of the Canterbury area of the New Zealand Horse Society, which last month hosted the Horse of the Year Show in Ashburton.

Saturday’s show marks 17 years for Mr Hampton as a committee member of the association. He farms 280 hectares of Barrhill with three sons. The farm is devoted to cropping, with the emphasis on small seeds. One thousand ewes are carried also. Much of his time is devoted to horses, as can be guessed from his role with the New Zealand Horse Society, but it has not been a continual interest, though it has ' spanned many years. He was keen with horses in his early 20s, he says, but on moving from Ellesmere to Barrhill 27 years ago he rid himself of all his gear. “I thought I would never see the back of a horse again, but it was not to be,” Mr Hampton said. As his family grew, so did their interest in riding and jumping, and through that, he has found himself •even more involved than in his early days. He is also a council member of the national society and is a New Zealand selector for horse trials.

He was responsible for luring the Horse of the

Year event to Ashburton and for attracting the Australian team back to the area to contest the special event planned for Methven on Saturday. It is of the same class as .the Horse of the Year contest, and the $4OO prize money has attracted 18 entries, among which are some of the best combinations of horse and rider in the South Island. Mr Hampton for many years has been ring-master at the Methven A and P. and that best explains this year’s feature horse event. ' He said that he had al-

ways endeavoured for the president of that year to use the ring for his own speciality: “Whether it be sheep dog trials or whatever . . . well, this year it just had to be horses.” Once an active golfer, he has been club captain of the Methven Golf Club, but finds time a little short of late to pursue that interest. He would also be ' well known to rugby and horse-racing followers. He has represented MidCanterbury at rugby, and is a committee member of the Ashburton Racing Club.