Our Featured Volunteer of the Month is Nancy Anningson

We are pleased to have Nancy Anningson as our featured volunteer for September. Nancy’s daughter Sydney rides at Lancers. Sydney started in a Lancer camp in 2016 and then completed the junior beginner course and entered into the junior membership program. Over that time, Nancy has become increasingly involved in our community. She helps as ring crew at our training shows and at the Downtown Horse Show. Ring crew is a very important job at these events and although riders may not notice their efforts as much as they should due to being caught up in the excitement of the show day, we really could not run these events without our ring crew. Nancy is also a great painter and puts that skill to work during our annual August Clean Up. Last year Nancy helped paint the red stall doors. This year she took on the huge task of painting our two bathrooms and the hallway. It took her a full eight hour’s day of work (and a few juice boxes) but the newly updated bathrooms look great so all Lancers should be thankful that she pitched in to do this!

We’re fairly certain too that we’re going to see even more of Nancy now that she has just started the Adult Beginner Course! Nancy used to ride as a child from the age of 8 to 13 and put herself on the waitlist for the adult course. She had the opportunity to ride Bud at our Christmas Parent Ride and is now looking forward to getting back in the saddle more! In the future, Nancy told us that she would like to keep riding regularly and maybe even lease a horse at Lancers one day! On that note, we asked Nancy about her favourite horse. She admitted that while it used to be Sarge, her favourite horse is now Mato because he is just so snuggly! Nancy certainly enjoys being around the horses at the barn.  When we asked her what she enjoys most about Lancers, she said “the horses but the people are awesome too but I really, really love the horses”.

While Nancy volunteers in other parts of her life (for instance, she is the treasurer for another organisation), volunteering at Lancers is very rewarding. “It is always rewarding to lend a hand”, she added, “but I can also see the horses”. In this vein, Nancy also mentioned how her and Sydney are feeling after our unusual summer. She explained, “we always felt lucky to be at Lancers but we are feeling incredibly luckier because of the scare. Sydney really missed [riding and the horses] and we didn’t realise how important it is in her life until we missed it.” We’re sure that many in our community would share a similar sentiment.

Well, just as our riders are lucky to have their horses, we are fortunate to have volunteers like Nancy in our midst. Together, everyone in our community works together to make Lancers this incredible place. We look forward to seeing Nancy (hopefully) carry on with her ring crew and painting volunteer work and maybe even find something new as she becomes a Lancer rider herself. When not volunteering at Lancers, Nancy likes to hike, downhill ski, and jog. She is currently working at the Ecology Action Centre as their Coastal Adaptation Senior Co-Ordinator. Nancy explained to us that Nova Scotia is creating a coastal protection act and the centre is conducting workshops on topics like sea level rises!

Thanks, Nancy, for your volunteerism!