Michelle Gibson and World of Dreams

Two 10s and the Diamond Stud Award - Page 2

Richard Cannon and his wife Meryl Cannon own the stallion ‘Diamond’ and operate Diamond Legacy Breeding. The couple presented the award to Gibson. Mr. Cannon explained the concept of the award. "We’ve been looking for a way to reward the riders and give them an opportunity to keep an award. So often the awards are given to the owners and to the people that are financing the horse’s career. It’s nice to see the rider, who sometimes is not the owner, actually get an award they get to keep. We believe that the Diamond Stud Award will be a source of pride for the winners of the award. When they go into the arena, you can see that they’ve achieved the very best score in the highest level of competition in the past and you should be looking for additional great performances from that particular rider."

The Cannons presented the award for the first time in 2001 at the Paxton Farms CDI in Batavia, Ohio, and presented it twice more last year. "This year we did it the first time in Burbank at the National Freestyle Championships CDI," said Mr. Cannon. "We’re giving out the award at virtually every CDI competition this year, so other CDI riders will have an opportunity to compete for the award."

So far, the Diamond Stud Award has been presented to Sue Blinks, Shannon Dueck, Gina Smith, and now, Michelle Gibson. The diamond stud itself is removable from the pin so the rider can also wear it as an earring.

Not only do the Cannons want to reward riders, but they are also smart marketers for their breeding operation. "We believe that CDI competition is the best of the best in competition and we wanted people to learn to associate the best of the best with our stallion Diamond, who happens to be a stud, and hence the Diamond Stud Award," explained Mr. Cannon.