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www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday December 5, 2007 - 9 Give yourself the gift that will last. Join now ­ start in 2008! Your first 20 pounds are on us!* Lose your First 20 lbs. Canada's largest weight loss chain with over 350 centres. FREE PHOTO COURTESY OF LORNE SIEGLE ALL JUST PART OF THE JOB: Oakville horseman Lorne Siegle as a young man. OAKVILLE WEST 1500 Upper Middle Rd. W. (3rd Line, Sobey's Plaza) OAKVILLE EAST 380 Dundas St. E., Trafalgar Rd. (in Longo's Plaza @ Trafalgar) OAKVILLE SOUTHEAST 511 Maple Grove Drive (Sobey's Plaza) 905-469-4532 905-257-2404 905-618-0058 Oakville horseman vaults into Jump Hall of Fame By David Lea OAVILLE BEAVER STAFF www.herbalmagic.com * Start immediately or wait until January 2008. Approximately $150 value. Based on the purchase of full program, excludes products. Not valid with any other coupons, specials or promotions. Valid only at participating centres. His skill as a rider led him to victory at countless horseshows, some of which commanded audiences that numbered in the thousands, but for Oakville horseman Lorne Siegle it was all just part of the job. Siegle rose to prominence as a professional rider during the late 1940s, a time when the sport was largely dominated by the military. During this time, he trained and rode horses with a patience and grace his peers referred to as nothing short of astounding with his prominence even rising to the point where he was presented with a ribbon by American President Dwight Eisenhower. This lifetime of achievement in the equestrian field was honoured earlier this month with a gala dinner at which Siegle was jumped into the Jump Canada Hall of Fame. "It's a huge honour for me. That's all I can say," said Siegle. "To me those things were just part of an ordinary day's work." Born in Hespeler, Ontario in the 1920s Siegle began his riding career at the age of 16 when he got a job riding horses for horse dealer Stu "We couldn't get enough of watching him and trying to learn by seeing what he did, how he rode, how he trained his horses and how he looked after his horses." Torchy Millar, two-time Olympian Houlding. Every weekend, Siegle would go up to Houlding's stable in Guelph and put the horses through their paces while potential horse buyers watched. This weekend hobby gave way to a full-time job of maintaining a stable, but it was not until Siegle began training and riding horses that his true calling was revealed to him. Siegle's first victories in exploring this talent occurred while working for the Cudney family in the 1940s, when Siegle dominated the show ring by commanding breathtaking performances from the horses War Bond, Kudos, Hell's a Poppin', Panama and Copper King. Wendy Ceccarelli, who looks after Siegle and his Oakville stable, described the riding style Siegle used to bring him so many victories. "Horses known as jumpers have to clear every jump and there is a time limit involved. Horses known as hunters have to go over the jumps, but they have to look good doing it," said Ceccarelli. "What they said about Lorne is that while riding a jumper he not only cleared the jumps fast, but he did it so gracefully it was like he was riding a hunter. That's why everyone would look at him because he rode so beautifully." Two-time Olympian Torchy Millar also has high praise for Siegle, which was revealed during Siegle's Jump Canada Hall of Fame induction gala when an interview with Millar was shown on a giant television screen. "He was the person that myself and Ian (Ian MillarEight time Canadian Show Jumping Champion) would always watch," said Millar. "We couldn't get enough of watching him and trying to learn by seeing what he did, how he rode, how he trained his horses and how he looked after his horses. It was a great learning experience to see him." In another interview during the gala, Olympic Designated Course Designer David Ballard actually attributed the rise in the prominence of show jumping in Canada to Siegle and other pioneers like him. "It was a gentleman's sport before the war and after the id Alerts Canada Inc. See It's page 10