Area horse show helps raise money for diabetes

Taking care of a horse is pretty tough, 10-year-old Clint Heuer says.

Giving himself two shots and four needle pricks each day? That's a piece of cake.

Clint is the inspiration behind the eighth annual Midwest Regional Futurity and sixth annual Heartland Jubilee Horse Show that was held Saturday at the Flickerwood Arena in Fruitland.

More than 300 people bought tickets for the event, which had 219 entries.

The profits from the event will be donated to the Diabetes Youth Fund at Southeast Missouri Hospital. In five years, the horse show has generated almost $12,000 for the program.

The Heuer family has been raising and showing horses for as long as anyone can remember. Dave Heuer picked up the passion from his uncle, who is 91 years old. Dave then passed on the interest to Jeff, whose young sons already are showing horses.

The Heuers have been heavily involved with putting on the event every year.

Five years ago, when on Christmas vacation, the family started noticing signs of diabetes in Clint. He was losing weight and had to urinate frequently.

"His grandma is the one who said we needed to check for diabetes," Jeff said. "And we did. We found out his blood sugar was real high, 600 something, and they put him in the hospital."

Clint remembers the stay. It was scary, but he said he got to play a lot of Nintendo. But he had to miss the second half of his kindergarten year.

On Saturday, there was no way to tell that Clint, a Cape Girardeau fifth-grader, had anything wrong with him. He was wearing a shirt and tie, the customary dress for showing horses. He also had on a baseball cap, which comes off once Clint's inside the ring.

"It's not a pain," he said of his diabetes care. "It's real easy. I just have to give myself a prick and a shot a few times a day and watch my blood sugar."

Jeff said he thought of trying to use the horse show as a way to raise money for youth with diabetes while he was in the hospital with his son.

According to Chuck Stotz, the executive director of the Southeast Missouri Hospital Foundation, the money is used for diabetes education in the Cape Girardeau School District, for educating grandparents on the disease and for Camp Day Break, a day camp for children with diabetes, ages 6 to 12.

The Midwest Regional Futurity is one of five futurities -- shows for young horses picked to compete before birth -- in the country. It is sponsored by the Tennessee Walking Horse Breeders and Exhibitors Association and showcases horses up to 3 years old.

The older horses are spotlighted in the "Heartland Jubilee."

The event drew horses from several states, including Florida. It drew a crowd of over 300, which was not bad considering the heat of the day and Flickerwood's lack of air conditioning.

Erna Schattauer, a Cape Girardeau resident, attended the event for multiple reasons.

"We have a handicapped son and we brought him because he really enjoys the horses," she said. "And we have a 11-year-old granddaughter who has diabetes."

bmiller@semissourian.com

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