Ann was nominated for the award by the Iowa Trail Riders Association and the Great River Classical Horsemanship Association. The IHC criteria for the award are that the recipients should display the highest attributes of sportsmanship and their careers should be marked with honesty and a genuine effort to improve the conditions of horses and horse people. One of the many people who endorsed the nomination, her friend Nancy Grams, wrote:
Ann has been able to translate her love of the horse into a
hard-won knowledge of the horse, and then use that knowledge to help
the horse and to help people understand the horse. Through that
understanding her students develop the ability to communicate with
the horse in a way that builds a positive human-horse relationship,
which then allows their horses to live in a fear-free environment
where they can think and learn (instead of react). From this,
that she provides, horses and people are enabled to develop positive,
long-lasting bonds of trust. This is true horsemanship.
Pictured are Ann Bennett and some of the people that came to cheer her when she received the Horsewoman of the Year Award from the Iowa Horse Council. They are (left to right): Lora Conrad, Barb Schmidt, Kristi Schaaf, Ann Bennett holding her award plaque, Judy Duke, Lorraine Madsen, Lara Schenck, Art Duke, Denise Schieffer, and Ann's husband, John Bennett. (Photo by Kathryn Mettenburg) Others, in addition to IHC members, who came to support Ann but are not in the picture, were Randy Dillon, Dianne Lacina, Nan Barta, and Ann's brother and his family-- John, Mary Helen, Joe and Kathryn Mettenburg.
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