Equine Affaire (but not too much so you horsey people wouldn't get too bored)

We left Columbus at 4:23 pm april 4^th after checking out of our hotel a day earlier than we had thought. the Equine Affaire was very good and we saw lots. We didn’t see as many clinics as we had hoped. The times of the clinics and the distance between the buildings was more often easier said than done. We also found out through some reliable sources that some clinicians were just not worth seeing. So we also adjusted our schedule to fit that.

The EA hosted many, many booths of very interesting stuff. Lots of horse tack, lots of horse nutrition and a slew of other interesting things. We walked miles and miles (see Monica, I told you you should have come! J). The first day we went home exhausted but happy, and much more knowledgeable about what to bring. A bottle of water in the fair grounds was 3.00 and a dough pretzel was 4.00. Those were the cheapest and by golly these cheap Mennonites were not going to pay that much! We found out later that the Expo grounds govern how much these concession stands charge and they are not allowed to charge any less. Sad but true.

We met up with Paul & Robyn Dyck who were exhibitors at EA with their product, Equifacesaver. Monty Roberts was there at the EA and endorses their product and does a demonstration with it. It was cool for us to see as we have see their product since the beginning and for someone so famous to endorse it and demo it was really kinda cool. For those of you who are unsure of who Monty Roberts is I will tell you. He is the original Horse Whisperer. The man who listens to horses. He is 74 years old and has trained horses most of his life. He travels all over the world (but lately mainly in Europe) showing his technique known as “join up”. A training technique Chris and I somewhat use in training and working with horses. We learned some new techniques and can’t wait to use them. The techniques he used and how quickly the results were brought tears to my eyes. Sometimes in life we tend to “talk” too much instead of listen.

At EA, we all enjoyed the breed pavilion and very much enjoyed seeing all the different breeds we read about in Julia’s breed books. To put a “face” to some of these breeds was really neat for Julia. She couldn’t get enough of the different horses! She has a truck load of pamphlets and information I’m sure she will go over and over when she gets home.

As the weekend came closer the crowds grew and grew. We were so thankful to have gotten there on Thursday. The crowds on Saturday were bonkers and that helped to make our decision to leave a day earlier. That and the impending weather warnings in the areas we planned to travel.

We watched the Extreme Cowboy Race and really enjoyed seeing it in person as we’ve watched it on Tv only a few times. Little did we know we would be having dinner with the founder and host of The Extreme Cowboy Race, Craig Cameron. Him and his crew are good friends with Paul & Robyn.

Robyn later took us to meet some of her friends (or family on the road as they sometimes call them) they included Rick and Dianna Lamb (Rick is a famous horseman and Dianna is involved in television and has acted in some movies.

We went to dinner with Paul & Robyn and their friends on Friday and had a lot of fun. We felt honoured to be having dinner with these fine folks. We shopped (more like window shopping), visited some more booths and walked and walked. Saturday was just making sure we didn’t miss anything and to say goodbye to Paul & Robyn and the others we had met. Brandon winter fair doesn’t hold a candle to EA, both in quality and price. We are so glad to have went and maybe next year Chris will be a participant in the Extreme Cowboy Race!

Equine affaire Pictures