EA 2011 (4) - Wrap Up

Overall, everything about Equine Affair this year was wonderful. I got to see some great friends, including miss Joyce Savage and one of my very first trainers! Along with some beautiful horses, great performances, and LOTS of shopping!

Speaking of shopping:

Here is the $35 blanket I got Sonny. Doesn't he look so good in it?

I think I mentioned it in the Texas Thunder post, but Saturday night I went to Fantasia. Fantasia is a event where you have a ton of different riders and horses with a bunch of different skills. Every year the Canadian Cowgirls drill team is there, along with some trick riders and Tommy Turvey showed up there for a few years. There is almost always a dressage act and a reining one. Along with those, there was a lady who did liberty with mini horses and some really neat driving acts!

There were also trick horses this year. Usually trick horses are pretty cheesey and I am not very interested. But this was totally different. Unfortunately, I can't recall his name, but he did such a good job! He had three horses. What made the act so cute was that the three horses weren't all one color and looking the same like most acts, but they were all different shapes and sizes! They had the best personalities, were so playful, and really liked what they were doing. Because of that, it turned out to be a really cute show!

Well, that's it for the Equine Affair pictures! Hope you enjoy!

EA 2011 (3) - Texas Thunder

I have seen lots of great horsemen in my life. All of them have their specialties and stand out in their own way. But, there is no doubt that Jason Goodman makes the top of my list.

I originally saw Jason and his team a six huge, black, gorgeous percherons at Rolex a few years ago. I have seen him a couple times since then and it just keeps getting better.

Jason puts on an outstanding performance. He and his team do everything with so much energy. Whether it be a big trot, gallop, or his signature "spin the top". "Spin the top" is a move where the horses perform a complete 360 degree circle while the cart hind wheels stay in place. Not only can they do it well, they do it fast! On top of all that, Jason has taken up Roman riding. What really gave me goose bumps was that

a) He was completely bareback. It was just pure boot on the horses back
b) There was nothing holding the horses together.
c) They were so fast! It wasn't like he was just staying on the rail. They were turning and cantering and still all staying together!
To me, that is something special. There were a lot of other Roman Riding acts during Fantasia and there always are. The horses are usually held together by surcingles and almost always have "pads" on their backs to help their riders grip. Maybe I am wrong and Jason's act isn't so uncommon, but either way...I loved it!

I didn't get to video all of it, but here is some of Jason Goodman and The Priedert Percherons.

EA 2011 (2) - Drafts, Friesians, and Haflingers

For some reason, we saw a lot of "hairy" horses on Saturday.

First up was the Friesian demo. Oddly, I am not a huge fan of the breed, but there were a ton present at the show. I will admit, there were a couple that caught my eye.

The breed demo showcased a variety of Friesians. There were four or five doing dressage, but plenty of them were dressed up, too. There was one pulling a cart and one set was "Riding and Driving".

Next we got the chance to see the Clydesdales. WOW! What a site! I haven't been around many drafts before, let alone up close to a big hitch like this one. I may have gotten a little excited and taken an excess amount of pictures, but you can never have too many!

They all had such gorgeous faces and I was very intrigued by their harnesses. Unfortunately, I just missed taking a shot when the guy had a hoof lifted. Darn! It was such a cool shoe.

Here is a quick video I took. I am not sure why it is so blurry? I have an HD camera with an HD card; it looks fine on my computer and horrible when I upload it to youtube! Sorry about the quality!



I managed to snap a few photos of this big guy in the warm-up arena. Wintersong, anyone? His face markings were really neat; I wish I would have been able to get closer shot!

We watched the Haflingers in the warm up arena for a pretty long time, but it never occured to me to take pictures! I did get a few before they went on to present. There were so many, specializing in dressage, hunseat, jumper, western pleasure, reining, and more! There was one dark Haflinger, but for the most part they all looked the same.

I think that is it for the pictures of Equine Affair! I will be posting some about Fantasia tomorrow!

Equine Affair 2011 (1)

I had such an amazing weekend! and it wasn't because I didn't do any school stuff or work either. Okay, so maybe that was part of it ;).

All day Saturday my boyfriend and I spent that day at Equine Affair! I haven't been in a few years and had a really great time! We woke up super early, and got there at 8 A.M. in order to get a Steppin' Out. He is gorgeous (and for sale!)

I also got some pictures of the other breyers at the table.

Jasmine

Hansel and Gretel

Pecos

Once Upon a Time

Wish On a Star
After Steppin' Out was safely in my car, the shopping began. For some reason I had the idea that at things like Equine Affair and Congress prices were always higher than normal. At least at Equine Affair, this is not the case.

My big buy of the day was a medium weight turnout blanket for $35!! Can you believe that? It actually looks pretty decent, too! I am so excited about it. I will definitely post pictures when I get the chance to try it on Sonny.

I also bought a new pitchfork ($10), a new bottle of MTG ($12), a really nice pair of blue sport medicine boots ($35!!), and a cute T-Shirt ($17) that fits Sonny and I to a T (no pun intended). Admission was $28 for the both of us and parking was $6. Not including Steppin' Out, I think I got a lot for the money I spent! YAY :).

After shopping was over I did get a chance to see some horses. Here are some of the random pictures I have:

The new breyer horse Black Tie Affair. This guy was so old and cute!

Padre, a really cool Mustang Stallion. You can read more about him here.

A really neat looking pinto in the Jumper clinic we watched.

Last but definitely not least was maybe one of my favorite horses of the show! This is Iona Farm's To Bee or Not To Bee. Isn't he just adorable? He had two blue eyes and the cutest personality. He is for sale and I wanted to take him home with me so badly :(.