There is one thing that Midwest Horse Fair does every single year, and that is make me/us think deeply about our lives with horses. Many times, it is the clinicians that foster rooted thinking.
heading in on the cold day (Sunday)
Every year fair clinics are offered in many disciplines. Mostly the beginning stages of training or riding. Some years we watch just for fun, or to fill in-between time with whatever catches our attention. With an older herd, most clinics are not applicable to our horses.
Now we have Hope. I looked for something close to where she is at in her training and found it with Ryan Rose. A local WI trainer. I've never paid much attention to him. Throughout the three fair days, he presented a colt starting series and also some reining clinics. We could not attend on Saturday and watched the beginning and the end of his colt training series. It would have been nice to follow the whole series, but they always spread them out.
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The horse Ryan did the colt starting demo with name was Pickles. Not his horse. He talked about the mare being left-brained, and not liking being told what to do. He pointed out many of Pickles signals. Ryan is really good at reading horses!
In uncomfortable situations, I learned when horses rub their faces on their legs they are releasing a stress hormone. There is an area on the side of their nose that gives them an endorphin release.
Laying the Foundation
4.17.26 (11 secs)
4.17.26 (22 secs)
He talked about letting horses commit to their mistakes and rewarding the slightest try. He briefly did a "Find your Herd" game with Pickles. I was busy watching, but found it on YouTube. It is a long one.
I also found it interesting he works side pass along the outside of the round pen, where horses feel less boxed in.
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Sunday's Clinic was Accepting a Rider. This was new to us:
Turn Face and Follow
4.19.26 (6 secs)
Hope is three and knows much of what was shared, both days. She is pretty much at "accepting the rider" stage. I get asked a lot, no I will not be getting on her back first ~ or anytime soon. Watching these clinics reinforced Hope's training to date, and gave Brad a couple new ideas. We plan to watch more of what Ryan has to share together. Maybe even try the paid Patreon thing.
Both of us really enjoyed watching Ryan Rose's clinics! He has a mindful approach, puts the horse first and is easy to understand. No showboating and a funny guy! The humor he sprinkles in makes watching and learning entertaining.
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Right after watching the above clinic, we hustled over to another building to watch Ryan compete in a Working Equitation Cattle Sorting Trial competition. The presenter was Adrienne Dymesich, also from WI. She is new to me/us. We liked her and will be watching for more from her. Adrienne train's, breeds and has an active family ranch with clinics.
Ryan is wearing the black hat
We missed seeing the winning group sort, a Chilean Horse Team. The Rose group took second.
4.19.26
This closed out MWHF 2026 for us. We headed home tired, with sore feet and happy hearts.
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