Midwest Horse Fair 2016 ~ 1 of 2

Midwest Horse Fair was blessed with the most beautiful weather possible. Sunny and 70's ~ all three days! I think the sudden change & above average weather may have actually worked against attendance. It was visibly down, especially on Sunday.

I swung by fair on Thursday while vendors were setting up and picked up a saddle tree to try on Cierra. As planned, it was Brad's turn to order his forever saddle from Reed Tack. It will be completed sometime early next year, and totally worth the wait.

Tree fitting Cierra

Friday was all about getting our shopping done. We got a smoking hot deal on Nemo's Horseshoers Secret, and came home with a year's supply. Brad typically carries four buckets, and I carry two, allll the way out to the truck. By the time we get there, our arms are at least 3 inches longer. This year we found out the vendor offers complimentary transportation shuttle out to your vehicle (and back) and has for years! Who knew?!! 

I bought a replacement fly mask for Koda. I had given his like new one to Nemo, who is still having a hard time with allergies. I ordered a custom holster from Reed, of course it will match my saddle. That was it for my purchases. 

Brad's shopping revolved around showing. He got a nice buckskin felt hat and a handy-dandy Brute Rope tie stall for Ms. Cierra. We found an awesome deal on a rolling saddle/tack cart, and bought the last one. They were a hot item.

We spent time all three days consulting with various vendors that we've never had a need to talk with before. It was sooo interesting and gave us a lot to consider. I'll share more, when the time is right :)

The Friday night PRCA rodeo was exceptionally funny. We've had the same great announcer (Kelly Kenny) and funny clown (John Harrison) for years, they play off each other so well. Below the clown had borrowed a little girls hat from the audience and after running around with it on his head, and various other places, placed it on the announcers horse...guess you had to be there.

The little six year old that sang the National Anthem was amazing! That kid needs to be on the Little Big Shot show, and share her talent with the world. 

Cowboy/girls rode proud & loud. No bareback broncs tho, which was odd. They didn't have many bull riders either. Maybe they were trying to shorten the rodeo up? Who knows. 

Here are some rodeo & entertainment highlights:

What goes up...

Must come down...

The pick-up men are fast & fearless...

Some cowboys got a high flying re-ride...

When the bulls are spinning & doing handstands, it's a good thing to wear headgear...

There is always entertainment infused between sections of the rodeo. Below is Aaron Ralston working a steer. Notice anything unique (click pic if you are curious)? 

Of course Guy McLean amazed us all. I have to admit I was surprised to see the identical (or extremely similar) presentation that he gave years ago. Regardless, it was great to watch him perform again!!

They circle together, he leaves the group of three & then rejoins in-between.

Below is part of the (in-place) rocking horse routine.

The horses intentionally don't line up...

...and when they do, it's impressive!

We were lucky, he performed right in front of us.

To be continued. I'll share some observations & tips from a few clinics we watched in my second post.

Midwest Horse Fair 2015 ~ 1 of 2

One of the most obvious things to appreciate about Midwest Horse Fair this year was the impressive building improvements made to the fair grounds. The two new pavilions are gorgeous! You can count them with one hand, building one or building two. Gone are the ten plus random buildings scattered throughout the grounds. It was always a guessing game to know which one you were in and/or hoping to find. The new pavilions go on forever, for this event they housed all the stalls and two (of four) arenas.

outside a huge new pavilion (L)

The round coliseum building stayed intact, hosting the main shows and an enclosed side arena. The Alliant Energy Center remains as well, it holds a sea of vendors. This year fair attendee's were also blessed with gorgeous weather, all three days!!

My clinic reviews are going to sound a bit similar, as we really only watched one clinician intently. I can't even believe it myself, but Jim Anderson was that good. He was clear, consistent, and happened to be sharing much of where we are in our horsemanship journey. There was no show boating, cute phrases or distracting stories. His clinics were not about entertaining the audience, they were about teaching the way he handles horses. Jim was accompanied by his wife Andrea, who clearly is an accomplished horsewoman in her own right. Their handling timing was impeccable, throughout all four clinics we watched.

Of course we caught bits and pieces of other clinics, but I've learned it's not fair to review unless you watch the whole thing. We never saw Pat Parelli, and only watched a small portion of Julie Goodnight, Aaron Ralston and Al Dunning clinics. Our daughters friend rode in Jonathan Field's clinics, from what I saw I liked how he worked with the three gals/their horses. Much to our surprise, a dressage presenter drew us in. It was so refreshing to watch Matt McLaughlin take the seriousness out of the discipline, and share sheer joy while he talked about/did impressive dressage test moves with a big smile on his face.

We also enjoyed a Double Dan "Mastering Flying Lead Changes" clinic, but understandably it was different this year. Dan James was wheelchair bound, after a horse fell backwards on him and severely broke his leg. I commend their valiant efforts, and yes the funny was still infused. It was so sad to see Dan out of his norm. A vivid reminder, accidents can happen to even the best horseman. Unfortunately, to add to an already confusing subject, my notes disappeared! I was taking them on the new Midwest Horse Fair app. I used the app a lot, and for the most part it worked very well. I'll share the progression if I can make sense out of what I remember.

Every year fair is different, and yet some things are not. We watched the same One Arm Bandit buffalo routine from previous years, not once but twice (by default). Here it is, again: 

where the buffalo role

One Arm Bandit
(standing on a mule, turning & firing a gun,
with two buffalo on top of a trailer)

One of the reasons we don't enjoy the Saturday night shows anymore, is we have already seen many of the acts earlier during fair. However, the main reason is they've made the show so darn hokey! We thanked our lucky stars we didn't buy tickets when we saw the Fairy God Mother act previewed at the rodeo. But after I saw video and photos of my favorite trick riders doing their different Saturday night acts, I realized I missed out on some amazing riding and spot light photo opportunities. Guess you gotta take the good with the bad. Watching both evening shows makes for long days, and we opt to see the rodeo. With that said below are a few shots from the Friday night PRCA Rodeo, which is always good!! 

To see other select rodeo shots, click here. I'll post details on what Jim Anderson shared, some fun shopping finds and my overall reflection in my second review post. Until then, stay in the saddle!

Midwest Horse Fair 2014 - 2 of 2

In addition to the presentations and general overview in my Midwest Horse Fair post 1 of 2, something has to be said about the sheer variety of shopping at Horse Fair. Vendors are everywhere, inside, outside, around the side - not really sure if we saw them all, but we browsed a lot and visited with our favorite vendors. 

Anyone looking for a cute kids sparkly pink cowboy hat (besides the kids) or any non-horse related items like a "whip-o-matic" (why are these even allowed)? We weren't either. Was it possible to attend fair, and not buy anything?? I was beginning to wonder if that was going to be the case, as we headed home empty handed on Friday. 

That night I thought looong and hard about my conversation over the years with Reed Tack, and the difficulties I am having with my saddle.  It's not news that I need a different saddle, one that not only fits my horse - but fits me. We got into the nitty gritty saddle details this year, and learned some new things. We own other items made by them, and know first hand the quality craftsmanship and honest integrity they put into their handmade products. Even with all this, I was on the fence until my wonderful husband encouraged me to order a saddle. I don't think I would have ordered otherwise, but I did. Gulp! It's scary to order the unseen, and custom anything is expensive. Thank goodness we don't pay for it all at once. Nothing is as expensive as not enjoying the ride, or worse yet hospital and/or vet bills. Presents for the next however many occasions from him are officially well covered. I still can't believe I ordered a saddle! It won't feel real until I ride in it, which won't be for 13 months. It's a long quality process, and there are many orders to fill before mine, however it will be worth the wait - and this will be the one I have forever.

I also made a much more modest purchase, a HipKlip bag. It made me so happy to be hands free, that my husband thought I was simply ridiculous!

Guilt was setting in, and there was no way we were leaving Fair without something for Brad. On the last day, I steered him towards a nice straw cowboy hat that was on his wish list. He also picked up some Brute Rope reins, and ordered the same stirrup's I will be getting. I could see the interest in his eye's when we were putting together the saddle order. If I was a betting person, I bet he'll order his own saddle from Reed one of these years. In the end, I think we pulled off some wise purchases again this year!!

Of course there are dreams yet to fill. We walked in/out of many trailers, and I didn't like a single one - until I got to the last one. Has anyone ever heard of a "Merhow" aluminum trailer?? We haven't either, and we look at trailers every year at Fair & in our travels. Wow, the craftsmanship was different and it was a smart use of space. Instead of wasting empty space, it had storage tucked in everywhere. It will be many years before we can afford to get one, and have time to use it. I'm keeping this trailer in a reference file, just incase this dream ever comes true. Hey, it could happen?!

Merhow Trailer interior

On a different note, they held a PRCA Rodeo both Friday & Saturday night. The rodeo is usually only in town one night, on Friday's. This year they held it both nights, and Saturday night's rodeo sold out all 10,000-ish seats. I brought my big ol' camera to the rodeo for the first time, here are a few of my favorite shots:

 

Saddle Bronc Rider

Dan James - Saturday Night Performance

 

Wisconsin Bull Rider (high point!)

Jessica Blair

Bareback Bronc Rider

Dan James - Friday Night Performance (spinning)

Jessica Blair

If you are interested in viewing a few more of my favorite rodeo photo's, click here

Thanks for joining me in wrapping up another enjoyable year at Midwest Horse Fair!!