another year another horse fair ~ 2 of 2

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
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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.

not my video (8 mins)

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
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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. 

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This closed out MWHF 2026 for us. We headed home tired, with sore feet and happy hearts.

another year another horse fair ~ 1 of 2

Midwest Horse Fair was last weekend. For some reason my enthusiasm for it has waned. Perhaps from decades of attending, evolving changes or just plain ol' getting older. I used to be super duper excited about, and spent Fr/Sa/Sun at Fair. It was easy going back and forth. We only lived about 15-20 minutes away. Those days are looong gone. Now we are about 40-45 minutes away, and get in and get out.

It has become such a busy weekend. We have another annual friend event that always falls on the same weekend. I questioned if we should even go this year and considered giving away our rodeo tickets and three-day entry. I am very glad we did not!

pac-man cloud, about to eat hedgehog & rabbit!

The weather at Fair can be hot, cold, sunny, rainy and almost always windy. Many times all in the same weekend. This was one of those weather fluctuating weekends. It kept people away. Especially on stormy Friday. The day we spent the most amount of time there. Which included attending the PRCA rodeo that night!

I wondered how the rodeo would feel after recently seeing the best of the best at Finals in Vegas. In one word it felt immersive!! I have never been so close to the action! For the first time, we had front row seats. The seats were you get random mud flung on you. Riders whiz past an arms length. Some hang out inches from you. Bronc riders come right at you hanging on for dear life. Bull riders jump the fence and almost land in your lap. Hoping the madder than a hornet big ol' bull chasing him doesn't also jump the fence, and take you, the bull rider and the cute toddler next to you out.

Never a dull moment in the front row of a rodeo!!

Sorry, I do not have any of my usual rodeo action photos to share. I made the decision to leave my real camera at home, because of predicted strong storms. I would have been way too close for most of them anyways. I was so immersed in the action, I did not even take any phone photos of the competitors.

The couple sitting next to me were friendly and knew the well-known award winning rodeo clown, John Harrison. The seat between us remained empty, until the clown jumped the rail and sat between us. When the action got too close, the dad held their 10 month-ish old son close.  

John Harrison & his amazing horse Peanut

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They always include entertainment snippets at our PRCA Rodeo. IMO this year a lot of the acts were lame-o. Walking horses and waving at the crowd. Many acts were more about their outfits and riding in the dark wearing lights.

there was a gal singing beautifully in the balcony

Impressive outfit, horse, and waving...but surprisingly not moving to the music. Meh.

I felt bad for the excessive amount of controlled movement the beautiful Friesen's were asked to do, alllllll the way around the arena.

I had high hopes when I saw them come back out with chariots. Nope.

even the drill team wore lights

Thank goodness this drill team did a lot more than wave! 

My favorite entertainment act was the Garrocha pole!! It has always fascinated me. Apparently Garrocha is part of Working Equitation competition.

Cavin Graham & Showgirl
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We also attended a couple clinics, and briefly watched a cattle sorting competition. It sure looked like fun! As far as shopping we ordered a couple things, but otherwise came home empty handed. The second half of my MWHF post will follow :)

spring pastures

After Winter, most everything outdoors needs tending. Including Spring pastures. We were catapulted into Spring, now everything needs to be done ASAP! Impossible. Instead, we chip away at an endless to-do list and get done what we can. The rest waits for our attention.

Safety comes first. Brad removed a broken pasture fence wire, before someone got tangled up in it. Hope wasn't sure what to think. Silly girl. Note; she is still shedding out. 

Video's were taken from our deck. Sound up if you want to hear our aviary.

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everyone is talking...

...about the weather. It is a hot topic right now. WI weather has been severe for extended days, with more to come. Heavy rain downpours, thunder storms, strong winds and tornado's have placed WI under a State of Emergency. We finally bought a generator. I will sleep better once it is installed.

Weather affects everyone differently. Many not far from us have lost roofing, had building damage and giant trees uprooted. The WI river is above flood stage. Dangerously causing flooding and damage along all the connected water ways. I feel for those evacuating to safety.

You cannot tell we have had severe weather by looking at our land. So far, our trees/woods remain unscathed. Rain quickly soaks into our sandy soil. There are some benefits to living in sand country. It has turned our fields lush and green. The photo below was taken before this week's deluge of water falling from the sky.

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Along with all the moisture, we have already had several hot and humid (yuck) days. Spring is springing on rapid fire!! 

hyacinths return in a variety of colors

I continue adding a few bare root trilliums to our Enchanted Forest area each year. I hope someday to see them bloom!

returning trilliums

My garden daffodils are blooming fast. I cut some stalks that heavy rain bent. Naturalized blooms are just starting to share their cheery color and delightful scent throughout our land. 

my daffy bouquet smells wonderful!

Scenes from the road:

fields and hills of gold
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I marveled at these yellow magnolia trees. They can be finicky, but apparently not this Spring.

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