Every April, for as many years as I can remember, I've look forward to attending Midwest Horse Fair. For some odd reason, this year I could have skipped the whole thing. Neither one of us were into it, at all. All the things we have loved about Fair in the past, are still part of it. Good clinicians, shopping, visiting with other horse people, seeing friends, the rodeo etc. We pre-bought our usual three day pass, and only ended up going one day. I think our mind is elsewhere.
Clint Anderson was presenting this year, as was Al Dunning and a few other big names. We've seen these two in the past, and don't particularly care for either. We did briefly attend two of Butch Campbells Ranch Riding clinics. It was very noticeable that he didn't have his AQHA judge wife with him. She was the one who did the explaining why (aka teaching) last year. His clinics were not remotely informational to watch this year. You can only learn so much from seeing people ride around in circles. It wasn't just us, we heard others felt similar. We didn't bother going back to see his clinic series, the remaining two days.
I am in a bit of disbelief that we didn't even walk through the horse barns. I heard there were only a few Quarter Horse stallions & no QH breed demo.
We did get some good deals at Fair on needed horse/barn supplies: Nemo's annual supply of Horseshoers Secret, a large gallon of bug spray, some red flat back buckets (our double stall will not have auto-waterers) and a couple more forks. We found an unexpected deal on poly-wire fencing ($40 off a roll!!!) and lined up our Ritchie Waterer purchase with a show discount. We had a hard time deciding between one or two water openings. I picked our waterer up last weekend from a local vendor.
Check out this new hay bag on the market, called Orange Slow Feeder. We've looked at Hay Chix products for years, and just weren't convinced. Last show season Cierra used one of our trainers new small Chix bags, and it didn't hold up worth a damn. We think these folks came up with a better bag & system. Brad will be trying out their small bag this show season. We may end up getting larger bale versions for our place. Time will tell.
Friday night Rodeo was pretty good, altho the cowboys/girls didn't do so hot this year. I got a few decent bucking shots, but haven't processed them. Thankfully they featured a couple new acts. Click to enlarge for best viewing.
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| Jesse Peters |
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| Rodeo Pickup Man |
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| Madison McDonald |
5 comments:
I see your photos on Facebook now and they’re spectacular. You’re so talented. The moving will be over sooner than you think. It’s like a raging river you get swept up in and spit out on the other side all bruised up, and pretty sure you never want to do it again. 😂
OMG - what GORGEOUS photos Aurora!! I don't recall knowing your a professional photographer, but these shots just scream out talent!
Moving sucks. Absolutely. Take heart in the fact that this is the LAST TIME you'll ever move in this life! <3
Thank you for the kind photography comments! I usually mix different photos into blog posts, so they aren't all repeats from other social platforms. Didn't happen this post. Wish I could get out there & shoot more...my biggest obstacle. Once we are done with this moving fiasco, and our horses come home, I will have my favorite subjects outside my window to practice with!! I haven't moved much in my life, but for some reason this move is harder then those in the past. Likely surrounding circumstances, and I'm not a Spring chicken anymore!!
I have moved way too many times! So happy for you that you are about to be living your dream.
Those hay nets do look like they will be tough and durable. Like that they are orange too, easier to see id you are feeding on the ground.
As always, love your photos!
Beautiful pictures, you really capture great moments! I'm not a big fan of Clint Anderson at all, don't know the other guy.
Moving is a pain in the butt but once it's done I'm sure you'll be much more relaxed and happy. Just think of it as the last move ever and maybe it will go smoother. And just think of all the junk you'll be able to get rid of after so many years of collecting it.
As for the hay nets. I hope they work out for you. It's smart to only get the small one first and see how it goes. You might be interested in what we did or you might not, but if you're looking for a good solution for the barn here's a link to what we did: http://glenshee.blogspot.com/2011/01/hay-net-helpers.html
It's from my daughter's blog (which she doesn't keep up with anymore). We've had great luck with these nets that she thought of. They've lasted for years now.
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