2013 NW Horse Fair and Expo.

We drove down to Albany, Oregon, on Friday. For the Horse Fair and Expo. I went with Judy and Carol. We left around 8:45am, it takes about and hour and a half to get to Albany from Camas, Washington. 

We got there and there werent any clinics we wanted to watch so we went shopping!!! We shopped for like 3 hours! and then had soup in a bread bowl for lunch, had to sit outside and eat our lunch, boy it was cold and windy.  Here we sat down, inside, for a rest and had a piece of pie! I had Chocolate cream, Carol had berry, and Judy had bread pudding. It was very good! LOL

Across the aisle was this booth showing off the extreme trail course that they have, indoors, down there in Eugene, Oregon. We watched the videos playing while we sat there. Lots and lots of shopping at this show! Fun fun fun! We looked at all the horse trailers, some campers and lots of tack and clothing! We talked with the NW Parelli group, they were very nice! and we got free DVDs.

The reason I wanted to go on Friday was to see Mark Bolenders clinic. I like his style and he starts everyone on the ground with the extreme trail obstacles. He works in the Natural Horseman style and is quiet and really good with the horses. He told us a couple years ago he had only been riding for 15 years! But he is great! and funny to listen to.

 He had four people, on the ground sending their horses over or through obstacles like, the balance beam, a raised box platform, poles, scrambled poles, and a couple others. It is on my bucket list to go ride with this man! And do extreme trail.

 Then we watched the Stallion review. Friesians, Appaloosa, Quarter Horse, Welsh, Mustang, Gypsy Vanner, Paint. A lot of stallions.  I dont remember all their names! LOL I wanted to write them down, to remember them for the blog, but didnt.
The first Friesian stud. Both of these were very high scoring certified breeding stallions.

 A Kiger Mustang Stallion.

 Hard to get pics! LOL The second Freisian, one of them is Rembrant.

I think this guy is a Freisian/shire?/Paint cross, looks a little like a Vanner.

 This is the Gypsy Vanner. I still dont understand the price of these horses, as they are considered "grade" horses in Europe. They are pretty!

 We went back inside and seen this cute little girl! She is probably 5 or 6! So cute with her fuzzy chaps!! ( I didnt get her face on purpose)

 The start of the All Breed Trail Challenge.

 It didnt seem as difficult as last years.

 Fun to watch for the most part, this being the second class, a lot of the horses wouldnt do some of the obstacles. They take the top 5 people out of each class. They had one class Thursday night, this one on Friday, two on Sat. then the finals on Sunday. Some of the obstacles were, enter and mount, push a large ball through cones, the half wagon wheel, the tarp and bridge, leg yield, stop and get a ball from the helper and toss it into a garbage can from horseback, back through and around 4 poles( everyone did that different, hard to tell what was wanted) carry an egg in a spoon around two poles.
For the finals they must do harder obstacles. I say that, but I know its not easy when you are doing it!
They all are doing this for time also!                                                                                                          Tarp and bridge

 This was where they threw the ball.

 Wagon wheel

 Quite a few of these young girls rode bareback. NO way could I get on bareback without something to stand on! LOL

 This is the Egg and spoon

And my big purchase of the day! I went down there, remembering there is always a booth that has thousands of conchos! (and chinks too, I so want a pair! LOL) I wanted new ones for my bridle, and it has four, two at the brow and two at the bit. So here is a preview! I will show you what they look like in the next post! The one on the right is what my bridle had on it, just plain steel ones. I like the stars and these new ones are nice quality and thick. I think they are German silver, but not the cheap Indian looking stuff. They have a little bit of brown antiquing on them too. Costed me $6 a piece. I was happy! The only other thing I bought was a cool old looking "no hunting" sign, at the same booth!

Another fun year at the Horse Expo. I have been going to this one for over 15 years!! It always has a good variety of clinicians and breeds of horses and lots and lots of shopping! Two buildings worth! LOL
We stopped at Olive Garden on the way home and had a bite to eat! Didnt get home until Midnight! Horses were hungry, Hubby was tired! (he waited up for me) Fed and then came in and went to bed.
Great day with good freinds!!!