Today I made my annual pilgrimage to Equine Affaire out at the Fairplex in Pomona. Equine Affaire is an annual convention featuring vendors of various equine-related products, equine organizations, various clinics et al. In short, one big horse convention. :-)
In years past, I've been able to find some good deals on horse supplies and tack and it provided an opportunity to socialize with some of my scattered horse-friends. Also, there's the Breed Barn where the various breed associations bring out some of their horses to display- it provides a nice opportunity to see up close and live some breeds of horses that you would otherwise only see in pictures (although I've been lucky in that regard because of where I board.
Unfortunately, the poor economy has also taken it's toll in the equine industry and for the past few years, there's been less vendors coming out and seemingly a lot less for sale (which is probably a good thing for my bank account).
This year, unfortunately, was a big disappointment. I took today off from work and went out with a friend to see what was going on. I'm not a big clinic fan (just doesn't hold my attention to be honest- too far away from the clinician and the stands are not conducive towards learning- give me CDs or something) so we pretty much worked our way through the exhibit halls.
One of the things I always buy at Equine Affaire is Hylasport jount supplement for Max. Hylasport is made by Horsetech and it's a pretty decent product- it's really helped out Max. The vendor didn't have the Hylaport with teh Devil's Claw that I've been giving to Max but he did give me a special rate and said they'd mail it out to me (this was the president of the company so it doesn't get any better!).
Beyond this, all I bought was a T-shirt from Broken Horn Saddlery and naturally we had to have lunch and that blew a big hole in the wallet as expected (on top of the $16 admission and $9 parking). Well, at least it wasn't pouring down rain like last year! :-)
The Breed Barn was a bit of a disappointment- there wasn't anything compelling to see and for some reason it was heavy on Tennessee Walkers (not that I don't like Walkers) and not much else. The Friesan people only broght a 1 year old so there wasn't even a full-grown one to look at. Oh well, maybe next year...
Probably the most intersting thing was looking at horse trailers (not that I can afford one right now) but my friend pointed out a lot of stuff to look for and I was really able to see things in a different light. Unfortunately, cheaper is not necessarily better and while there were some relatively inexpensive models, they had various issues. It seems like some of the best are the ones made by Logan Coach. Oh well, I can dream...
Overall, probably the nicest thing was running in to various horse-friends, some who I hadn't seen for awhile. Otherwise it was a big disappointment. Maybe next year...
P.S. Looks like it wasn't much better when I went to Equine Affaire in 2009.
In years past, I've been able to find some good deals on horse supplies and tack and it provided an opportunity to socialize with some of my scattered horse-friends. Also, there's the Breed Barn where the various breed associations bring out some of their horses to display- it provides a nice opportunity to see up close and live some breeds of horses that you would otherwise only see in pictures (although I've been lucky in that regard because of where I board.
Unfortunately, the poor economy has also taken it's toll in the equine industry and for the past few years, there's been less vendors coming out and seemingly a lot less for sale (which is probably a good thing for my bank account).
This year, unfortunately, was a big disappointment. I took today off from work and went out with a friend to see what was going on. I'm not a big clinic fan (just doesn't hold my attention to be honest- too far away from the clinician and the stands are not conducive towards learning- give me CDs or something) so we pretty much worked our way through the exhibit halls.
One of the things I always buy at Equine Affaire is Hylasport jount supplement for Max. Hylasport is made by Horsetech and it's a pretty decent product- it's really helped out Max. The vendor didn't have the Hylaport with teh Devil's Claw that I've been giving to Max but he did give me a special rate and said they'd mail it out to me (this was the president of the company so it doesn't get any better!).
Beyond this, all I bought was a T-shirt from Broken Horn Saddlery and naturally we had to have lunch and that blew a big hole in the wallet as expected (on top of the $16 admission and $9 parking). Well, at least it wasn't pouring down rain like last year! :-)
The Breed Barn was a bit of a disappointment- there wasn't anything compelling to see and for some reason it was heavy on Tennessee Walkers (not that I don't like Walkers) and not much else. The Friesan people only broght a 1 year old so there wasn't even a full-grown one to look at. Oh well, maybe next year...
Probably the most intersting thing was looking at horse trailers (not that I can afford one right now) but my friend pointed out a lot of stuff to look for and I was really able to see things in a different light. Unfortunately, cheaper is not necessarily better and while there were some relatively inexpensive models, they had various issues. It seems like some of the best are the ones made by Logan Coach. Oh well, I can dream...
Overall, probably the nicest thing was running in to various horse-friends, some who I hadn't seen for awhile. Otherwise it was a big disappointment. Maybe next year...
P.S. Looks like it wasn't much better when I went to Equine Affaire in 2009.
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