2008 Equine Affair, Ohio

What happens when 4 friends from Northern Ontario meet up with 4 friends from Southern Ontario? Well, we have to go to Ohio for the 2008 Equine Affair, Wednesday, April 9th to Monday, April 14th 2008. Makes sense to me. Denise and Peter Chandler were the leaders of the pack... organizing the van, the hotels, the tickets and much more that we sure appreciate.

The drive to Ohio was enjoyed by all with many stops, my favorite being The Cracker Barrel Restaurant in Pennsylvania. Any hope of watching waistlines on this trip were hopeless. We had our hotel rooms in Ohio about 7 miles from the Fair Grounds. Every morning, after meeting for breakfast, we set our for the Fair. Some of us tried to keep track of our Northern Buddies, but it was so easy to get side tracked... several events taking place at the same time, shopping till we could hardly carry our bags. Sometimes we would see our cohorts at the other end of an arena with many, many breeds of horses, all disciplines you can think of from Reining, Dressage, Drill teams, on and on.

We were very fortunate to get to see the Extravaganza on the Thursday evening. Thank You Denise for that as the tickets were sold out for all of the next shows. Stacy Westfall was just magical riding her shiny black horse without saddle or bridle. Not even a string around his neck. We were again, fortunate to see her that night as she did not ride for the other shows.

Clinton Anderson, a young Australian cowboy was very entertaining with his teaching skills. He had the audience enraptured with his expertise , wit and charm. There were so many great horse aficionados there that we were saturated with information. At the end of the day,we would meet up at the van and head out for supper, horse talk all the way... showing off our new purchases, telling each other about who and what we had seen. Then listening to what others had learned. We were like kids at Christmas... dog bone tired at night and up to run all day again.

So, eight people took a trip and got along so well; some not having met before, that I for one would do it all again in a heartbeat. We want to thank Denise and Peter for organizing, driving, being so patient, and for inviting us on this trip.

Sincerely yours, Brenda Presta-Moore, President, F.T.A.