Saturday was spent in Columbus, OH at Equine Affair. We packed up Friday after work and spent the night in Dayton before traveling on to EA. Arrived as they were opening, which was great - good parking still available and the crowds had not yet arrived.
My overview of Equine Affair Ohio vs Hoosier Horse Expo Indy:
* Equine Affair was much bigger - more vendors
* Equine Affair had more demos going on and more spectators watching the clinics
* Equine Affair had more English tack, clothing, and supplies for sale than Hoosier Horse Expo
* If you are looking for BLING, cowboys, and Western gear - go to Hoosier Horse Expo
We have attended HHE for the past 6 or 7 years and it just seems to go more Western every year. It is close for us and fun...we see people we know. We always come away with purchases, don't get me wrong, but when you are looking for Dressage and or Eventing stuff you have to seach and usually not find.
Lex and I went with a list to EA and came back with everything on it. What we bought:
- White Tuffrider Full Seat Dressage Pants for Lex (for shows only, girlie!)
- White Kerrits Sleeveless Shirts for Lex and myself (with the stock tie loops)
- White Stock Ties for Lex and myself
- Black Dressage Coat for me
- Fun, pretty blue Tuffrider Schooling Dressage Saddle Pad for the Diva
- Green full wrap, with velco closures, tail bag for Diva (to keep the poop stains off her tail when traveling to shows)
- Lex bought herself a belt buckle and lanyard
We plan to go again next year and hope to attend for two days. We didn't get time to watch clinics, except for a few minutes here and there. And I was very sad that we never ran in to Emme & Miranda of ipickcrazy and hard-2handle. I feel like I know this mom and daughter team and so much relate to them, through reading their blogs.
Much fun - crazy busy!
6 comments:
You should have stopped by and had dinner or picked me up and taken me with you:) you had to drive right by my house. I would love to take you up on the taking that you offered. It sounds like you can relate and offer wisdom that I need right now.
I was super bummed not to run into you guys either. I tried to keep my cast as uncovered as possible the I kept having to cover it bc of the rain. Hopefully next year we run into eachother.
I'm so jealous of your great shopping! Sounds like a wonderful event.
We've been going to the Pomona EA here in the LA area for more than a decade. The event was cancelled this year, but Horse Expo stepped in at the (relatively) last minute and put on an event the same weekend in the same location.
Our experience was the exact opposite of yours! EA had gotten smaller and smaller and was finally nearly all western while Horse Expo was BIG with lots of English clinics and tack. In fact, we got to see a wonderful clinic by a well-known German trainer.
Equine Affaire won't return to Pomona, but thankfully Horse Expo already has their 2013 event scheduled. We don't really care which company hosts, we just want an event! We look forward to the trip every year and make our lists a month in advance. Glad you had fun! :0)
Karen
Amy - I don't know how wise I am, but would be more than happy to listen and share.
Miranda - people in wheelchairs probably thought I was stalking them at EA!
Carol & Speedy G - it was fun! So wish our Horse Expo was more geared toward English.
We will meet some day I am sure. Sounds like we should make the trip to Hoosier too.
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