Horse Fair 2012

Watching the Breed Pageant, she LOVED the Fresians!

Last weekend I took Big Sister to the Hoosier Horse Fair at the Indianapolis State Fairgrounds. The Hoosier Horse Fair is an annual event in April and horse lovers around the state flock to the event. I remember when my Aunt and Grandma took me to the Hoosier Horse Fair when I was younger. The place used to be PACKED, not just with visitor but with horses, booth vendors, and demonstrations. The program alone was like a mini book at least 20+pages long.

I remember Stallion Row, having TONS of different breeds of horses! It was a dream come true to see all the different types of horses I'd always read about in my horse books. My favorites growing up were the Thoroughbred and Bashkir Curly Horse. I was somewhat disappointed when we arrived this year and Stallion Row only included about a third of the horses that it used to. Big Sister didn't seem to mind at the lack of variety, but I couldn't help be feel bummed.

Painted Saddle Horse at the Breed Pageant.

 Not only was the Stallion Row population lacking, the variety in vendors and the amount of vendors was limited as well. I remember going home with BAGS of swag, my FAVORITE booth to visit was the Thoroughbred Racing booth, they gave away tons of stuff, including Blood Horse Magazine, which became my most prized possession for YEARS growing up. The Quarter Horse booth always had awesome posters as well, with beautiful photos of every color of horse possible. I used to plaster my room with posters I'd acquired from the fair, it was awesome!

My tired Cowgirl!

There also used to be horse items for sale of every variety and I DREAMED of the day when I had my own horse I could buy things for at the Hoosier Horse Fair. This year my mission was to find a pretty detailed blue halter for Rusty. I was also disappointed by my selection. I found a nice blue halter, but nothing like I'd seen from my childhood.

The COOLEST demonstration ever at the Hoosier Horse Fair was the 6 Horse Draft Hitch Competition! It was the HIGHLIGHT of the whole event! The Draft horses were MASSIVE in size, almost unreal, and they would take 6 of these horses and hook them together under harnesses to pull a large stag coach. It was BEYOND awesome to see the raw horse power pulling the coaches. The horses were always perfectly well behaved and acted like true professionals. They would get a least 5 or 6 of the hitches to pull around the Pepsi Colosseum all at once. The thundering of the hooves and the jingling of the bells along their harnesses made a permanent impression in my memories. This year was the second year in a row that they did not hold this epic Competition. I am bummed that Big Sister missed out on seeing the giant horses, but I can only hope that they will be brought back again in the future years.

I don't know if it just me, being an adult now and seeing the reality of places instead of looking at the world through a child's eye, but the Hoosier Horse Fair just didn't have the WOW factor anymore. I know a lot people are blaming the deterioration of the event on the economy, maybe that's it, maybe it's not. My hopes is that the organization that runs the Hoosier Horse Fair works to improve the Fair next year. It sure would be nice to walk into the Fair and have the same WOW factor that had as a child.

Thanks for reading and have a WONDERFUL weekend dear followers!