Horse Expo

I took advantage of the kids love of horses (minus Nick's thoughts) and took them to the Horse Expo at the fair grounds. I took all four of them (not as bad as it may seem) to see the different exhibits and then to the rodeo at the end of the weekend.

Jasmine and Jayna loved seeing all the different horses and seeing the horses walking the streets. We had to watch where we stepped but Tony's eyes got big too when they walked by. Each kid got a few dollars to spend on what they wanted and Jayna wanted the hat you see below. Jasmine got yet another stuff horse to added to her family at home and guess what Nick got? FOOD!!!

I was grateful that there were trailers also there for sale and that kept Nick's attention. Once the rodeo started the kids settled into their spots, but the introductions seem to drag on and on. Tony was getting restless and fortunately the girls in front of us thought he was more cute than annoying. The opening horse runs caught Tony's attention for sure and he sat back to see the horses run through their formations.

The wild horses really got Tony's eyes wide and for a few moments Nick was excited too. I wasn't worried about Jasmine or Jayna they were glued to their seats with excitement. There were the traditional wild horses, roping the calves, ladies barrel racing and finally the wild bulls. The kids did a wonderful job at sitting in their seats and eating their popcorn. The popcorn may have been a mistake when Tony and Jayna had a little pulling match between themselves and popcorn went flying through the air, but once again the girls in front of us thought it was funny/cute to get showered with popcorn especially when Tony was saying hi.

The highlight of the show for Tony was when the Dodge truck came out with the barrels for the ladies barrel racing. He was on the edge of his seat pointing at the truck as it drove around the rink. I think he understood the idea of the ladies racing because he gets to see that almost everyday on one of Jasmine's many horse movies. It was almost like he understood what was happening.

They ended the show with a demonstration of what a stage coach would be like with the horses except the stage coach was being pulled by six of the largest breed of horses. It takes 2 hours to get them ready for the show. They are bigger than the Clydesdale horses and stand at 19 hands tall (over 6 feet tall). The kids really liked that part too.

So all in all the adventure was a success and I look forward to going back to it next year with the kids. It is really nice that the fair grounds aren't that busy so I recommend going on the Sunday rather than the Saturday for the crowds.