Equine Affaire Massachusetts Highlights

What’s not to love about a single destination where you can watch trick riding and liberty demonstrations, shop ’til you drop for horse gear, learn from expert equestrian speakers and clinicians AND see horses—from Percherons to Mustangs to Minis? Earlier this month, I attended the annual Equine Affaire extravaganza held in West Springfield, Massachusetts at the Eastern States Exposition Center. It was a four day feel-good event that every horse lover should try to attend at least once (if you don’t live near New England, there’s a spring Equine Affaire in Ohio <wink, wink>). What follows are some highlights from my time spent with fellow horse fans over the course of the long weekend, November 7-10.

I’ve always wanted to be a hand model.

Equine Affaire Massachusetts Highlights: the Misty Statue

This year I attended Equine Affaire as one of several authors of horse books, signing copies and meeting readers at the Taborton Equine Books booth. My travel partner, the Misty of Chincoteague replica, was there promoting my Marguerite Henry biography, Marguerite, Misty and Me, and joined in the merriment. It was pretty cute to see little kids stop at the Misty statue and pet her and talk to her. I took countless group shots of families and friends who paused to greet the palomino pinto.

A sweet grandmother and granddaughter with my book.

Before I dive into the Equine Affaire recap, allow me to provide a little background on the Misty statue. My friend Margo, owner of Saddle Up Clothing Company, surprised me last year for my first Equine Affaire. We had met the year before on a boat off Chincoteague Island watching the pony swim while I was researching for Marguerite, Misty and Me.

Margo and I became fast friends, united in our love for horses, Midwestern-ness and interest in all things Chincoteague. Well, Margo had a black colt lawn ornament in her yard and she envisioned transforming it into the famous filly from the story Misty of Chincoteague. Margo looked up historical photos of Misty to get her pinto markings just right. Last year Margo carried the statue across the expo center with an arm around Misty’s chest and one around her rump—her maneuvering of the pony looked EXACTLY like the Saltwater Cowboys ushering the Chincoteague foals into the auction ring during Pony Penning Week. (I witnessed it again this past July lol!)

This year, Misty got a platform that looks like a beach with concealed wheels underneath. A trip to Hobby Lobby provided marsh vegetation for the foal’s realistic habitat flora.

Note Misty’s beachy platform.

CLICK HERE to shop Marguerite, Misty and Me, Horses Adored and Men Endured and the rest of my horse book collection. Horse books make great gifts!

Shopping at Equine Affaire

Speaking of wheels, some attendees pulled wagons—not just for children, but for their shopping bags. Equine Affaire is THAT good of a place to snag all the horse-related things you need for yourself or your horse or your horse-loving friends. Multiple expo-style halls contain vendor booth after vendor booth. I saw people walking around with bags and lunge whips, totes and buckets. There were saddles, bits and bridles for sale. Horses too!

I’m a huge BOTORI and PJ (the owner) fan.

Because I was at the event to sell, I tried to rein in my shopping. There were big name retailers like State Line and boutique vendors alike (such as Dark Horse Chocolates—the sample I tried was amazing—Impressions of Saratoga, Redingote and more). I am a big fan of the BOTORI Life line and snapped up a new pair of Adler breeches in a beautiful espresso brown. A stylish olive green belt caught my eye—you rarely see green belts—and I brought that home with me too.

This storybook is REALLY good.

Speaking of shopping, my author friend Kathy Simmers had her own booth and was selling copies of her gorgeous horse-themed picture books. Her new release Pickles for Christmas is a story featuring a boy and a special pony—it’s based on a true story. Actually, all of Kathy’s horse books are based on true stories. I’m not a crier, but her first two titles, Jump the Moon (about her adult daughter’s search for a pony from her youth) and Posey’s Problem (about a pony who keeps getting sold because her riders outgrow her) made me cry—in a good way. They’re very sweet.

The beautiful Saddle Up booth is built with reclaimed barn wood from Margo’s family farm in Minnesota.

Saddle Up Clothing Company, owned by Margo of the Misty statue, welcomed horse fans with its fun signature T-shirts and cozy sweatshirts. Catch phrases such as “I just want to… ride horse, watch sunsets and take naps” or “I can’t go to school, my horse needs me,” have resonated with Saddle Up shoppers (established in 1999). I own the “Equestrian” sweatshirt in oatmeal and it’s super comfy. I don’t wear it to the barn because I don’t want my horse Knight to slime it, but when I’ve worn it out and about, I get compliments on it.

My Saddle Up sweatshirt. So cozy! And it now comes in green too.

Equine Affaire Food

I try to eat somewhat healthy, so going to an event held at a fairgrounds makes that kind of hard. However, I discovered the most delicious baked potato shop and tried that out two days for lunch. The baked potato was hot possessing the perfect interior texture. The first day I had just a plain potato with chives and butter and sour cream. The second time around I ordered the chili topping. Come to think of it, I could go for one of those potatoes right about now.

Saturday night, before the Fantasia (the equine musical review), I ordered a dill pickle pizza slice. I have to admit, I’m a pizza aficionado—it’s in my DNA as a gal from Chicagoland (land of THE best pizza—shout out to Lou Malnati’s). I needed to grab something quick before the performance began. I was about to order a plain cheese slice when the guy at the pizza stand told me I should try the dill pickle pizza. He could tell I was skeptical, and he pointed to a building far away from where I was standing and explained during the summer fair, the line for dill pickle pizza would be all the way over to that building. How could I say no to that?

I tried the pizza, and it was good. I’m not sure I was in love with it enough to stand in a line stretching across the parking lot, but at least I could say I tried it. (By the way, Trader Joe’s used to have dill pickle popcorn in a bag and I loved that.) I am sorry I didn’t think to take pictures of the food. Next time!

I attended a bit of Sydney Collier and Heather Wallace’s seminar. I’m smitten by Sydney’s dog Logan.

One night, I joined author friends Heather Wallace (The Timid Rider) and Natalie Keller Reinert (prolific author of the Eventing series, Ocala Horse Girls and more) at the Storrowton Tavern for a fine dining experience. I ordered the Yankee Pot Roast which was billed as a “traditional New England favorite.” It was tasty. I need to point out here how my mind was blown that in the middle of a fairgrounds an upscale restaurant exists. I’ve never seen anything like that in the Midwest (or California). lol

Fantasia: a Crowd-Pleasing Celebration of Our Relationship with Horses

And now for the finale of this blog post—a summary of the equine-centric show Fantasia. The Fantasia was about two hours long with performance after performance of tricks and moves that made me think, “I am such a mediocre equestrian.” lol!

One of the most exciting displays was a six-horse team of Percherons jingling around the arena looking so proud and strong. And then, a team of six miniature horses trotted into the arena and melted the hearts of probably all the attendees. The large and small teams showed off their stuff in a type of carriage pas de deux.

Are you team Percheron or team Mini?

Then there was a trick rider troupe. A Roman rider seemed to float effortlessly on two horses’ backs—a foot on both horses. Then the Roman rider, a man with Fabio-esque locks flowing as he swooped around and around, performed a series of lifts with his female partner. She pointed her toes and stretched out her legs ballerina style while in her partner’s arms, then gracefully landed both feet atop the inner horse.

Various performers did moves I don’t know the names of such as leaping off a cantering horse and then immediately climbing aboard the horse. I knew things were getting serious when one of the guys with a luscious mane stopped to put his hair in a bun. lol He then did the dangerous around-the-world style flip where he twirled underneath the cantering horse and came up on the opposite side. (Don’t try this at home, kids.)

There was a reining champion who performed dizzying twirls on his Quarter Horse, and a Grand Prix dressage rider who did an engaging freestyle to a rap/hip-hop mash up. When she dropped her reins and held her arms out in a flourish while her horse did tempi changes across the diagonal, I was flabbergasted. There were some heartwarming liberty presentations, one with a Mustang.

Guy McLean performing the sidepass over his horse. lol

Renowned horseman Guy McLean performed a hilarious routine that was an homage to The Man from Snowy River. He “barrel raced” around three horses who stood in a triangle, cracked a few jokes and sidepassed the horse he was riding and his two other liberty horses over one lying down. (I was blown away by this feat as I’ve been trying to learn some working equitation moves and my horse Knight is suspect of trying to sidepass over a rail on the ground. I joked I would practice that over our friend’s small Haflinger mare.)

By far the cutest act was a troupe of tween and teen girls with miniature horses that did drill-team like figures, but all in hand. I thought, What great exercise and teamwork! It was nice to think about those kids working hard together to accomplish a goal of equine unity. Earlier in the day, I had met a mom of one of the handlers and she was very proud of her daughter and the team. I regret not getting any pictures of them.

In summary, Equine Affaire is a feel-good event where you will meet fellow horse passionate folks, enjoy learning about other disciplines and shop until you drop. If you have never been, mark your calendar for next year, and I hope to see you there. Tally ho!

Psst!!! At the time of this writing, we’re only 140 days away from Equine Affaire in Ohio. Get more details here. 

Thanks for reading this Equine Affaire recap blog post! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed reflecting on a sensational time in New England.

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