Horse art, horse jewelry, horse fencing, horse embroidery — if you wanted something, anything, to do with the four-legged creatures, you almost certainly found it at The Mane Event equine expo over the weekend.
Oh, and there were actual horses too.
Back for its seventh year in Red Deer, The Mane Event drew tens of thousands of people in with an extensive trade fair and top-class instruction catering to the equine community.
Sessions over the three-day event were led by American show jumping icon George Morris, Canadian dressage Olympian Tom Dvorak, and many others.
Alongside the training sessions was a trade show so popular many would-be exhibitors had to be turned away due to space constraints.
“We have crammed booths into every possible spot in this building,” said organizer Gail Barker from her temporary office at the Westerner.
Barker, of Kamloops, has put on a similar show in Chilliwack for 10 years, but the shorter-running Red Deer show has long proved more popular, this year drawing people from Alaska, the Maritimes, and across Alberta and Western Canada.
“It’s nice to see that the horse business is so strong in Alberta.
“It’s a real passion for people here,” explained Barker.
The Alberta Carriage Supply booth at the expo displayed what one might have expected to see at a equine fair 150 years ago — horse-drawn plows, carts, carriages, and pioneer wagons.
The Calgary-area business brings in such equipment built by the Amish of Ohio.
Dale Befus, owner of the title ‘horse to equipment interface specialist’ with the business, said its goal is to help people put their horses to work.
“There are so many people, they’ve got a fat horse looking over the fence and they’re driving the tractor. So why not put the horse to work,” he said.
He said interest in the old-fashioned equipment is increasing anew in Alberta.
The company even does a few mountain treks a year with a convoy of the pioneer covered wagons.
At the Equine Reflection/Equine Enrichment booth, meanwhile, Angie Payne and Chantel Schmidt were telling people how horses can be therapeutic. Certified as an equine gestalt coach, Payne uses horses to help make people feel whole.
She said horses are like lie detectors, only agreeing to work with a person if the person’s internal and external feelings are in sync.
At the show for the first time, Payne said more and more people are coming to realize how horses can be used for personal healing.
mfish@www.reddeeradvocate.com