Sunday, February 15, 2009

Horse happenings in VT

We're on the backside of winter, so at this point area horse happenings start to appear on the calendar. One fun event is Everything Equine, which will be held at the Champlain Valley Exposition grounds in Essex Junction, VT on April 25 and 26. It's a two-day event featuring demos, vendors, guest speakers and a horse performance show on Saturday night. I always find the presentations very interesting and helpful ... you get to hear the latest on feeding, pasture maintenance, supplements, medical issues and more from experts. Definitely a worthwhile event for anyone interested in horses.

The second event already on my calendar is the Whispering Pines 4H Club's annual tack sale. Scheduled for May 9 (also at the Champlain Valley Exposition), the sale gives everyone a great shopping experience and the opportunity to buy needed items at bargain prices well before show season kicks in. There's usually a good selection of consigned clothing, footwear and saddles, plus an assortment of other horsey items ... things for kids, halters, brushes, blankets, etc. We got a beautiful leather halter and lead for Dude at the sale one year at a bargain basement price.

It's a consignment sale, so a portion of the proceeds go back to the consigners, but a portion also supports the efforts of Whispering Pines 4H, a very active horse club in our area. I've started going through the "pony pile", the collection of plastic storage boxes in our basement, and have a pretty good assortment to take to the sale. As the date gets closer, there is usually an ad in the Burlington Free Press outlining the consignment procedure; in recent years they've had a Friday evening drop-off for sellers that minimizes the craziness on Saturday morning.

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