Photos from Equine Affaire

 The SPHO-OHIO booth was looking quite nice.  Here it is with Draken's ribbon banner.  They gave out coloring books, the USTA flyer that outlines the various organizations that they have partnerships with (including the American Driving Society), and lots and lots of candy.  Best and I were quite busy during the duration of Equine Affaire.  All total we did 3 "on-foot" demos (including a shoeing demo with Danver Childs), four driving clinics and 2 driven breed demonstrations.

Best spent some time on Thursday in the petting stall attached to the booth.  Since we were promoting the new USTA/ADS partnership he was in full marathon harness.  He did an excellent job and was very calm.

We also spent some time in the 'green pen' which was a demo area.  Several people came over to say hello as we line drived around the little square.  Again, Best did great and several people commented on his personality.

One thing that Best still seems to find amazing is riding horses.  He just loves to watch them.  Here he is watching Stacy Westfall and Vanquero doing a demo.

Mr. Best wasn't quite on his absolute best behavior but he did pretty darn good.  At one point there were about 30 horses (including a Haflinger drill team warming up) and he just kept walking.  Standing is still a bit of a problem under some situations - he'll try for you but get antsy.  At one point he stood quietly for nearly 20 mins while we waited for our turn in a clinic so it's not like he can't do it but when there is a lot of activity he would much prefer to just walk quietly.  Really, as long as he behaves himself I'm willing to walk.  The only thing that truly bothered him was when a noisy crowd came out of the Colosseum.  To solve that we just turned him and went the other way while moving off the rail a bit and, just like that,  life was good again.  He's not perfect (what horse is) but he's pretty darn good.

SPECIAL THANKS --

Thanks to Chris and Melanie Glover for helping me put the banner up.


MEGA Thanks to Robin Lawson for not only taking pictures but helping get Best ready for all of his events. We packed a lot into four days and Robin was a critical part of us getting everywhere on time (I've got to get a watch that matches with my driving outfit) while looking all nice and shiny.


Thanks to the SPHO-Ohio for allowing us to tag along with them.