Maribelle MacAlpin on Macadoo Tornado
Nola on Abejita (aka Little Bee)

This year's PA Horse Expo got off to a slightly rocky start. Bev Newcomer, Lori Wieszkowiak and I showed up about 12:30 Wednesday for set up only to discover that our booth was in the way of progress, so to speak. We were situated right next to a large overhead door that was open to allow people to unload and also allow large equipment such as front end loaders to bring in loads of stone dust and panels for the round pen arena on the main floor. Plus the wind that was coming in that door would have knocked down or blown away anything we tried to set up. We voted to go to lunch and see what was happening when we returned. When we did, there were now bleachers in our booth. It was going from bad to worse. Upon questioning the head honcho, Denise, we were informed that the main door would be closed at 11 am Thursday morning and that our breed row stall would also be set up by then. (Did I forget to mention that we didn't have a stall??)This meant that we would have an hour to set up our booth and decorate the stall before the show opened to the public! Plus I had to haul in a horse and be in the barn area for a meeting at 10 am. No way was I going to be able to pull this off.

That was the first time that weekend that Lori Wieszkowiak came to my rescue. Lori volunteered to come back Thursday to set up while I got my horse situated in the barn and attended the mandatory meeting. When I finally made it to the Expo floor there wasn't much left to do .Lori had done it! A few touches and we were more than ready at noon. Lori also sat the booth more than her fair share of time over the weekend. This is how you want your regional members to be involved .Having become a member in the last year or so, she has jumped in with both feet. She volunteered to help with the membership committee and now the Expo. More members should take a lesson from her. If you want something done, pitch in! We are very lucky to have someone like her join Mason Dixon!

I also need to thank Bev and Dale Newcomer, Diane Dutt, and Karen Basehore who did booth time. Tracy Peirson also donated her time, her horse Little Man, and her daughter Rorie, who rode him. My other riders were Nola and Robbie Haupert- Keill who rode Abejita (aka Little Bee), Nick Burgos who rode Katrina owned by the Newcomers, and also Intocable (aka Paco), Raymond Williams who also rode Katrina, Sandy Madeira who rode Paco in Saturday's breed demo, Maribelle MacAlpin on MacadooTornado, and Bonnie Austin who rode Cosaca.

During our breed demo we had riders ranging in age from 9 yrs old to 70 yrs old on horses from age 4 to their teens. We had pleasure and performance horses, Western tack and attire and the more common PFHA regulation tack and attire. We had horses playing with a large inflated ball, and seeing as how `horse soccer' is becoming a buzz word, it may explain why that got a round of applause. We had the adults get off their horses and the youngsters mount up to ride in mid demo. We tried to show that Pasos are just horses like any other breed but with the added benefit of gait.

It is hard to make a guess on the crowds, but it did not seem as if the numbers were there as in years past. Upon requesting attendance numbers, Expo officials would only comment that, "They did not release that information, but tended to use a generic term such as `tens of thousands'."

Then we had a snowstorm hit on Sunday. Most of the horses in the complex had shipped out early that morning, including four of our six Pasos. Nick Burgos stayed through Sunday morning to do our last breed demo and his Stallion demo before he went home. I held out in the booth until 3pm and returned Monday morning to break down the booth. All arrived home safely.

I think the highlight of the Expo was that we were invited to participate in the clinics held by Gaited Horse Specialist Elizabeth Graves. Liz has been working with gaited breeds for over 35 years, so we were happy to oblige when she asked for some Pasos to be part of her workshops. The first clinic was `Gaits, Gaits and more Gaits'. Attending were four Pasos, two Racking horses and three TN Walkers. As riders took turns looping the arena Liz pointed out the differences and the similarities in each breed and also in the individual horses. All horses had bright vet wrap on two of their legs to help point out the differences between diagonal and lateral moving gaits.

The second riding clinic was `Gait Development'. In this the same group of horses attended, and Liz had riders go through their different gaits to show the auditors the range of gaits in the participating breeds. All horses there were of good quality and showed off their breeds in both show and trail type. For the in hand clinic of `How Structure Relates to Gait' Rorie Peirson and her Paso Fino `Little Man' were hand picked by Liz. In this Liz used a Tenn. Walker, a Racking Horse and a Paso Fino. She demonstrated with stickers and paint stick the different angles of shoulder, hip, back and so on and discussed how these related to gait, lift and extension. I took my filly Abejita in "Bitted and Bitless Head Gear". Liz went over the basics of snaffle and curb bits, how and why they were used, how different bits related to different breeds. She also touched on bitless bridles and bosals, the different pressure points involved, and dental care in relation to bitting. The crowds for all of the gaited horse clinics were quite large. People are really catching on that gaited horses are the wave of the future, and we had lots of very positive feedback about how much people enjoyed watching the Paso Finos in the clinics and demos.

Submitted By Sheri Becker

Bonnie Austin on Cosaca	Bonnie, Cosaca, and Elizabeth Graves
Maribelle MacAlpin on Macadoo Tornado with Elizabeth Graves	Rorie Peirson on `Little Man'

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