The Saskatchewan Equine Expo is celebrating its 10th anniversary this weekend, running from Thursday, Oct. 27 until Sunday, Oct. 30.
“It’s so good to see so many people we haven’t seen for a while, everyone is so happy, it’s a very social event,” said Leigh Hurlburt, Praireland Park Agriculture Manager.
This year is hosted by Prairieland Park and the Saskatchewan Horse Federation.
There are close to 80 participants competing and the event is to educate about equine health, technology, and horsemanship.
“We really wanna be able to educate any horse person, whether it’s an experienced person or someone that’s just starting out with their first horse. So a lot of education in the arena, in our tradeshow area, as well as entertainment,” said Hurlburt.
This year, there’s an event called the “trainers challenge,” where participants are given four hours with a new horse to train and then compete.
“You’re very much at the mercy of how willing your horse is, these horses are actually pretty good, but when you only have four hours to prepare for your finals, you have to do a lot of things right, it’s a relatively high-pressure venue for these guys to go train in,” said Ron Hoffman, Equine Expo Judge.
Due to the COVID-19 restrictions last year they weren’t able to host the event, so organizers and judges are happy to be back.
“It’s really good to be back and have these functions going on and let people come out and kinda live life again, so it’s good to get back out,” said Hoffman.
“We’re all in this together, and that makes this a very special place to be and if you’re new here, it won’t take long until you’re part of the gang too,” said Ron Anderson, Equine Expo Judge.
On top of competing, there was also a trade show at Praireland’s World Trade Center, and the Western College of Veterinary Medicine hosted a variety of educational seminars at the Information Theatre.
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