Equitana 2015

After 8 years I finally went to Equitana, supposedly the world's biggest horse fair. What made it especially nice - I had a guest from America along, a horse friend of mine named Tami. She really liked it so we went two days.

For me the highlights were the liberty demos with Frederic Pignon and Peter Pfister, and the excellent bridleless riding of Kenzie Dysli. Sadly for me, there weren't any Arabians there, or at least, not that I could find.

Tami was disappointed in the Legerete demonstration, because Phillipe Karl did not ride; he only schooled his students shortly before they were riding to music. I felt that it gave a good introduction to Legerete because you can clearly see the difference between the way the horses are trained vs. the German method. No nosebands, no sidereins allowed in training, and no pulling their heads down, rather the opposite, the horses are all encouraged to lift their heads up, but they're given freedom to move as they choose. It wasn't a flashy demonstration, so many in the audience left. I only captured a little video of them all leaving the arena, but you can see what I mean. (Think about how Totilas carries himself in contrast  - he's a bundle of entrapped cramped nerves.) It's nice to see horses who never, ever tuck behind the vertical, and who do not rely on spurs for motion. In my video you can see how the riders lift their hands saying, "Up with your head!" which is unique in the world, I believe.

Frederic Pignon (formerly of Cavalia, now he has his own gig called Eqi) brought a young Fresian out to introduce him to the environment and he wasn't too focused, and kept ramming into Pignon seeking comfort. Pignon spoke English to us and explained that he didn't approve, but was letting the horse show him how he feels, and giving him exercises to channel his energy safely. It's always a blast to see Pignon work, the joy in his expression, the trust the horses have in him. Here's a video of him at Equitana a few years back.

Peter Pfister is a liberty trainer I've audited, and he's part of a Christian riding group of some sort. This time he had his family (or partners?) with him, all performing tricks with their naked horses, all 4 horses had such pleasant expressions, sparkling eyes showing the love of their work, and the Pfister family unable to stop smiling as they played with their horses. One cute trick, the guy would point to the horse's legs, and the horse would stretch back like a cat. I'd never seen that before. I will keep trying to find video of what I saw, but here is something to give you an idea. Update: I found a video of the two partners doing their tricks at 2:40 to the end of the video, and at minute 5 or so the dappled grey does a little cat stretch. When I audited I told Peter he looks like Picard when he rode that Arabian horse on the holodeck (same hat too) and he had no idea who Picard is. Sadly Star Trek is not as popular here. So I emailed him a photo and he said, "Well I'm not that handsome!"

Kenzie Dysli is a sweet girl I was able to go backstage with last Summer because my photographer friend was shooting for her performance. She is becoming popular in Germany and is still very gracious with her adoring fans. I found a video online and have to share it - to my surprise, I'm in it! See if you can spot me, I'm right on the rail. It's not a great quality video, you might want to skip ahead to where she takes the bridle off - I like that part. At Equitana we got to watch her work with the Garrocha.

Working equitation was a big hit - we saw a full competition including speed rounds for each rider. It was thrilling and truly a way to make dressage fun for horses. It was all men riding and high-fiving and laughing together, teasing each other even about their mistakes.

One of the parts I liked best was a whole bunch of Haflingers pulling carts doing speed patterns and somehow not ramming into each other. I've never seen Haflingers like this - they're tiny and very fit. The Haflingers I'm used to resemble drafts in comparison. I took a little video.



The Parelli students were there showing off again. There is a well known Parelli trainer here who does all her games from a wheelchair. She also does tempi changes from that chair! At the end of all their presentations they say, "If any of this looks fun to you, come talk to us, you can learn it too."

There was another liberty demo by a Portugese guy and it was so funny - his horses wouldn't always comply, and at the end of his presentation one of them refused to leave the ring. Even though his buddies had obediently left already, he kept blasting back through the doorway into the arena and hanging out with the audience. It took him 4 tries to get him to leave. He would shrug and smile and we'd crack up. I'll try to find out who he is because his horses were having so much fun, and two of them had this distinctive conformation and strange caramel color.

I always like watching Uta Graf ride, the smiliest rider of them all:

Of all her horses, I enjoyed this Trakhener best because it's young and still in a snaffle and isn't broken at the 3rd vertebra (yet). I know this is an example of a hollow frame, but I still appreciated that the horse's chin wasn't touching its chest, like another rider we saw, it was almost like she'd never heard of Rollkur (but that's impossible).

There was also lots of jumping, dressage, western riding, and driving, but I just wanted to talk about what I liked best. Equitana is still going on this weekend, so perhaps more videos of what I actually saw will pop up on YouTube.

There were two booths that got my attention from the literally thousands of booths filling the convention center. In the farrier area was a booth with three older men standing in front of a glass case. In the glass case were cadaver legs and hooves. I'm always interested in the insides of a horse so I walked over. One leg got my attention immediately and I thought, "That's not possible." I stared at it and the three men quietly watched me go up in levels of surprise and disbelief as I stood there. I finally pointed to it and they brought it out of the case and said, "Aha, you noticed."

I'm not going to say what it is because I want to give you the chance to notice it too. Cuz I'm pretty sure you've never seen this either: )




The other booth that stopped us in our tracks was another farriery booth selling golden horse shoes. Golden? No, actually solid copper. Why? Because, "Copper horseshoes prevent bacteria in the hoof." I gasped and immediately walked away but not before hearing my friend S say, 'THAT'S BULL@&%*!" and she stayed there a long time telling them how ridiculous it is. Tami called her "Our New Yorker in the group." I wondered the rest of the day if those people believe that nonsense or if they simply want to see if people will buy it.

I should mention at one point I flipped out - I was in a rope halter/rope booth and I wanted to buy a 4 meter rope. Then, whilst helping me, the owner and his wife lit up cigarettes right there in their booth in the no smoking convention center. I ran out, caught a security guard, and took him to these people so he could stop them. I was so indignant because I remember back in 2008 my first time at that convention center, for the board game con, everyone was allowed to smoke indoors. Finally the law changed, but these people felt they were above the law.

That's it for Equitana - I am glad I saw it - not sure I need to see it again (I hate crowds and no Arabians?).