Royal Agricultural Winter Fair

This week we are featuring the horses of the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair 2008 in Toronto, Ontario. My sister and I attended the Royal on Friday, November 14. We have been going to this event for a few years now and are pleased to see more and more of our friends and clients there - in many cases they are one and the same.

We spent quite a bit of time at the Central Canada Paso Fino Horse Association booth which has many of my Paso Fino photos on display. Fina Vista Farm's Destino del Cardenal, a beautiful 3 year old black Paso Fino stallion I have photographed in past, was demonstrating in the Spirit of the Horse ring with owner Camilla Willings aboard. The pair always attracted a thrilled audience as they performed the special gaits of the breed to Latin music. I would like to mention that Destino will be in my 2009 horse calendar this year!

We were drawn to the Welsh pony classes this year and we were excited to see Dolby of Back of Beyond Equine Centre place third in the Part Bred Welsh Pony class. We also spotted Kirsten Brunner of Beaverwood Farm (we were set up at her farm for the Halton Hills Farm tour) with a beautiful Welsh pony in hand.

We also wanted to congratulate the Hoof Beat Outriders of the Orillia area, on their performance at the Royal in the Spirit of the Horse ring. I saw 2 performances, the first being a bit shaky as their lead rider and roping demonstrator, Alyssa Knox, was injured minutes before they were about to perform so they were short their lead rider. They put on big smiles and continued with the show like the troopers they are. The next performance I saw was spectacular as Alyssa was able to ride again and they performed like I've never seen them do before. I actually had tears in my eyes I was so proud of them. An unbelievable accomplishment for them considering the size of the ring they had to work in, and the fact that they haven't been at this very long! WELL DONE ladies!!! I am also a proud sponsor of the Hoof Beat Outriders as I provided them with the photography for their website and display at the Royal.

We finished our day by attending the evening performance of the horse show in the Ricoh Coliseum. We saw Olympic medallists Ian Millar and Eric Lamaze compete in show jumping, beautiful Percheron teams, carriages driving, and high stepping hackney ponies. What a fun night!

We hope you enjoy a day at the Royal in photos.

Congratulations to all the horses at the 2008 Royal Agricultural Winter Fair for being our November 17^th, 2008 Horse of the Week.

Percheron Six Horse Hitch

Eric Lamaze riding Narcotique de Muze II

Welsh Pony Class

Ian Millar riding Redefin