I left the balmy warmth of Florida  and arrived in Columbus, Ohio last Thursday to a dreary, cold day.  My dad had somehow managed to time his arrival by car (he traveled from his worksite in North Carolina) to meet me at the airport and we headed immediately off to the Ohio Expo Center at the Ohio State Fairgrounds to commence the horsing around.  Thursday was the day that Sharon Camarillo was doing a series of clinics on improving barrel racing horsemanship, and I was desperately hoping to make it in time to watch some of them.  Fate was once again on our side and we managed to get to the Fairgrounds, find parking, purchase our tickets, and make our way down the long, long stretch to the Cooper Arena just as the announcer finished his introductions.  Perfect timing! 

Food vendors lined the streets at Equine Affaire

 Thus began our four day weekend filled with clinics, seminars, shopping, and visiting with old friends.  As I’ve mentioned before, Columbus was a frequent horse haunt for my family when we lived in Pittsburgh.  The Quarter Horse Congress, as well as the Equine Affaire, were regular yearly trips where we stocked up on items we needed for the barn.  You can literally find anything horse related you could possibly want at these events.  As soon as we stepped through the gates, I was right back there.  The long road lined with food vendors welcomed us to the event, and the sights and smells continued to draw us further in.  It didn’t take long for us to find the vendor behind one of our fondest memories – the cinnamon bun stand!  I can still remember savoring a warm, gooey cinnamon bun while watching a class at the Congress or even while relaxing after one of my own classes during the years we had the App Nationals there. 

Young riders perfect their technique

Once we made it past the food vendors, the fun really began.  There were clinics and seminars going on simulataneously in no less than eight arenas at a time.  The hardest part was choosing just one to watch.  Throughout the weekend, we caught clinics taught by Sharon Camarillo, John Lyons, and Tommy Garland and presentations on caring for senior horses and equine photography among other things.  There was an entire building devoted to representing various breeds of horse and  I enjoyed wandering through and learning about some horses I’d never seen or heard of before.  The trade show was spread over several different buildings and was just as expected – exhausting and exhilerating.  Any horse person would probably agree that the smell of a tack store is one of the defining aromas in the horse world.  This trade show was no exception – the rich leather, the tang of fly spray, the heady pine shavings.  I was in horsey heaven.  One of the things I love so much about Equine Affaire’s trade show is that it caters to horsepeople, not stock horse people or horse show people.  You can wander through tack stores with draft halters big enough for an adult to step through and peruse the tiny, glittery headstalls that are designed for the always adorable Minis.  Every breed, every discipline, and every horse person is represented there; and for someone like me, that means an awful lot to observe and learn about our four legged friends and the people who love them. 

Wood carving was just one of the crafts on display

Over the next week or so, I’m going to share with you some of the tips and tricks I learned in the clinics, talk about some of the cool new products I saw, and discuss the super exciting Extreme Cowboy Race that we watched.  That spawned some fantasies about a career change for Tiny and I, it looked like so much fun!  In addition, I will be sharing a lot about the BlogPaws convention that was being held simulataneously at the nearby Westin hotel on my other site, The Slobber Dog.  All in all, this was a fun and productive weekend and I’m so glad my dad and I had the opportunity to attend.

I’ve been barrel racing off and on for about 17 years, but I still look for new tips and techniques any time I can get them.  I’ve really only ridden 2 gamers, so I don’t consider myself too experienced.  I picked up this book, Charmayne James on Barrel Racing (Western Horseman Books), a few years back because I was looking for some tips on at home conditioning of my barrel horse.  The book is a solid overview of what it takes to be a successful barrel racer, and includes chapters on choosing the right horse for the job, conditioning, nutrition, gaining show experience, mental and physical preparation for the rider, and troubleshooting, among other things.  There are lots of great photos of Charmayne and her dream team of horses, and the book is full of diagrams and illustrations. 

Overall, this book was a good purchase as a reference book to keep on hand.  To be honest, it didn’t really provide me with anything NEW.  If you are a beginner to the sport of barrel racing, or someone looking for a refresher in the basics, I would highly recommend this book.  It has a great deal to offer if you are training a horse to run barrels, like lots of little exercises to gain control over his body.  It even has a troubleshooting section with case studies examining common problems.  However, if you’re looking for more detail, such as a conditioning program or advanced exercises, you might want to keep looking.  One thing I found irksome about the book is that Charmayne’s conditioning program suggests that a rider “plan to spend an hour and a half with your horse each day, at a minimum”  five to six days per week to achieve fitness.  I’m sorry, but that is certainly not realistic for me, or for most non-professionals.  I don’t think that my horse needs 90 minutes of conditioning per day to run a 15 second pattern.  I think that excellent conditioning can be achieved with a carefully designed fitness program that will fit in better for the average rider that works and has a family.  I’ll definitely keep this book on my bookshelf, but I’m going to keep searching for a reference that is a little more advanced and has a more practical conditioning program.