Upper Canada Village Horse Lovers Weekend

Hi
We had the opportunity again this year to participate in the Upper Canada Village Horse Lovers Weekend. This is a three day event devoted to the horse to celebrate how the horse was instrumental in the development of Upper Canada. Upper Canada Village is a historical village park set in the 1860. When the park opens it becomes 1860, everyone is in period costume and the village runs like a true village, from the cheese maker to the bread maker to the sawmills and grist mills. The village uses our national horse the Canadian for their carts and plowing etc. No motorized vehicles are allowed on the grounds after the park opens, so set up takes place very early in the morning. We had the fairgrounds in the middle of the village for our demonstrations so all traffic has to pass by, the fairgrounds does not have to be 1860 but we can also be in period costume if we like, its difficult to show horses in hooped skirts though. The first day showcases riding horses, the second is heavy horses and the third day is carriage horses and it is by invite only to bring horses as they have to be very careful with the public as there are no fences and the public is amongst the horses. At noon each day there is a parade through the streets and all horse line up and off we go. Its a great place 1860 setting on the banks of the St Lawrence River. There was over three thousand people in the park over the weekend, even on Sunday with the after effects of storm Irene there was still a morning crowd and it did not start to rain until after the parade. We had two sessions each day to demonstrate the Curlies. I had two horses there with me Maddison a 13 month old filly for demonstrating the breed and ground work and Hunter for riding. Two other curlies that I sold also came with their owners and they did a great job showing just what a curly can do, thanks Bri (Othello, buckskin pinto) and Rachael(Cadoc, bay). A friend of mine runs a horses school for kids and we had the fair grounds set up for other demos as well so there were lots of obstacles to use (thanks Garry). The video is of Maddison and her first time on the teeter totter and then the photo is of Hunter and Maddison on the teeter totter. This event is a real confidence builder for a yearling. It was a great weekend, lots of interest in the curlies, lots of questions during and after the presentations and lots of visitors to the curly booth, makes those long days worthwhile. and hey any day playing with horses is better than a day at work. I also included a few pictures of the other horses just to give a flavor of the event and atmosphere at UCV.
Karalee and Ashlee
















And here is the video also on youtube under whirlwindcurly
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UcCuHFt8Dc