MN Horse Expo

Every year on the last Saturday of April, we make the trek into the Twin Cities and hit the MN Horse Expo. It's a day filled with everything horses-tack, veterinary supplies, clothing, grooming equipment, feed, waterers, barn building reps, fancing materials, HORSES...anything related to the horse industry is available to look at.

This year we decided to take all 3 girls, which is a feat in itself because it's incredibly busy there. So we all wake up on this past Saturday, April 26 (!!) and what do we see? About 2" of snow on the ground. Grrrr. But we bucked up, layered on clothing, and went anyway. It was cold and windy, but most of the day is spent indoors looking at the horses or the booths. We met up with our friend Kate and her kids, as well as my MIL, SIL and her boyfriend. We saw horses of all shapes, sizes, breeds and colors. Mikayla had a lot of fun in the backpack, as she was then the right height to pet a lot of the horses. She had such wonder in her eyes as she'd pet a horse's nose or face. We had a lot of fun, but due to keeping track of all 3 kids, I only took one picture. But it was a picture well worth it...

This horse (who was a gelding, such a shame!) was beautiful and ginormous. He is a Shire, one of the draft breeds, and he's white (obviously) which is somewhat rare for a Shire. For those of you who aren't familiar with horses, the "average" horse is 14-16 hands high, or 56-64", at the front shoulder. This beast was 18.5 hands (74" or 6'2") tall. That's the height of Andy and that's only at his shoulder, not with his head held high. Needless to say, he's a giant and a beautiful one at that. And this pic doesn't do him justice. You need to see him in person to see how huge he is, from his head, down to the sheer size of his hooves. Wow.