I spent last week in Springfield, MA at Equine Affaire working in the USEF Booth. I finally feel like I am warming up and have feeling back in my fingers and toes. Despite being born and raised in the Bay State. I think spending the last five years in the warmer climates of Virginia, North Carolina and Kentucky has thinned my blood and taken the hardy New-Englander out of me. By Sunday afternoon at take-down time I think all the boys and girls from the Marketing (Kathy Meyer, Melissa Davis and myself) and IT (Ian Thornton and Ryan Hays) were starting to crack-up; cold temperatures, watching the same videos on repeat and more Fried Dough than anyone person should ever consume were all contributing factors.
However, we all had a good time and more than a few laughs. I think we learned a lot about each other, fair food and Twitter. Most importantly, the people that came into the booth seemed to really enjoy watching the videos (which can all be found in the Club-E video section), learning about the Federation and Club Equestrian. As well, some savvy shoppers got great deals on USEF Event Merchandise and more than one coat was literally bought off my back.
There were some really fun things that happened in Springfield last week but I think my favorite memory will be meeting Isaac. Isaac, is a 19 hand snow white Shire stallion. He literally is the biggest horse I have ever seen. I’ve spent my entire life around horses and until I had seen Isaac I would tell you I had seen all makes and models of horses. However, in comparison he makes some of the bigger event horses I’ve been around and sat on look like the mini-bikes that everyone rides around.
Isaac is every inch of 19 hands
He wears size 10 ½ steel shows which I can only image would be like Shaq’s size 22 Nikes. The other thing I found amazing was that the card on his stall said he weighed 2,000lbs. However, he looked completely in fighting shape and didn’t look soft around the middle at all. I wonder what the scale would balance out at if he had been eating all the carbs and powdered sugar the rest of us had?
My favorite thing about Isaac was that he was so sweet. He was consistently poking his nose between the bars of the stall looking for attention. And he never seemed to be the least self-conscious when people were snapping his photo and commenting on his large size.
If I could have I would have brought Isaac home to live in the back yard but I think he probably would have been a bit too big for my carry-on luggage. So I guess I will have to wait for next year to see my buddy again.