Horse Expo Canada 2023 Leaves Crowds Wanting More!

By Elisha Bradburn | Photos Krystina Lynn Photography

Horse Expo Canada took place April 28th-30th at Westerner Park in Red Deer, Alberta and

This year’s show schedule was chocked full of new additions to the usual lineup of amazing activities to attend, which made for a fresh and exciting show. The event as a whole saw substantial growth both in attendance, with ticket sales up 50% from last year, as well as numbers of exhibitors in the trade show, with a 30% increase over last year. This made for a successful show, with vendors reporting up to quadruple the sales over last year, and attendees having a truly tremendous selection of goods to shop!

The trade show was every horse lover’s dream with everything from custom adjustable saddles to the impressive Western Outfitter’s booth with everything western chic, cutting edge feed and supplement manufacturers, and every kind of product you can imagine to help you, your horse and your equipment be more comfortable, perform better, and all in high style!

New this year was live music from popular TV series “Heartland’s” own Shaun Johnston (who plays Jack Bartlett on the show) along with musician Greg Coxx. Crowds gathered daily to hear the talented Shaun sing, play guitar, get his autograph, and swap stories about how Heartland has touched the lives of fans.

Also new for this year was the well-received Horseman’s Hot Seat, where world-renown clinicians were interviewed live on the Cowboy Channel Canada stage. Through the interviews, attendees were given an inside look at the keys to success of these talented horsemen and women, as well as getting to know them on a more personal level.

Another very exciting addition to the Expo lineup for this year was the fashion show, which featured all the latest in equestrian and western fashion. There were many offerings modeled on the catwalk from many of the Expo’s well-stocked vendors. On top of these exciting

new features to the Expo, the regular lineup of crowd-pleasing events shone like never before.

The organizers of Horse Expo Canada, Marg Shulz and Ryan Gordon, brought together the horse industry’s most talented and inspiring horsemen and women to put on phenomenal clinics. It was a spectacular buffet of horsemanship education being offered with clinicians such as Jonathan Field, Doug Mills, Jason & Bronwyn Irwin, Dana Hokana, Britany Fraser-Beaulieu and Robert Gharibzadeh to name a few. There really was something for every discipline and interest.

In addition to the clinics going on throughout the day, the everexciting Trainer’s Showdown was a crowd favourite event of the Expo. This year’s competing trainers were Dustin Sippola, Jason Irwin and Wylene Wilson. Each trainer put an impressive start on a 3-year-old colt over just the 3 days of the competition. It never ceases to captivate and inspire how these trainers take a previously untrained colt, and by the end of day 3 are riding it, even with style and cadence, through a challenging obstacle course. Dustin Sippola took the win this year, and displayed his trademark smoothness as his colt looked like he was at ease with Dustin, even in the midst of the obstacles and crowds. Wylene Wilson took the People’s Choice Award with her flare for being skilled, fun, and engaging with both horse and human. Jason Irwin also put forth an impressive display of his years of colt starting experience, which made for a good competition that was challenging for the judges to judge. Another fun feature carried over was the VIP ticket program which sold out this year. VIP ticket holders had access to a meet and greet with the trainers and clinicians Friday night, complete with excellent food, cold drinks, and lots of smiling faces!

As you can tell there was no shortage of everything excellent in the equine world (and wagon loads of fun) at this year’s Horse Expo Canada. Marg and Ryan would like to thank everyone who attended and participated in this year’s event and helped make it a great success. If you didn’t get to make it this year, be sure to mark your calendars for April 26th-28th 2024 to ensure you get in on some awe-inspiring fun and inspiration for you and your horse next year!

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