WEST SPRINGFIELD, Massachusetts - Equine Affaire, the nation’s premiere national equine exposition and equestrian gathering, will return November 11-14 to the Eastern States Exposition in West Springfield, Masachusetts.

More than 50,000 horse people from throughout New England and the East Coast are expected to attend Equine Affaire this November to “celebrate the horse” in grand style and take advantage of Equine Affaire’s legendary educational and shipping opportunities.

According to the show’s producer, Eugenia Snyder, the second annual New England Equine Affaire will be even bigger and better than the premier event held last fall.

“We were thrilled by the extraordinary response to the 1998 show,” Ms Snyder said, “and, based on that response, we’ve made a lot of important changes for the 1999 event. We’ve increased the show from three to four days to be able to expand the program of training clinics and seminars, and we’ve increased and expanded the number of clinic and seminar venues as well.”

The educational program of the 1999 Equine Affaire will include nearly 200 different sessions throughout the four days of the show – featured in five spacious clinic and seminar venues. The clinic and seminar program for each day will be unique – offering horse people a virtual “smorgasbord” of new sessions to attend and enjoy each day.

The line-up of outstanding clinicians at the 1999 Equine Affaire will include leading trainers, coaches, and competitors from many equestrian fields in addition to well-known horse training experts, John Lyons and Richard Shrake. Anne Kursinski will offer schooling and competition tips for both hunters and jumpers; Kerry Millikin will teach the multi-faceted sport of eventing; Brian Dygert will share his vast expertise in reining; and Jane Savoie and Elizabeth McMullen will work with dressage riders to improve their understanding of the principles of dressage and their test scores.

The sport of driving will be in the capable hands of Larry Poulin who will provide an introduction to harness fitting and driving as well as shed light on solutions to driving problems. Paso Fino trainer, Larry Whitesell, will demonstrate how the gaits of “easy-gaited” horses can be achieved naturally, while Morgan trainer, Dottie Brittingham, will teach a step-by-step approach to developing the gaits and carriage of English performance horses.

Shawna Karrasch, who spent years as a trainer at SeaWorld, will work with her husband, Vinton, to show how the principles of “On-target Training” used in training marine mammals can be readily and effectively applied to the training of horses. Curt Pate will travel to Equine Affaire from Montana to teach proven techniques for training the unbroken horse, and Don West will share his expertise on “horse handling and horse sense.” Members of the American Vaulting Association’s USA Friendship Vaulting Team will return by popular demand to Equine Affaire to demonstrate vaulting at its highest level as well as teach the fundamentals of the sport.

Equine Affaire’s extensive program of training clinics will be conducted in two full-sized clinic arenas this year, the Practical Horseman Arena (the Eastern States Coliseum) and the Nutrena Arena, a large arena created within the huge Mallary Complex. Like the Practical Horseman Arena, the new Nutrena Arena will be large enough to accommodate all equestrian sports and will have seating for thousands of clinic attendees.

Complementing the non-stop series of training clinics will be a non-stop schedule of seminars and hands-on demonstrations by nationally-recognized experts on all aspects of horse health, management, and training. Presenters at this year’s event will include Dr Joyce C. Harman, Dr Kathryn Houpt, Dr Nancy S. Loving, Barbra Schulte, Rebekah Witter, Susan Sexton, Jochen Schleese, Mary Schreiber, Jan Jacobson, Stacey Small, Julie Fershtman, Atty, and a host of other well-known authors, researchers, practitioners, and other equine professionals. The seminar and demonstration topics at Equine Affaire will run the gamut from alternative therapies, breeding management, EPM, enhancing performance through nutrition, first aid for horses, navicular disease, and horse business management to managing liability associated with equine activities, taking good horse pictures, equine behavior, dealing with horse-related psychological trauma, harness fitting, the emerging role of the world Wide Web in the hose industry, understanding the horse-human relationship, joint disease, and management of geriatric horses.

According to Ms Snyder, Equine Affaire’s seminars and hands-on demonstrations will be presented in three new stages created within the Young Building.

“The Young Building promises to be a popular spot at this year’s show,” she said. “Our main seminar stage, the EQUUS Learning Center, has been relocated from the Mallary to the east end of the Young Building, and the HORSE Hands-on Arena has been moved from the Better Living Center to the west end of the Young. We’ve increased the amount of seating at both stages and will have excellent sound and acoustics at both venues. We will also be utilizing the Young Building’s large meeting room located at the northwest corner of the building as a second seminar venue. The addition of this second seminar stage will virtually double the number of seminar presentations we’re able to offer during the weekend.”

The tradeshow at Equine Affaire has also undergone a redesign and expansion for 1999.

“We’ve moved the truck and trailer exhibits from the Young Building to the Mallary Complex and added 114 more 10x10 booths plus a few large bulk spaces in the Young,” Ms Snyder reported, “More than 450 of the nation’s leading equine retailers, manufacturers and horse-related associations will cover literally acres of space in the Better Living Center, Young Building, and Mallary complex.”

Equine Affaire’s vast tradeshow will offer a wide range of tack, riding apparel, trailers, trucks, health & grooming supplies, barn equipment, jewelry, books, publications, videos, art, fencing, accessories, and gifts. It will be the largest and most broad-based equine-related tradeshow in the East, and, for horse enthusiasts, it will provide a wonderful opportunity to prepare for next year’s competition and pleasure riding season as well as take advantage of year-end bargains on a wide range of horse-related products.

“If you’re in the market for a new horse trailer, you won’t want to miss the Equine Affaire tradeshow,” Ms Snyder added. “There will be thousands of square feet of truck and trailer exhibits in the Mallary Complex, and all major trailer manufacturers will be represented.”

The Equine Affaire Breed Pavilion will be located once again in the Stroh Building and will feature a combination of exhibit booths and exhibit stalls. Individual horse breed and color associations and registries will be represented not only by their respective association booths, but also by a rotating cast of selected stallions, mares, and geldings. Nearly 50 breeds of horses are expected to be showcased in the Equine Affaire Breed Pavilion, the farm and stallion “promotional area” within C-Barn, and in demonstrations throughout the weekend. The breed exhibits and demonstrations are always a very popular part of Equine Affaire – as well as great opportunities for breed associations and horse owners to promote their respective breeds and individual horses to “New” horse enthusiasts.

“And those of you who spent an inordinate amount of time waiting in line for food at last year’s Equine affaire will be pleased to hear that there will be many more food concessions available at the 1999 show,” Ms Snyder reported. “The Eastern States Exposition was not prepared for the crowds we experienced at last year’s event, but they have assured us that they will open and fully-staff all of their concessions as well as add a substantial number of “outside” food vendors for this year’s show.”

The 1999 Equine Affaire will be made possible through the generous sponsorship of more than 20 manufacturers and retailers in the equine industry. Venue Sponsors at this year’s show will include Practical Horseman, EQUUA, and the HORSE  magazines, and Nutrena Feeds. The official product sponsors will include Exiss Trailers (the official horse trailer of Equine Affaire) and Pro-Formula Laboratories (the official Neutraceutical of Equine Affaire.) Stubben USA will be the generous sponsor of all clinic sessions by Anne Kursinski and Kerry Millikin, Horse Illustrated will be the sponsor of Richard Shrake at the show, and Pfizer Animal Health will be the proud sponsor of the “Pfizer Fantasia” that will take place on Friday and Saturday nights.

Admission to the show is only $10.00/day ($7.00 for kids age 7-12), and a four-day show pass is only $30.00 ($21.00 for kids.) General admission includes admission to the tradeshow as well as admission to all of the clinics and seminars offered at the event.

For all of the details on Equine Affaire including a ticket order form call (740) 845-0085. You may also consult the Equine affaire Web site at www.equineaffaire.com for continuously-updated information on the event.