Equine Digest: What’s New & How To for You and Your Horse

Bertram, Texas, March 14, 2008 - The Mustang Heritage Foundation (MHF) has a new mission: to place for adoption more than 200 yearling Mustangs while at the same time providing educational funding to youth, as well as cash prizes to adults in the program.Mission 007, aptly named for the foaling year of the Mustangs, is the yearling edition of the phenomenonally successful Extreme Mustang Makeover first held in September 2007.

(January 2008) – Julie Goodnight is named the Official International Spokesperson for the Certified Horsemanship Association (CHA). Julie has been with CHA for over 10 years as the Program Director and now will continue to promote riding instructor certification through CHA at trade shows and events around the country.
Julie is a full-time equine professional with more than a quarter-century of experience. Her varied background ranges from dressage and jumping to racing, reining, colt-starting, and wilderness riding. She travels coast-to-coast and beyond much of the year to horse expos, conferences and clinics to teach horses and people about each other. Her training and teaching techniques are frequent features of Western Horseman, Horse & Rider, Equus, CHA’s magazine - The Instructor, Perfect Horse and America’s Horse; she has two syndicated columns in dozens of regional equine publications throughout North America and a world-wide presence on the internet. Her television show, Horse Master, which premiered this month on RFD-TV rounds out her multi-media appearances.

“I am grateful to the Certified Horsemanship Association http://www.cha-ahse.org/, a fantastic non-profit organization that I have been a part of since 1995,” says Julie. “CHA was founded in 1967 to promote safety and excellence in riding programs. I am pleased to be the International Spokesperson for this outstanding organization; I am a certified Master Instructor and Clinician through CHA and from 1995 on, I have made a personal commitment to safety in horsemanship. Through this organization, I have learned so much about safety, professionalism and industry standards. I have been working the past two years on a new edition of their excellent manual, The Composite Manual of Horsemanship, which will be released in the spring of 2008. It’s a must-have for all riders and instructors.”
“We are so excited to have Julie as our Official Spokesperson,” says Christy Landwehr CEO for CHA. “Who better to promote CHA to the horse industry than Julie who is so safety conscious in all of her teaching and instructing for both horses and riders.”
The purpose of CHA is to promote excellence in safety and education for the benefit of the horse industry. CHA certifies instructors and trail guides, accredits equestrian facilities and provides support and educational resources. Come and see Julie teach at the CHA International Conference this year October 30 – November 2, 2008 at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington. For more information on the Certified Horsemanship Association, please visit www.cha-ahse.org or call toll free 1-800-399-0138.

“Different than anything else ever done before!” promises Trail Blazer Magazine founder and publisher Susan E. Gibson about the upcoming Trail Blazer Festival. The Festival will be held at Rawhide, 20 minutes from the Phoenix airport, on February 29-March 2, 2008.

“Trail Blazer Magazine has always been a leader of innovative education for the trail rider, and this Festival is just an extension of that same passion I have for trail riding.  Yes, the Rawhide facility is really amazing and this team of speakers is going to be fun and entertaining – but never before has there been an event that offers such a high level of education in such a fun atmosphere. Who doesn’t want to be in sunny Arizona in the dead of winter!”

Susan knew she has the right vision when The American Quarter Horse Association and Trails West Trailers stepped on board immediately as Gold Level corporate sponsors.

“The American Quarter Horse Association is excited to partner with Trail Blazer Magazine at the first annual Trail Blazer Festival, specifically designed for recreational horse owners and enthusiasts,” said Todd Branson of the AQHA. “For the past 30 years, Trail Blazer Magazine has provided outstanding recreational activities combined with high quality education to their readers, and we’re proud to join them in offering these services at this groundbreaking event. Visitors to our booth will enjoy fun giveaways and special offers from our educational library, including Junior Master Horseman. We also encourage Festival visitors to bring all unfinished Association paperwork, including registrations and transfers and an AQHA staff person will complete your work on-site at no extra charge! “

Trails West president Shane Jensen echoed his excitement about the Trail Blazer Festival, “Trails West is proud to be a sponsor for the Trail Blazer Festival. The most dominant user in the equine industry is the pleasure/trail rider.  Trail Blazer Magazine is one of the best publications for the trail rider.   The most dominant user in the equine industry is the pleasure/trail rider.  The trail rider is also the largest Trails West consumer group.  It is always a pleasure dealing with trail riders because they love their hobby so much.  It is a pleasure to help these people have fun.  Trails West offers consumers the best bang-for-your-buck features and options and it is obvious that over the last 20 years, trail riders have noticed.”

World renowned teacher and clinician Linda Tellington-Jones understands the vision of this Festival, ““Susan and I have a history over the past three decades of working together in a variety of groundbreaking projects.  From the one-of-a-kind Performance Horse Symposium to the world renowned Race of Champions, Susan has blazed new trails with these events in a way that is fresh, innovative  and always brings a high level of education to the world of trail riding.  I can hardly wait to be there!”

Fifteen clinicians presenting 60 workshops every single day, covering innovative, groundbreaking methods in training, shoeing, saddle fit, equitation, lameness detection and prevention, wilderness medicine for both horse and rider, and safety on the trail.  Attendees will be able to reserve a spot in the workshops they want, and the workshop will end with a Q&A period providing direct dialog with the clinicians for all of the attendees in a small-group setting.

The speakers for this year’s Festival are: Linda Tellington-Jones, Susan Harris, Peggy Brown, Alexander Kurland, Jochen Schleese, Monique Craig, Dr. Kim Henneman, Dr. Ella Bittel, Dr. Chris O’Malley, Willis Lamm, Scot Hansen, National Outdoor Leadership Wilderness Medicine, Daniel Welter and Krist Redd, Trimble Outdoor Training for GPS. A complete list of their 60+ topics and detailed talking points are available upon request. In addition to the workshops, there will also be a variety of displays of all aspects of trail riding: from setting up camp to how to pack your horse, and drawings every hour worth thousands of dollars of trail riding gear.

Since this is the first expo exclusively for trail riders, all vendors, speakers, demonstrations and displays are focused on the passion of the trail rider.  Trail Riders are saving their money and coming to Festival with the intent to outfit themselves and their horses for the year in the best available trail riding gear.

The Festival is being held in a very unique venue. The old west town of Rawhide, in Chandler, Arizona, is a theme park of its own accord. It is a totally re-created western town with rides, buffalo and other animals, costumed staff, and a steakhouse that is built from a century-old original building. There are exceptional golf courses nearby as well as all the attractions Arizona is famous for, and March weather is usually sunny and warm.

PRE-REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED. The entry price will include all workshops and demonstrations, entertainment, and an indoor pavilion filled with more than 300 booths for unlimited shopping. Prizes will be given away hourly.

For attendee tickets or details on being a vendor visit www.trailblazerfestival.us, email info@trailblazerfestival.us or call (928) 277-4014.