Elvis has left the building

It was fun in Nashville..

The organizers for next year's annual meeting seem like a fun crown.
They were are dressed up yesterday and did a skit during the banquet. They went around tossing beeds and played wonderful New Orleans music. Lots of colorful umbrellas too.

See y'all next year for Annual Meeting 2012 in New Orleans.

Banquet and Dance

We are getting ready to go for the Annual meeting banquet. It is a very formal dinner. After the dinner Melanie Smith Taylor will make a speech.

There will be a race on one of these fun horses.

The race will be for fund raising.


Then we get to dance till midnight.  Lots of fun!!!

Hit Air... Not Ground

Have you seen the air vests booth at the Trade Fair.
They demonstrated how the vests blow-up. The vests are from a company called Hit-Air. The vests protect everything from your collar bone to tail bone. These vests have a cord that you attach to your saddle, so that when you fall the cord will break and puncture the CO2 canister. This inflates the vest.

The Hit-Air vest:

• Can be re-used after it inflates, you just have use a new canister. 
• Allows you to still wear your penni. You just have to tie the penni loose to make sure you have room for the vest to inflate. 
• Is worn by top riders
• is worn over a normal cross country vest for cross country riding
• Can be worn by itself if you are riding on the flat. 

The nice lady at the booth, Kimberly von Schweinitz said riders must be wearing this for every ride just like they wear their helmet.

Pony Paddock

The pony paddock is place for kids to stay while there parents are in meetings all day. There is always a pony paddock during annual meeting. I think this years pony paddock was a lot more fun than last year. They have a vaulting barrel and were teaching the kids vaulting - scissor kick, around the world, flag and other techniques.
There are more fun activities that are planed for the rest of days are:
- Pictionary
- games and relays
- movie
- make horse treats
- fox hunting presentation
- wrap your partner
- pizza party
- guitar hero

Have a ball improving your riding

Wendy Murdock was at the trade fair with a lot of big exercise balls. She uses these balls to help rider improve their position.

Come visit her.
She will ask you what you would like to improve on in your riding. Then she will put you on a ball and show you where you are wrong in your position and how to fix it.

She will put you through some exercises to help you stay balanced in your seat. She told me that when trainers say "Heels down" , they don't mean put your toe up and your heels down, they mean keep your weight in your heels. You actually stay balanced more if you have weight in your heels than just having your toes up.

She has a lot of fun activity to do to help you understand your mistakes in position. She has Ned and Nevel (who are model skeletons) to help you understand how your joints move. She also has a WII game improve your balance and make your movements more subtle.  Check out http://www.murdochmethod.com

Revitavet Infra Red Therapy

Tom Neuman manufactures infra red therapy pads to use on horses.
These pads kind of look like lights on a soft pad. There are two kinds of lights: Red - visible, Infra red - invisible. You can see infra red light if you look at them through a digital camera. The therapy works as the light gets absorbed into the body and releases nitric oxide which is a molecule that sends a message to the brain to heal the site. The light do a cellular level reaction to tell the body to heal.

Reasons to use Infra red therapy:
 - It speeds up healing by more than 50%
 -  It increases blood flow over a cellular level
 - It reduces pain and inflammation
 - Heals slow or non-healing wounds
 - Kills bacteria
 There are no side effects. This therapy is used by vets and Olympic riders.

I probably did not explain this well. So, come talk to Tom & he will do a better job. He is also going to be presenting a workshop about this therapy. You can check their website at www.revitavet.com

Analyze your riding - Pinnacle Horse will help

Will Montgomery is from a brand called Pinnacle Horse. He provides a software called Pro Motion. Pro Motion is a slow motion video analysis software. Riders can see themselves in slow motion and frame by frame with coaching from the clinician or trainer. This allows you to see what you are doing and what you need to improve. You can draw lines, angles, and write comments then the student can read their evaluation from there trainer who might live far away.

Come find him at the Trade Fair.

Brook Ledge Transportation

Glenn Brok is in a horse transportation Company.
He gets people to festival and other events. He hauls all breeds of horses and anywhere from California to New York. His company has more than 50 horse trailers and is the biggest horse haul company in the US. He is a new sponsor to pony club. He was in a pony club called Berks Pony Club in Pennsylvania. He was in pony club with Mike Matz who owns Barbaro. You may have heard of Mike or Barbaro. Mr. Brok has a daughter who is in pony club. He is excited about helping pony clubbers get to events. He is dedicated to give horses a safe and comfortable ride. "You wouldn't let just anyone ride your horse so why have just anyone haul your horse?"

Glenn Brok has a booth just outside of the trade fair.
He is really nice!

PK Richter

PK Richer works with a club called Cantering Cajuns in Folsom, Louisiana.
She helps with the Horse Management. She is the VRS of activities. She has a daughter in pony club. She likes how pony club teaches you the best and safest way to take care of your pony and how it's all over the country.

Alyssa Broner

Alyssa Broner is the assistant at the book store.
The book store provides pony club manuals, other books, and clothing.
They just brought in a NEW pony club hoodie.
Come check it out at the trade fair!

Nashville

Hi everyone
I just arrived in Nashville and it is very very cold.
I saw lots of pony club people in the hotel lobby.
The person at the front desk was wearing a big pony club pin to welcome us.
I'll be posting pictures tomorrow.
It will be awesome!

Bluegrass Inn

Hello everyone!
Are you excited about the annual meeting?
If you're an adult who has a little extra time on your hands, you might want to check out the Bluegrass Inn. The Bluegrass Inn is a fun place to just hang out. There is lots of music and dancing there as well as other fun things to do. Here is the link to the Inn's website.

My drum teacher suggested this place as a good place for adults, not kids.
Have fun!

Workshops

There are lots of fun workshops planned for the annual meeting. Some of them are

• How to create a musical freestyle
• Cross country course design
• Skills needed to be successful in the horse industry

Another place to visit is the Anatomy lab. In the anatomy lab there are cool things like horse's bones and other parts. You can even touch them (if you want)

Hope to see you at the workshops.

Welcome to the annual meeting

Hi everyone
This is Nila. I'm back and I'm blogging for the annual meeting. You might remember me from championships west.
Watch here for updates about the annual meeting. I'll be writing all about the workshops and other fun things that happen.Here is the link to the website. http://annualmeeting.ponyclub.org/
Hope to see you there!