A wide range of events – including a world championship farrier competition – combined with perfect weather to bring big crowds to Horse Expo New Zealand at the Helensville Showgrounds on Sunday, April 5.

Aside from the World Cup of Heavy Horse Shoeing, probably the biggest draw card at Horse Expo was the two demonstrations of new equestrian sport Hoofball.

Hoofball was demonstrated by a team from the Waikato, lead by Mary Torok & Leslie Hodgson.  With a local ‘Horse Expo’ team, they showed how to introduce a horse to the giant balls and then teach them how to play with them.

The reactions from the new-comer local horses varied from spooky to totally  unfazed, and soon both riders and horses were enjoying chasing the balls around the arena and scoring goals.

The Hoofballers practised during the day and held a brief game later in the afternoon, with several other riders joining in. Audience and riders alike agreed it is a fun sport, and one enthusiastic group are considering putting together a local team.

The Horse Expo main arena was busy all day, starting with a display from the local Helensville Pony Club.  After the first riders were eliminated, Emmaus Foster and Jamie Masters battled it out to reach 1.17m.

The Warkworth Roping & Barrel Racing Club demonstrated how their riders learn to rope using a horse-drawn, mechanical steer, and showed off their skill at barrel racing.

Dune Lakes Lodge from South Head brought along an unbroken three-year-old to show how to train a young horse in float loading – something many riders need help with.

The audience enjoyed two musical freestyle demonstrations by Charmian Pearson-White on her Grand Prix horse Abenstern.  Abenstern looked a picture at Horse Expo, and Charmian explained to the audience how she trains with him for an hour a day, six days a week.

Local carriage driver Mairi MacIver, along with Michelle Reddy from Papakura, gave an in-depth display of their exciting sport, starting with Michelle showing how to tack up a pony for the carriage, followed by Mairi doing a carriage-driving dressage test in the main arena and finishing with a circuit of a small carriage driving course, including a typical hazard from a competition. A third driver, Gaylene, worked with her mini and the audience enjoyed the variation between the three sizes of horses and the two and four wheel carriages.

Wabe, a purebred Friesian stallion from The Friesian Stud in Muriwai, was extremely popular with the main arena audience when he and owner Hayley Tait showed their dressage skills.  Despite being a stallion, Wabe is particularly people-friendly, and audience members were encouraged to pat him – as were people in the general crowd later in the day when Hayley rode him around the Horse Expo grounds.

The Auckland District Mounted Games Association held a pairs competition over both the Saturday and Sunday, with the open final on the Sunday afternoon.  Among the competitors were a number of riders competing to go to London for the World Mounted Games competition in July this year.

Waitemata Hunt Club introduced the Horse Expo crowd to the spectacle of hunting, with a drag followed by a small pack of hounds and around a dozen riders jumping a range of brush and cross country jumps.

The final arena demonstration for the day was from the New Zealand Side Saddle Association, with two elegantly attired women riding matching grey Percherons and explaining just how they managed to stay on their mounts.