The Illinois Walking Horse Association participated in the Illinois Horse Council Horse Fair at the Illinois State Fair grounds in Springfield, Ill., March 4-6, 2011.

This event draws over 10,000 horse enthusiasts annually, with 25 breed demos, 140 venders, and a wide venue of clinics offered.  Our exhibit collectively showcased our association and TWHBEA, who provided a back wall, video, and literature for handouts to attendees.

An Extreme Cowboy race was part of this year’s Horse Council program.  Of the 21 participants in this event, two were Tennessee Walking Horses, wildly cheered on by the audience.

Along with our exhibit, our association members provided four horses to represent our breed for the daily demos.  Our riders and horses were Denise Sherwood on Ima Sizzlin Beaucoup, Jessica Marlewski on Stormy’s Secret Traveler, Dee Hasler on Leilani’s Pride, and D.J. Hasler on Remembrance’s Starfire.                                       

We were elated to be awarded first place by the Horse Council judges for our exhibit for the second time in the past four years.  Judging criteria included, but not limited to, overall impression of the exhibit, friendliness, and knowledge of our exhibit workers, handout information and maintaining cleanliness of our exhibit aisle way.

IWHA member Vonda Arvin designed and constructed the exhibit, with the goal of quiet elegance for our presentation.

We are pleased with our participation and results achieved at this event.  A sincere thank you to all of our team members:  TWHBEA, IWHA President, John Knight, Jessica Marlewski, Denise Sherwood, DJ Hasler, Dee Hasler, Don Hasler, Janet Knight, Steve Whitmer, Pat and Ed Dobey, Phil and Billy Williams, Helen Clemens, Cyndi Natzke, Ramona Desotel, and Larry and Vonda Arvin.

Larry Arvin
Illinois Director