Mark Hardy is the President of Horse Travel Network. This morning he and I sat down and wound up talking far longer than I think we planned but he’s an interesting guy and this new venture sounds like it’s got some great potential. One of the things I find most interesting is how they’re totally internet based and have already got over 700 people signed up and it’s brand new! Word of mouth is working for them big time. The site will include advice, forums, blogs and of course, listings. It’s going to take advantage of some social networking applications which are really popular today.

The Horse Travel Network is a new sponsor of the Appaloosa Horse Club and offering their members a special deal right now of a free membership.

The program this week ends with music from the Podsafe Music Network. In the spirit of traveling I chose “Travel Ditty Guitar” from Acoustic Rosh. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.

You can download and listen to the ZimmCast here: ZimmCast 177 (13 min MP3)

Or listen to this week’s ZimmCast right now:

The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired which you can subscribe to using the link in our sidebar. You can also subscribe in iTunes

She played a full set of songs with her band and showed why she’s an up and coming star.

The ring was opened up so that everyone could come down out of the stands and get up close and personal. It took a little coaxing but once Callaway got started most of the crowd moved on down.

You can watch Callaway perform one of her songs in this video:

National Show Photo Album

So it’s time once again for an AgWired edition of “Guess Whose Boots.”

Just use the comment feature and submit your guess and the first person who gets it right will win an Agwired t-shirt. There are clues if you’ve been reading lately but I’ll add some if needed.

National Show Photo Album

These guys make it look like a piece of cake though. It’s still relatively early here in Jackson, MS but they’ve been out here at it since 7:30am. In fact, I think they start that early every day for 2 weeks.

The first week here is mostly the youth show with adults starting today. I’ll be around until about midday on Monday so you can expect more from here.

National Show Photo Album

She’s on the left in case you didn’t figure that out. I’ll let you figure out who’s on the right.

Callaway will be performing a benefit concert for the Appaloosa Youth Association programs. She’s from Madison, MS but lives now in Nashville. Callaway is 16 years old and has been touring with the legendary Sam Moore.

I asked her if she liked horses and she loves them. She’s impressed with how kind the people are she’s met here and good at what they do.

You can listen to my interview with the Callaway here:

National Show Photo Album

So this week you can hear Appaloosa Horse Club Executive Director and master blogger, Steve Taylor, tell us all about it. Steve is pictured on the right of the ring announcer.

He says the plan to make the move started before he joined the organization 2 years ago. Some of the reasons for the move included making sure they’re getting the best bang for their buck and allowing some new people in a different part of the country to have an opportunity to participate that couldn’t before.

Steve says the move also allowed them to look at how they’re marketing the show. He says they’ve received very good coverage from local media and that the organizational members themselves have been doing a great job of word of mouth. While they’re here in Jackson, his staff and members are doing a lot of local shopping and they’re even making sure they personally invite community members to the show.

The Appaloosa Horse Club also has its own magazine, website, blog, e-newsletter and during their shows they have one or more live webcams.

You can download and listen to the ZimmCast here: ZimmCast 176 (14 min MP3)

Or listen to this week’s ZimmCast right now:

The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired which you can subscribe to using the link in our sidebar. You can also subscribe in iTunes

The program concludes this week with music from the Podsafe Music Network. This week’s song is “Hot Doggin” by the Deerfoot. I’ll be going on my annual deer hunt in a few days so I was glad to find them.

You can download and listen to the ZimmCast here: ZimmCast 143 (11 min MP3)

Or listen to this week’s ZimmCast right now:

The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired which you can subscribe to using the link in our sidebar. You can also subscribe in iTunes

Last night’s program included a short show by Diana Olson who is President of the Arizona Cowboy Mounted Shooters Association. She has a beautiful horse and just in case anyone was nodding off after a long day she woke them up.

Thanks to Steve Taylor and his staff at the ApHC for working with me and having come spend a couple days blogging there show.

This was right before the Rope Race Invitational while each contestant was being auctioned in a Calcutta to raise money for Appaloosa youth scholarships. If you don’t know what a rope race is then you’re missing some excitement. Basically the contestants race to a wire that has ropes dangling from it where they have to grab one. The problem is there’s one less rope than contestants. So in each heat the number of contestants drops by one until only one person with a rope is left. You can watch the first heat on YouTube:

They’re the official show photographers of the Appaloosa World Show and boy do they have a job to do. You can only imagine how many pictures they have to take and take care of. They do thousands at a show and their system is very impressive.

Larry said he’d been trying to figure out how to make a living in the horse business for a long time. I think he found a way since equine photography is his business and specialty. Like a lot of people Larry has had some mentors and people to learn from and he talks about them in our interview.

You can listen to my interview with Karen and Larry here:

I showed Larry this photo I took at the stump races this morning and he said it looked good. I asked him for some tips on how to get a good one of something going this fast in relatively low light. His answer is “lots of light” and “shoot a lot.” He’s got lights rigged all around the ring that all flash with the camera on the floor.

After shooting Indy cars at 220 mph I’m not sure which is more difficult!

Of course you can see the action live on the arena webcam.

Actually these were some of Steve’s helpers at last night’s World Championship Appaloosa Sale. They were responsible for getting the paperwork to the winning buyers in the auction.

And we wondered why Steve left Missouri for Idaho.

I got mine done earlier today and had a little chat with the shine king. He says he’s been doing this for the ApHC for at least 15 years and about 53 years all together locally. I asked him how many shines he’s done. He says that there’s 5,280 ft. in a mile and he’s shined a lot of miles! He handled my interview with him like the professional he is.

You can listen to my interview with Storming here:

I attended the signing and recorded their comments which you can listen to here:

After the signing there was the traditional exchange of gifts. The ApHC guys got some very nice leather bound note pads.

Steve Taylor brought along an Idaho (ApHC Headquarters state) favorite, Huckleberry Mead. The way the Ft. Worth City Councilmen were eyeing the bottles of mead I know which gift will last longer than the other!

I spoke to both of them after yesterday’s screening of the movie here at the World Show. Barry says the horse was the star and he only played a supporting role. He says about Chip, “He supported me but I supported him. It was kind of like a partnership.” In my interview you’ll hear Barry describe the movie and talk about his other experiences in the acting world. I asked him for some behind the scenes stories from making Trail End but all he could really say is that he had a good time and that it was, “Like a week and a couple days of a trail ride.”

You can listen to my interview with Barry here:

When I spoke to Tony he says that he got involved after someone at the ApHC made a connection to him when the movie company called seeking a horse in Kansas. He says that Chip was great and showed that an Appaloosa (even an 18 yr. old one) can star in a movie. He also thinks it might be pretty cool if someone would need him to star in a movie too.

You can listen to my interview with Tony here:

I spoke with Appaloosa Horse Club board member Chuck McWhirter about the sale since he’s one of the main organizers. He says that they’ve got some great horses lined up and now all they need is some buyers. That would be nice if you want a successful sale.

It is Halloween and the good thing is that I’ve found candy everywhere so I’ve got my chocolate fix.

You can listen to my interview with Chuck here:

In case you’re interested you can also watch arena action via the Appaloosa Live Web Cam. This picture is taken from the one in John Justin Arena this evening.

In the meantime, Appaloosa Horse Club CEO, Steve Taylor is showing his blogging skills on Appaloosa Blog Spot at the show. Check out what a CEO can do if he wants to. He should provide you with some inspiration. I know there’s some CEO’s reading this. I’ll be giving him a break though for the couple days he’s bringing me in to help out.