Organizers of the third annual Chicagoland Equestrian Lifestyle Expo & Holiday Market (November 20-21, 2010 at the Lake County Expo Center, Grayslake, IL) are asking people from all segments of the horse industry for suggestions on programming.

“We want to hear from competitors, professionals and those who make their living in the business of horses, as well as recreational riders and those just getting into horses,” said Joy Meierhans, who manages Expo for Horsemen’s Council of Illinois.

“HCI wants to build on the 50 different presentations offered over the two days of last year’s Expo,” Meierhans said, “which covered such wide-ranging topics as ‘What genomics can tell us about health and disease’ and ‘Nutritional product claims vs. fact-based research’ to ‘Overcoming fear by building confidence’ and ‘Equestrian travel – discovering the world upon a horse.’”

“As always, Expo will not have horses on site, but it will feature leading trainers, nutritionists, animal scientists, veterinary specialists and researchers in the forefront of equine understanding,” Meierhans said.

To see a complete list of last year’s programming, representative of the type of programming Expo will continue to offer in 2010 and in years to come, go to http://www.horsemenscouncil.org/Expo09/ and find the programming plus a list of
participating vendors.

Steve Kenyon, communications specialist for the University of Wisconsin’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, called last year’s Expo “the best equestrian education opportunity,” he’d ever seen. Kenyon and his wife participated in a hands-on session learning about leg wraps, “Different wraps for different reasons.”

Suggestions for Expo speakers and topics may be submitted online at www.horsemenscouncil.org/expo. The web site also has a place to sign up for “Updates” to be emailed as Expo nears.

In addition to its extraordinary educational emphasis, Expo offers shopping for “all things equestrian” across the new building’s 65,000 square feet of exhibit space.

Sponsored by Purina, hours for the all-breed Chicagoland Equestrian Lifestyle Expo & Holiday Market are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Tickets will be available online or at the door: Daily $8, Weekend $14.

Parking is free at the Lake County Expo Center, located west of I-94 at the intersection of Peterson & Midlothian Roads in Grayslake.

As speakers and programming are finalized, information will be placed on the Expo web site accessed through www.horsemenscouncil.org/expo.

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