RONAN — A chilly May day wasn’t enough to keep visitors away from the first ever Friends of the Fairgrounds Horse Expo and Fundraising Auction on Saturday, May 5 at the Lake County Fairgrounds.

People from all over the valley turned out to enjoy a day of fun, food and farm animals while helping the Friends of the Fairgrounds.

“The purpose of the day is to raise money to help maintain our facility without burdening the taxpayers,” president LaDana Hintz said.

Friends of the Fairgrounds formed last fall and the group spent a couple of months throwing together the day. Auctions were held to boost the fundraising effort, a petting zoo was set up, along with a mechanical bull, several businesses set up kiosks and horse demonstrations ran throughout the day, allowing people to see area professionals in action.

“I hoped for more people, but I’m so glad everybody showed up on such a cold day,” Hintz said.

Cheryl Burt with EquiVisions Farm in Paradise was on hand to help individuals train their horses for what the great outdoors has to offer.

“It’s all really about ‘can you prepare your horse for things that you would be doing,’” Burt said.

One of the more challenging aspects to owning a horse, according to Burt, is to condition your horse for what it might encounter on trails while building its confidence. A horse is often tentative around unfamiliar objects and it’s important to recognize when your animal can’t do something and when it won’t do something.

“We try to help people with helping them and their horse become more confident,” Burt said.

To demonstrate what can be done through proper training, Burt and several trainers performed during the expo in front of a handful of people, showing that their horses have been trained to do various tasks, such as backing into a trailer, crossing a bridge and walking over a small see-saw, obstacles they could face and are now comfortable with, when they’re on trails.

“The real challenge was to come up with a course that we could set up in less than 10 minutes,” Burt said.

Burt’s business was just one of several in attendance, giving those at the Horse Expo a chance to see what the area has to offer.

“We want the public to learn about all the different groups we have in the valley,” Hintz said. “This is a way for all the different groups to come together and get their businesses out there.”

The day was also a chance for people to come together and have fun with the wide variety of events happening.

On Saturday, the kids weren’t the only ones partaking in horseplay and everyone enjoyed it.