Spoga
I love spoga horse, I go there every year, and it always amazes me when people in the business choose not to go. For sure I have the luxury of living just the 1h away by car, but that was not always the case.
Thing is, spoga [sans the capital S] is not only for the shop owners and whole sale. Spoga is the biggest trade fair in the world for equestrian sport, and as such you have a unique opportunity to network with all kinds of people, that one way or the other are connected to horses.
More importantly, you'll get the opportunity to follow trends in a way you cannot do by just following the sport from the side lines or via media.
The trends I am talking about may not be so much about the latest bling and or colours of breeches [which interestingly enough was not at all clear to me this year], but more about innovations and the entrepreneurs that bring them to life.
Cause isn't true that a lot of things that come out on the market ever so often seem to be more of a cash cow gimmic than an actual revolutionary idea?
British company Charles Owens have a nose to dig up some cool trends and nifty inventions for their very own 'Innovation hub'. Last year they promoted the FR Vincitore safety reins in their stand. A simple but brilliant idea!
This year, they brought Studfast along to spoga. Coming from a country where snow and ice was a given during the winter season, I know first hand what damage regular iron studs can do to a horse it kicked or trampled upon. As well as what can happen if one neglect to stud up in slippery conditions.
Meeting the amazing entrepreneur who is the founder of Studfast, it felt like I just found a soul mate on the topic "why don't we look more at other sports to find solutions to our [eventual] problems".
This is the kind of people we need in the sport. People with ideas. People with the will and drive to make things better, and while doing so, not compromising on the foundation of our sport!
Cause that's what great innovations do, they make the sport better [more safe, and or horse friendly] while keeping the core of the sport. Just like the Halo in Formula 1 racing. Initially the Halo was highly debated, now it is a success story that saved many the lives.
If not familiar to F1, the Halo is a crash-protection system, designed to shield drivers from impact. It features a titanium bar positioned above the cockpit to safeguard the driver’s head.
Since the 2018 season, the FIA has mandated the Halo for all vehicles in Formula 1, Formula 2, Formula 3, Formula Regional, Formula E, and Formula 4 as a critical safety measure.
If we go back to spoga and my usual trend spotting it was hard [at least for me] to tell if there were any actual trends this year. It felt very generic and "normal". If I would label it, it was a bit somber, so maybe just a bit of a reflection of the current state of the world we live in.
One thing's for sure, I got the opportunity to see a lot of nice stuff and connect with a lot of interesting people.
ps, if anybody wonder where the pink saddle come from, this is the answer 👇
