A Perfect Day at The Royal Winter Fair

The Royal Winter Fair: Shopping, Champions & Horse-Girl Joy

We went to The Royal Winter Fair on the Saturday for the Longines FEI Showjumping Championship. This is the one that I usually attend with the barn. We got there around 2:00 pm, a little later than I wanted to arrive, but it worked. We got in all the shopping, food, and “sightseeing” we needed to.

The Shopping — Deals, Discoveries & Horsey Goodies

We browsed all the booths first before making any significant decisions. There was an excellent selection of OGs like Greenhawk and Sprucewood for all the tack and equipment one might need for a horse. Plus, there were many new artisan booths this year! Both in the clothing, gifts, and food.

Greenhawk Steals & My New Helmet

Greenhawk had some really cheap items, which we took advantage of. They had dog coats on sale, and when you have an XXXL-sized dog, you take advantage! She hates it and acts like she’s terrified of the coat, but she’ll get used to it, and it’ll be nice when it’s raining not to have a sopping wet dog.

I ended up buying a helmet because mine is getting old, and helmets have increased their certification. I wanted to get one with updated certification, just in case they make it mandatory in the show ring next summer. That was my bucket list item, and it was 20% off. I’ve never seen helmets have a greater discount than that, so it felt like a win. They had one left in my size with the brim style I wanted, so it was meant to be.

Artisan Finds from Local Makers

Some OG local makers that I love seeing there were Kinghaven Farms, I definitely grabbed some of their delicious creamed honey.

You could tell that tallow is on trend right now, there were lot of new tallow vendors. JC Cattle had a tallow skincare line, as well as a meat subscription and cured meats (which were delicious). They were quite a busy booth!

We had two large bags of items because the helmet and the dog coat were big, but I didn’t really have much else. It was lovely meeting and supporting locals. It’s an excellent shopping experience.

Northern Ontario Booth Highlights

This year, I feel like I spent more time (and money) in the Northern Ontario booths! I love seeing Love North Medicinals, I can’t believe I’ve been shopping her stuff for TEN YEARS (or longer?!) since I started buying her tea blends!!

There was a new vendor in the Northern Ontario Booth section, Breault Family Farms (BFF Naturals), with a tallow skincare line, which I was very excited about and ended up purchasing from. She was just so lovely and so bubbly. There’s just something about interacting with makers who actually want to interact with you. I find myself saying, “Okay, take my money because this is going to a nice person I like”. She just started doing it, and her products smelled and felt amazing.

Should have gotten a candle, but I really didn’t need a candle. I would have loved the candle because its holiday scent smells so good. I did buy a body cream in a holiday scent (cabin fever), an unscented body cream, her unscented deodorant (which was in a stick! No need to use my fingers!! So excited for this), since she has a buy 3, save 15% promotion.

There was also OC Beauty. They had a fantastic selection of magnesium-infused bath and skincare products. They had a hilarious product for men called Nut Powder (which is exactly what you think it is!) and a well-rounded collection. OC Beauty was doing a great promotion at the show, so Mallory and I went in on a bunch of products. I grabbed the magnesium bath soak, and I’m so excited to try the magnesium gel, which will allow for less loss than a spray and a more controlled application.

Delicious Snacks & Drinks Worth Mentioning

There was an excellent juice vendor, Appleflats. His beverage was delicious. He had two different flavors: the Original Sour Apple and Harvest Peach. They were a really nice, light drink that still felt fizzy but without the terrible tinny aftertaste. You can find them on Amazon, so I will be grabbing these for the Christmas party!

We had poutine for dinner, and I skipped out on my regular Rosti order, but I got my fudge obsession handled. I didn’t eat it all during the show, so I am still savouring it!

The Show-Jumping Championships

We were there for the show jumping championship and a couple of other championships. It was the last big night for the English competition. There was the six-horse hitch Championship, the Hackney horse and pony championships. The buggies are always super cute. Red Oak Farms won $30,000 for the six-horse hitch, and they were beautiful; definitely a well-deserved win. There was an Arabian Free Run performance, which was underwhelming in terms of entertainment. It wasn’t spectacular by any means; her horses were beautiful, and she had 12 free that she worked and moved around her. But it was fine, but it didn’t really do anything for me. It was a good show overall.

I enjoyed it, and the course was definitely entertaining, to say the least. It was super high, super big oxers and doubles. This was challenging to watch, so I can only imagine what it would be like to ride it! It was a challenging course, very physically demanding for both horse and rider, and it was pretty impressive that there were only three people who made a clear round out of 21. Only one rider remitted himself after a refusal and was disqualified.

The Veteran Rider Who Took the Win

Two of the jump-off qualifiers were young, 21 year old girls, which is always so lovely to see. The third, I believe they said he was in his fifties, veteran showjumper Conor Swail, did end up winning it. The girl was so close to winning, she managed to make it clear but he was able to shave off a couple extra milliseconds to lock in the win. One of the girls was good, but she messed up on the course. She missed a jump, so she was eliminated, which was sad, but what happens when it’s high stakes, high pressure, and the jump off course was not easy.

Wrapping Up the Night

It was late, we wanted to go home since we had to be up super early to catch Mal’s flight. We just left before the results of the whole competition. We were home by quarter to midnight. It was a late night, but it was a good night. We got a lot of shopping done, and Mallory had to repack her bags because she bought a ton of stuff, but fully worth it.

10/10 recommend.

J x