PHOTO COURTESY RICK OSTEEN
THOUGH the word “SWINE” arches in slender all-caps over the main entrance to the Farm Bureau Fall Creek Pavilion at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, what happens inside in September is anything but piggish. For six days this month, the 196,000-square-foot building is the site of the All American Horse Classic, transforming the venue into a showcase for 500 high-stepping horses. Red, white, and blue bunting hangs from every wall. Stallion glamour shots line the balconies. An organist plays “Hello, Dolly!” And the centerpiece of the production is a show ring big enough that three semitrucks could parallel park inside it with room to spare.
Judges in tuxedos stand in the center of the ring assessing the horses—and these are the horses of dreams. The breeds at All American boast necks like swans and legs like Rockettes. They are top athletes with supermodel looks in a spectacle that hasn’t changed since the 1890s, when it headlined the state fair as the Society Horse Show. Today, most of Indianapolis has no clue that a window to this history opens at the fairgrounds every year, drawing top horses from all over North America for one of the best horse shows of the year.
More than a show, this is a performance. These horses and ponies— which include the American Saddlebred, the Hackney, the Friesian, and the Dutch Harness Horse—have been bred for beauty, athleticism, and a look-at-me attitude. Non-horse people see them and gasp, “Now those are horses,” as the animals enter the ring five, 10, or 15 at a time. Riders jockey for position to prove how beautifully their mounts can move, but only one can win.
This year, more than $800,000 in prize money is spread across 210 classes, but the major cash is concentrated in a handful of futurities and sweepstakes. Most exhibitors will go home with nothing more than a ribbon. I’m usually one of those ribbon-earning competitors, trotting my horse in and hoping for a good ride but knowing that my winnings might not even cover my stall fee. Kristen Wells, who splits her time between Indy’s north side, San Antonio, and Simpsonville, Kentucky, where she runs a small breeding program called Stonewell Farm, was one of the big winners last year, taking home $15,837 with her colt Crack the Mystery.
But she insists it’s not about the money. “It can’t be,” she says. “We don’t have enough prize money classes in our industry to justify the expenses.” She means that monthly board and training over the years, along with vet and shoeing bills, adds up to more than the prize money. Why choose horses as a hobby, then? Why not knitting, improv, or mountain biking? For people who love horses—and I count myself among the ranks— there’s an invisible line tethering us to them. “I’ve yet to find anything that inspires me the way these horses do,” says Wells.
Claire Panke Broemel, whose history with the show goes back to 1956, says you don’t have to be a horse person to enjoy it. Her father RJ “Steve” Panke directed the show for 36 years, and Broemel worked alongside him and continues counting stalls and filling classes into the 21st century. “Spectators don’t have to know much about it to appreciate it,” Broemel says. “When they see a ring full of these beautiful horses and beautiful ponies, it changes everything.”
PHOTO COURTESY ALL AMERICAN HORSE CLASSIC
Dawn Kendrick, who’s worked on All American in different capacities for 40 years and now manages it, elaborates on the appeal of the horses the media but come to life. The big, black horses carrying knights around? Friesians. The carriage horses in period dramas? Dutch Harness Horses. American Saddlebreds have been all over TV and the movies.” Her tone is dreamy. “I just loved Fury,” she says, referring to the black American Saddlebred stallion from the 1950s Western TV series of the same name.
Anyone who loves horses knows it’s more than swooning over pretty ponies. “Connections are important,” Broemel explains, “and this horse show allows so many connections on a personal and historical level. If you love animals and appreciate competition, it’s a wonderful opportunity to see something that has a tradition going back 100 years.”
My own tradition with All American goes back to 1996, when I was a 10-year-old girl in a dovegray suit showing my horse Americana’s Glamour Boy in the Pepsi Coliseum. Back then, spectators filled the ringside seats. Today, the bleachers of the Fall Creek Pavilion are empty. Only the other competitors spectate, which means the typical horse show watcher is also the typical horse show owner. Usually white, female, and wielding disposable income. She wears a lot of Eileen Fisher, and designer handbags are de rigueur. A lady doesn’t say her age, but many of these women show in the Masters division, which has an age cutoff of 60.
“Typical” doesn’t describe everyone there, though. There are Mennonite families in matching dresses and shirts. Wiry horse trainers with whips sticking out of their back pockets. Tired moms pushing tots in strollers. Twentysomethings in crop tops. At 38 and with no Prada purse in my closet, I’m not the norm, but I’m not alone. There’s a growing population of women like me who have thrown ourselves back into our childhood passion despite what our husbands think about the training fees.
PHOTO COURTESY RICK OSTEEN
Melissa Moore, part of a multigenerational line of horse trainers, thinks the show can help get families involved with horses. “Not enough children are introduced to horses, and All American is a great way for people to see multiple breeds.” Moore thinks the show is welcoming to all because of the state fairgrounds setting. “The new facility is clean, open, and bright. Spectators are treated to a variety of horses and ponies, as well as booths with information regarding the different breeds.”
The show is free and open to the public, and there’s plenty to do. Concession stands hawk hot dogs for the kids and beer for the grown-ups. Vendors sell equine art, horse-themed antiques, and upcycled tunics painted with glittery ponies. On Friday night, volunteers create a kids’ area where your preschooler can bounce on an inflatable horse while your 8-year-old threads a necklace with horse charms. As a parent, I’m always looking for free, family-friendly activities, and All American is a hidden gem, although there’s no guarantee kids won’t leave with a case of the horse bug. “You either get it or you don’t,” Caroline Boyer of Sheridan, Indiana’s Roselane Farm says of the bug. “But once you have it, you can’t stay away.”
Boyer and her husband Cameron have been bringing horses to this show since the mid-1980s. “The competition is tough,” Boyer says, “and we might not always have the nicest horses at the show, but when we do win …” Cameron finishes her sentence, “Boy, is it fun.” Like many trainers, they clean their own stalls, grow their own hay, and mend their own fences. The day in, day out of horse care isn’t the same as the glitz of the show ring, but it all blends together at the fairgrounds. Women in straw hats and floral dresses step around manure to climb into carts to drive their horses, just as they did at horse shows 150 years ago. How something as old-fashioned as a horse show, with its tinkling organ and 19th-century outfits, is still relevant today must have something to do with the mysterious pull of horses.
“With so much disconnect from over-stimuli and technology, I can’t think of a better way to connect humans with something bigger than themselves,” says Wells. “The horses are very healing in that regard.” That healing horse magic is available for the taking at the fairgrounds every September. We may live in a wired world, with family farms disappearing, but the animals that kept those farms running have never left.
