Ever since I was a child, I came to the State Fair and watched the riders in the exercise ring prepare for their classes and hoped that one day I’d be one of them. This was my year. I rode Gift of Freedom, my six-year-old Walking Horse mare, in Two-gait and Three-gait English and Western Lite Shod classes–barefoot (well, my horse that is). I was among exhibitors who traveled from around Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Canada.

After experiencing this firsthand, I have an even greater appreciation for people who show at the State Fair: hordes of people, many intoxicated and some belligerent, clogging the walkway from the barn to the Coliseum; loud rock music blaring from the beer garden amplifiers and panicking the horses into piaffe; city bus air brakes hissing and Harley Davidson motorcycles revving up alongside the warm up arena on Como Avenue; swirling rides with screaming passengers lighting up the sky; and fireworks erupting at show time which sounded like the beginnings of World War III. Wow, if your horse wasn’t bombproof upon arrival, it sure would be by the time you left!

Riding at the Minnesota State Fair was matchless. For me, it was a lifelong dream come true. Not only was it a high to be riding in the Coliseum, but my mare placed in three out of the four classes entered and nearly paid for my show expenses. The Lite Shod Walking Horse classes had seven to ten exhibitors and the Plantation Pleasure classes had five exhibitors with a $1,000 Stakes class for each division.

Adding to the fun was hanging out in Walker alley with fellow MWHA members and listening to stories told by Dale Frones who has been attending the Minnesota State Fair for 35 years. He recounted the year he dressed up as Santa Clause and threw candy to the crowd while riding his antler-shaking Walking Horse. Dale was also responsible for the plastic spider dangling by a string that used to scare me as a teenager while walking through the horse barn.

However, the behind-the-scenes horse show office disorganization was another matter: Forms getting lost, e-mails not returned, show receipts sent without admission tickets included, conflicting information between online and paper forms. Adding to the frustration were parking passes oversold which left exhibitors without a place to park (all for the sake of “making money” as one parking attendant put it); a dust-filled exercise arena that was as thick as a bar at closing time with the watering truck parked within sight; and show schedules that backed up past 1:30 a.m. which left me stranded overnight with nowhere to sleep but with the horses in the barn or face a mile-long journey to my car all alone in the dark.

Once I recover from sleep deprivation, dust-clogged sinuses, and the office frustration, I’ll ask myself if it was worth doing it all over again next year.

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Good news! As of this post the MN State Fair is improving the overnight parking situation. Visit: mnstatefair.org.

Video of 2-gait lite shod $1,000 stakes class>