Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country
Founded 05-05-05
February 1, 2007 issue
Quite a Few More Hurdles
For a New Horse Show Arena in Mountain City
Story by Lois Carol Wheatley
Since the dawn of humankind, parents have looked for ways to inspire good behavior, a positive attitude and improved posture in their children. The repetition through countless generations of “mind your manners” and “stop slouching” got them nowhere and then someone invented the horse show—trophies, ribbons and certificates for showmanship, equitation and dressage.
Then parents knew they were onto something. Nowhere other than a horse show would they see such rigid adherence to rules and seldom would they find vertebrae so perfectly aligned. And they’d get all this under the flimsy guise of bringing the horse under control.
The Northeast Tennessee Equine Association (NTEA), headquartered in Mountain City, has formed in recent months, partly to establish order among the local youth, “to keep them off the streets,” in the words of president Andrea Mahan. Also partly because the adults in this area trailer their horses to distant shows, leaving a sprawling, agriculturally oriented geographic vicinity in search of other, more urban venues that host this sort of activity.
The NTEA’s main objective is to create some sort of stadium, an indoor arena to keep its horse show enthusiasts within a reasonable driving range. At present the facilities at the Chamber Park on Highway 67 West consist of some fencing and a set of bleachers, but monthly meetings in the basement of the Welcome Center have focused on visualizing the new indoor facility at that location and raising the funds to make it happen.
“There are Equine Associates, Tennessee Horses Council and Appalachian Horse Show Association, but nothing that’s for Johnson County per se,” said Mahan. “And we’re really Northeast Tennessee, a bunch of people who want to show locally and don’t want to be driving two and three hours for a show.”
But the vision goes beyond horse shows. “It’s more going to be an agricultural building,” said Mahan, “so it’s not just going to be for equine events. We could show cattle, have a farmers’ market, tractor pulls, whatever anybody can imagine.” Something every weekend, she said, at a very minimum, but a variety of after-school stuff during the week is the ultimate goal.
Vendor stalls will be located within the enclosed area, with horse stalls on the outside—“all just one big unit type of thing.” A staging area will be needed, one that might ultimately serve for those waiting in the wings for horse shows. “We’ll have concerts there,” she said. “This building is going to be for the whole community. A lot of churches put up tents to have revivals, and they’ll be able to use this.”
The main horse show each year is in conjunction with the Johnson County Fair and that’s the “sanctioned” show, meaning that it’s registered and recognized by the Appalachian Horse Show Association. Over a year’s time, riders win points to be used toward year-end rewards. Showmanship, English Pleasure, Western Pleasure and Equitation are some of the categories.
Then there are speed classes and barrel racing and, for the more sedate, circling the arena in various combinations of walk-trot-canter and walk-jog-lope. The youngest class in most events is juniors 18 years and under, in most cases with no minimum age. “Obviously you don’t strap a stroller to the horse’s back, but as long as they can sit up by themselves,” Mahan said—and she is, by the way, British by birth, brought up in a country entirely devoted to dogs and horses. “I started riding when I was three,” she added.
Lead line classes will be offered to the very young, basically putting a small child on a horse and walking around the track with a lead line firmly in the hand of an adult. Then “everybody gets a prize, either a ribbon or a stuffed toy or something,” Mahan said.
NTEA does not merely meet monthly to cook up fundraising events for its new facility. Last week a veterinarian from Abingdon, Va. came out to give a talk on general horse care, with about 25 people in attendance, and he will be back in the future to address specific subjects.
Mahan stressed that you don’t have to have a horse to join the club. ”Some people have extra horses if [members] want to learn to groom the horses,” she said.
When the discussion turns to fundraising, some horse shows and clinics around the area might raise some money, and the kids that would benefit from this effort might put on the usual dance or the usual car wash. Iron Chef Mountain City also has been suggested.
The group is just now out of the starting gate and hasn’t even rounded the first stretch. If all goes well, the stadium is still a few more laps around the track. “I don’t think they would have it done this year,” Mahan said, meaning in time for this summer’s county fair, “but maybe next year.”
“If I can help kids or the community or something, that makes me feel good,” she said. “It’s just an avenue for them rather than hanging around in parking lots.”
Yearly dues for NTEA are $5 for youth, $10 for adults, $15 for couples and $20 for families. Send contributions to PO Box 361, Butler, TN 37640. For more information, call 423-957-6405 or email avmahan@hughes.net.