Photos courtesy of Andrew Ryback Photography.
As with autumn leaves and apple cider, the 2022 Pennsylvania National Horse Show is back in Harrisburg this month, with organizers saying that this year’s event will offer visitors even more to see and do.
The 2022 show runs Oct. 13 to 22 at the PA Farm Show Complex, where it began in 1946. For decades, shows continued there annually, interrupted only by the pandemic in 2020 when the show was held on a reduced scale at a site in North Carolina. It returned to the Farm Show Complex last year with an additional competition ring and schooling rings to accommodate more horses.
According to Susie Shirk, Pennsylvania National Horse Show Foundation’s executive director, this year’s show continues with an expanded format.
“This year’s show will have five rings running at once,” she said. “Two rings are for community activities, two are (rider) school rings, and the other is for competitors.”
Also new this year is a “Family Fun Day” on Oct. 22. Children’s crafts, horse and wagon rides, and free frozen slushies all are on tap for the afternoon’s fun.
“It’s an opportunity for families to come out and do something different,” Shirk noted.
The purpose behind each year’s event, Shirk said, is to raise funds for the Pennsylvania National Horse Show Foundation, a nonprofit organization that provides support for therapeutic riding and equine rescue programs. Through tax-deductible donations, the foundation provides grant funding for therapeutic riding programs, horse rescue associations, therapeutic equipment, equine-assisted activity programs, rider scholarship funds, veterinary care and more.
Additionally, the Pennsylvania National Horse Show each year hosts a “Foundation Friday,” which offers two therapeutic riding championships for assisted and unassisted riders, and presentation of the foundation’s “Therapy Horse of the Year” award. Riders compete for ribbons and a trophy and receive donated products from program sponsors and vendors.
This year’s Foundation Friday takes place on Oct. 21. Riders qualified for the championship classes by participating in one of three prior summer events at Walnut Grove Farms in Dover, Friendly Horseman’s Club in Denver, and Columbia Riding Club in Columbia.
The greater Harrisburg community also benefits from the Pennsylvania National Horse Show, as the area receives an estimated economic impact of more than $10 million annually, according to the show.
Max Hempt, Pennsylvania National Horse Show Foundation Board chairman, said that he’s been involved with the show for “around 10 years,” the third generation of his family to do so. He proudly notes that his grandfather, Max C. Hempt, along with his father and uncle, were “very instrumental” in promoting the show’s growth since it started as a four-day run with 226 horse entries. Organizers today expect around 1,500 horses and competitors at the show, with crowds totaling about 12,000 people.
The Farm Show Complex received “extensive renovations during COVID,” Hempt said, and organizers recently upgraded to using international grade footing to better accommodate horses.
“That makes it a lot safer,” he said. “Everyone who’s been involved with this agrees that it’s worth it.”
Shirk added that “it takes a village” to put each year’s show together, requiring “150 to 200 people to make the show happen (over) 10 days.”
Set-up begins on the Sunday immediately prior to the show and involves “taking all of the dirt out of the (Farm Show Complex) coliseum and bringing in our own dirt and footing,” Shirk said. The process takes a good 48 hours.
The entire process then is repeated 10 days later when the show ends, but in reverse order.
Despite all the hard work, Shirk loves putting on the show.
“It’s fun to meet all the people there, and it’s fun to see it all put together,” she said. “The best part is seeing the therapeutic riding. That’s really what it’s all about.”
Hempt agreed.
“The main goal is to raise money for the foundation, of which most goes back to therapeutic riding programs, and to make it the best show possible for all of the participants,” he said.
The 2022 Pennsylvania National Horse Show runs Oct. 13 to 22 at the PA Farm Show Complex, 2300 N. Cameron St., Harrisburg. For more information, visit www.panational.org.
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