Stick horses, pinto ponies and Stanley: Horse show action gets kicking at the State Fair

Sep. 9—Pinto is Spanish for painted, dappled or spotted.

Everybody knows what a pinto horse is. It's those horses with splotches of black, brown or some other color over white. Little Joe rode a black-and-white pinto in the "Bonanza" TV series, and Tonto was mounted on a brown-and-white pinto when he rode with the Lone Ranger on television.

But some horse associations distinguish between pinto and paint horses, and the differences have more to do with bloodlines than color patterns. Don't even get into it unless you have a lot of time and a bottle of aspirin.

And then there's Stanley. Ashley Mossman of Corrales is entering Stanley, an 8-year-old gelding who stands 16 hands tall, in the New Mexico State Fair Pinto Horse Show that begins today and continues Sunday at the fair's horse complex at Expo New Mexico.

But Stanley is a bay quarter horse, not a spot on him. What the heck?

Mossman explains that the Pinto Horse Association of America (PtHA) now has a Solid Registry, as well as a Color Registry. That means a horse does not have to sport pinto, or paint, color patterns to compete in PtHA events. In fact, an animal doesn't even have to be a horse to take part in association shows. The organization also has a Long Ear Registry for mules and donkeys.

Stanley keeps a straight face.

Kids' Game Day

Carolyn Dobbins is in her fourth year as horse show manager for the New Mexico State Fair.

Her company, Southwest Show Management, based just outside of Phoenix, runs six to eight horse shows a year — in Texas, California, Nevada and Arizona — but the New Mexico show is the only state fair the company does.

"You can't duplicate a fair," she said. "Especially a state fair. You get a lot more traffic. You reach beyond the horse community into the community at large."

She said about 20 horses will compete in the fair's Pinto Horse Show today and Sunday. And, like Stanley, other horses in that bunch will not look like what we think of as pintos.

"They have opened it up to just about any horse," she said.

She is expecting about 60 horses overall to take part in the State Fair's horse shows, which also include ranch horse, all-breed and 4-H competitions. That's down from peaks of 150 and an average entry number of 70 to 80.

"I think we are losing our horse industry little by little," Mossman said as she sat at her desk in the fair's horse complex on Friday. "We have less and less agriculture and there is less money to do this kind of thing (horse shows). It is costly."

Dobbins initiated Game Day at the horse complex this year in an effort not only to entertain kids but get them interested in the horse world. Seven kids, ages 2 to 9, competed on stick horses fashioned out of pool noodles Friday morning in the fair horse arena. Events included pole bending, Simon Says, musical chairs and a keyhole race. It seemed as if everyone got blue ribbons.

Dobbins donned a horse costume for the games.

"We want to get them acquainted with horses and the people who love horses," Dobbins said of the kids. Some of the young contestants were members of horse families, but others were fair visitors who were checking out the horse arena with their parents.

Mossman, wearing a chicken costume (it's what she had), assisted Dobbins.

"I just wanted everyone to know that the State Fair is fun — chicken or not," she said.

Horse laugh

Mossman, now 58, was a kid herself when she started competing in horse shows at the State Fair.

"I grew up in Albuquerque and have been a horse-crazy girl all my life," she said. "I have not missed a fair since the late '70s when I was 10 or 12. I started showing Arabs and Morgans, and then I moved on to Appaloosas." And this year, she's here with Stanley.

Mossman said memories are her favorite thing about the State Fair, and they extend beyond the horse stalls and arena.

"I remember coming here with my family," she said. "My dad loved the fair. He has passed. But I still go see the same things — the art and the railroad exhibit. I remember you'd go show your horse and then go hang out with all your friends and get all our favorite fair food — chile relleno dog and funnel cake."

Kyrah Bowker, 15, of Moriarty, is at the State Fair with her horses Klyde, 9, a palomino pinto; Alfred, 3, a sorrel; and Martha, 3, a bay quarter horse. All three horses have world champion or reserve world champion titles to their credit. Bowker, who started competing in horse shows when she was 3, has garnered 59 world titles.

She's been on the road since the end of May, competing in shows in Oklahoma City, Fort Worth and Springfield, Ill.

"It's fun to come home and have a home show," she said.

Bowker figures this will be about her seventh appearance at the New Mexico State Fair, and she will be competing in the Pinto Horse Show, the Ranch Horse Show and the All Breed Horse Show.

Her mother is a horse trainer, so the life of horse-show competition comes naturally to her.

"You leave it all in the show pen," she said. "You go out and own it. Some days, it's not all you want it to be, but as long as you own it, you walk out happy. We did the best we could."

She said she enjoys competing against friends in the horse world.

"There are a lot of people who don't like the stress, but the stress is part of the fun for me."

Bowker is standing in front of Klyde's stall. She said the horse, which she has owned only since November, is deaf. And apparently he never has a stressful moment.

"I've never met a horse that is this happy," Bowker said. "He is cuddly. Loves to be scratched anywhere. He's always ready to be touched."

The horse shows a big toothy grin as Bowker scratches his neck. Maybe he's enjoying the attention, or maybe he's expressing some self-satisfaction.

Klyde knows he is a pinto.