The Pioneer Horse Shows started in 1967 and they are still going strong every first Saturday of the summer months. There’s a $3 admission fee to the grounds, and a $3 entry fee per class. First place winners in each class have their choice of a trophy or 30% of the entry fees paid in that class. What could be better?

Better than winning was watching. Watching the little girl in the orange cowboy hat ride the pony with an orange nylon bridle, the 70-year-old men wearing ball caps zooming by on their racking horses, the perfectly turned out dressage horse amidst a sea of Tennessee Walker types, and a Western Pleasure Paint and rider looking like they were warming up for Congress. One man had a “Property of Jesus” T-shirt, another had a Bluetooth phone on his ear, and another answered a call on his cell phone during a class. There was the woman in a beautiful sequined top that color-coordinated with her horse’s purple breast collar and tack, and on it goes.

The show opened with an English halter or model class and then the Western equivalent. It was clearly an all-breed event, and went along quietly as you might expect, except for a giant horsefly livening up one of the entries.

The lead line class was next, with proud parents and grandparents leading little ones along. Show etiquette is important — the tradition is for the riders wave to the crowd as they go around, with everyone on the rail waving back. Then came the pleasure pony class, which was huge. The rule, of course, is 14.2 hands or under, but I’m sure that no one on the grounds had a measuring stick.

Many of the class descriptions included “favorite” gait, as in “Walk and favorite gait other than canter or lope.” I could see why they called it favorite gait, because it was hard to identify some in the pace-amble-walk-running walk-rack genre, but obviously they were the gaits most familiar to those particular horses. There was lots of kissing going on, with spectators trying to encourage horses who may have been just a shade slow.

Someone came by trying to find a home for a dog he had been fostering for a while. He said, “Five dollars.” As in, “If you take this dog, I’ll pay you $5.

The highlight was Intermission, when the owner of the property — 80 years young — rode his World Champion Tennesssee Walker. This man had bred and shown this horse — who was now 20 years young. There they were as a team, the horse moving around the ring like a power walker, big reaching strides in perfect rhythm, with his owner in perfect control.

Folks have been coming to that show for years. Generations of kids grew up at this fun show, and now bring their children or even grandchildren to compete. I can’t remember when I had such a good time. When we think about the “horse industry,” often big farms or major horse events come to mind. But the strength of our industry is the good people who make horses and good, clean fun a part of their everyday life — or at least their Saturday nights.