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The hunters, jumpers and roadsters will be among hundreds of horses competing next week as the unfolds for the 61st time. Some 600 horses and 40,000 onlookers are expected for the show, galloping Tuesday through Saturday, at the horse show grounds, officials said. “We have actually had people come from all over the country,” said Lynda Smith, show president. Started in 1948 through an alliance of the Oak Grove Hunt Club and Germantown Civic Club, the Germantown Charity Horse Show is one of a special sort of multi-breed, multi-discipline competitions that have become parts of the social fabric in their communities, said Kathy Meyer, a spokeswoman for the in Lexington, Ky. As shows evolved, specialized events for a certain horse breed or discipline have been the trend, she said. “They are just fun, good, exciting and high-quality competition,” Meyer said.
The economy may have cut the number of entries in Germantown this year by about 50 horses, but then again the number of hunters and jumpers is up about 10 percent, Smith said.