Sunday, Feb. 16, 2025

Costs, Competition, Dwindling Volunteers End Menlo Charity Show

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After 51 years, the Menlo Charity Horse Show, held each summer in Atherton, California, has shuttered its doors. The decision was made Dec. 29 and announced on the show’s website.

“It’s just so heartbreaking for so many people,” said Suzanne Rischman, one of the co-chairs for the show.

The committee began discussing the future of the show after the 2024 competition, held Aug. 6-10. While sponsorship has been up, increasing costs and a dwindling volunteer base meant the show was no longer viable, said Rischman, who has been involved with running the show—which is listed as one of 31 U.S. Equestrian Federation “heritage competitions” nationwide—since the late 1980s.  

“We were up sponsors; we were up sponsor money, but our cost increased equally,” she said. “Footing is a big thing. Because we bring in footing, we have to redo that every year. That’s a cost that we always look at. Everything went up.”

Another factor was that the show has been canceled three times in the past five years, first due to COVID in 2020 and 2021, and then again in 2023 due to renovations being done at the Menlo Circus Club, where the show is held. The disruptions to the schedule made running the show more difficult.

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Rischman pointed to the changing landscape of horse shows and scheduling as another factor. USEF Pony Finals (Kentucky) have run against Menlo for a decade, and more exhibitors are choosing to attend multi-week circuits, like the Great Lakes Equestrian Festival in Michigan, which also overlaps Menlo’s show dates, rather than standalone shows. Uncertainty over the California show schedule, caused by USEF’s decision to vacate and rebuild the calendar in 2023, also caused attrition, she said.

“All of our big barns went back east to show because they weren’t sure what was happening with the California landscape of horse showing, so we were down about 190 horses that went to Michigan and elsewhere for the summer circuit,” she said. “Without that support, we couldn’t financially make it work because we’re not for profit. We’re a charity who benefits charities, so at the end of the day the money goes back out to our community. It’s a little bit different when you can run in the red multiple horse shows over a year or over a couple of years, but that’s not the way that we are set up, and that’s not the way that we are able to operate.”

Menlo began as a one-day show in 1970 and has raised funds for the Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired since 1973. Over the years the show has broadened to support additional charities, including the Children’s Health Council, American Wild Horse Conservation and Equestrians for Mental Health Awareness.

“I really want people to support the charity horse shows,” said Rischman. “And I think it’s also important that the people that love Menlo continue to support our charities and think a little bit about what they want showing to look like in the future.”
 

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