There are big numbers at the 2014 Freedom Special Appaloosa Show being held in Cloverdale, Indiana. at the C Bar C Expo Center this weekend.

With 700 entries and 200 stalls sold at this year’s event, the Freedom Special Appaloosa Show is the largest appaloosa show in the Midwest. Show management is very excited that the stall count is clearly up from last year and they are confident the show is only going to keep getting bigger every year.

The largest class was the Open Aged Geldings with 25 entries. The Grand and Reserve halter horse in each division won a cash prize. The show offers an all- inclusive fee for Non-Pro and Youth exhibitors to show in as many classes as they want including the Open events.  The show is spread out over four days starting with the Cattle and Roping classes on Thursday; Showmanship, Trail and Western Riding on Friday; Halter, Hunter Under Saddle, Equitation and Poles on Saturday; and Western Pleasure and Horsemanship on Sunday.

Judges this year are: Cheryl Ogle, Bill French, John Ed Tabb and Dan Williams.

The Hoosier Appaloosa Association’s main goal is to make the show as exhibitor and spectator friendly as possible. They offered random drawings throughout the show day to lucky exhibitors for Just Peachy Show Clothing gift certificates, jewelry, bags of kettle corn popcorn and for 10 exhibitors, $100 cash.

The show staff went above and beyond to make sure both two-legged and four- legged exhibitors were happy and well taken care. The arena crew stayed on top of dragging the arenas throughout the day so exhibitors always had the best footing.

Every morning at the start of the show the Chocolatey Breakfast was served with fresh coffee, chocolate milk and donuts for all exhibitors. The Chocolatey Breakfast was sponsored by the decorated 2005 ApHC stallion Chocolatey, owned by Noel Schmitt, of Stillwater, New Jersey.

The big exhibitor event of the show was featured Saturday night when the 2008 ApHC stud Tell Me I’m Hot, owned by Mary-Lynn France, sponsored the exhibitor’s dinner.

I met up with Tell Me I’m Hot aka: Fletcher’s owner Mary-Lynn France during the dinner.

“’Fletcher’ is a young stud with such a bright future,” she says. “He has been stamping all of his babies with his great mind and good legs.  His oldest are 2- year-olds and I can’t wait to see them hit the show pen this summer in the futurities.”

A silent auction for the charity Cowboys Who Care followed the exhibitors dinner. Cowboys Who Care is a charity that provides Resistol Western Hats for children with cancer and other illnesses. The big item in the auction was a Resistol Hat signed by cowboys and cowgirls from the Houston Rodeo. The signatures on the hat have a combine total of over 30 world titles and belt buckles. All proceeds and donations went straight to the Cowboys Who Care charity.

If you missed out on this year’s Freedom Special Appaloosa Show make sure to mark you calendars for next year —  you’re not going to want to miss it.

Check out our candids from the show here