A show office is the hub of any breed competition. It’s the event headquarters, setting the tone for the week, providing key information, taking entries and logging points.

Show managers and secretaries clock long hours before, during and after an event to guarantee exhibitors have a positive experience and are properly acknowledged on the awards they’ve earned.

It takes dedicated individuals like Larry and Charlotte Jaynes, of Burdett, New York, to balance a fun-filled, exhibitor focused atmosphere with the attention to detail required for accurately processing thousands of entries per show.

“When we were showing there were some shows I wouldn’t go into the show office because the staff wasn’t pleasant. I’d send Larry instead,” Charlotte recalls. Little did they know that eventually it would be up to them to set the tone and foster an exhibitor focused atmosphere at large shows.

Lifelong love affair Horses and horse shows have always been an integral part of Larry’s life.

“My dad was one of the first horse traders in New York and Northern Pennsylvania,” he explains. His father, Jessie Jaynes, frequented the Unadilla horse sales for prospects. “My brother and I were expected to show and to win because everything we rode was for sale.”

Larry specialized in Roping, Barrels and Poles as well as “old-time” speed events including the Pony Express Race and Balloon Race. He trained and rode whatever breed of horse his father had purchased. As a teen he had his first introduction to an American Quarter Horse.

“The first Quarter Horse I rode was a Three Bars mare. She taught me how to ride with my legs,” he says.

Outside the arena, Larry worked alongside his father in the logging industry. Jessie preferred natural horse power to mechanized motors for skidding logs out of the woods.

“Using a team of horses to skid logs is something I’ll never forget,” he says.

Caring for livestock was as much a part of Charlotte’s youth as it was Larry’s. Raised on a dairy farm, she regularly helped with chores.

“Everyone says that cows and horses don’t mix, but Charlotte made sure she had a few horses of her own,” he explains.

The couple first met at school when they were in seventh grade. A shared love of horses forged the way for a young and lasting romance. The couple dated through high school and college, marrying in 1967.

“We wouldn’t know what to do without one another standing at our side,” he says.

They wasted no time buying a 70-acre farm in the village filling it with beef cattle and horses. In 1971, their daughter, Michelle, was born.

Show time Michelle joined the family on the show circuit as soon as she was old enough to compete. She started in 4-H and Open shows, specializing in Showmanship, Hunter Under Saddle, Pleasure, Horsemanship and Equitation. Eventually, she asked to participate in Quarter Horse shows. She went on to earn her AQHA Youth Championship and an AQHA Superior Halter Championship with Bars Funny Face.

At the height of the family’s involvement in showing, they purchased a chestnut stallion, Impress Bonanza Bar, a.k.a. Beau. The sire became the foundation of the couple’s breeding operation and his offspring were quickly noticed in the show pen.

“I remember taking six weanlings to a NYPENN show in 1986 and every one of them finished in the Top 10,” he reminisces, “that same year we took them to

the ESQHA Fall Show and they all finished in the Top 10 there too.”

By the late 1980’s/early 1990’s Michelle left home to attend college and drifted away from showing. She later married and started a family of her own.

Larry and Charlotte continued to show, frequenting shows in Clarence Center, New York and Toronto, Canada.

At a show in Clarence Center in 1989, then show secretary, Laurie Crawford, needed a hand and asked Charlotte for help. For the next few years, Charlotte worked closely with Crawford learning the responsibilities of a show secretary.

When Crawford relocated to Missouri, the couple seized the opportunity to step in and fill her shoes. “We only had three mares left and decided to find homes for them so we could become managers and provide secretary services for AQHA shows,” Larry explained.

From the other side Nearly 25 years ago, Larry and Charlotte traded standing in line to submit entry forms to being the individuals collecting and processing them.

Since then they have provided management and secretary services through their business WMF Show Services, working closely with the Empire State Quarter Horse Association (ESQHA) and AQHA to nurture and encourage increased participation in breed events.

They manage and provide secretary services for the ESQHA Show that runs in conjunction with the Erie County Fair in Hamburg and the annual Fall Show held in Syracuse.

Larry also manages one show a year for the Pennsylvania Quarter Horse Association and Charlotte has been the official secretary at the AQHA East Level 1 Championships in Murfreesboro, Tennessee the last two years. As the show secretary for the AQHA East Level 1 Championships, Charlotte has little time to rest. In 2013

the event recorded 1,562 entries and 2,726 entries in 2014. And in 2012 Larry became an official AQHA Steward and serves as the steward at each of the shows.

Working closely with members of ESQHA, the Jaynes have helped the association increase participation. In 2014, the Erie County Fair Show tallied nearly

2,500 entries under four judges and the Fall Show exceeded 13,000 entries under

six judges. The Fall Show held every September has evolved into a necessary stop on the tour to the All-American Congress, which kicks off in October.

The show, which takes place in a coliseum, provides riders an opportunity to show their horses in a facility similar to what they will find at the Congress. Trainers, select riders, amateurs and youth competitors travel from as far as Iowa, Florida, Ohio, Montreal and Ontario, Canada and points in between.

Astonishingly, they’ve done all this while working fulltime jobs.

“I use all the vacation time I get and accrue comp time to do these shows,” Charlotte says. Larry too coordinated the show season around his work schedule prior to retiring from his fulltime position in 2014.

They are busier attending AQHA events now than when they campaigned their own show horses. However, the camaraderie makes the work worth the sacrifice.

“We have met some really wonderful individuals that we consider good friends,” the couple agrees, “we feel very blessed to have been able to work with many exhibitors and trainers and become a part of their success stories and hope to be able to continue for many years.”

With what free time they do have available, they agree there’s no place they’d rather be than on the farm. “I could walk our property 100 times a week in the summer. I enjoy the quietness out there,” Larry says. Golfing and hunting also rank at the top of his list of activities when he’s not working.

For Charlotte, maintaining the driving range they own is a break from the daily grind. “I love mowing our lawn and mowing the driving range. I don’t have to think about a thing,” she says.