2016 Miniature Horse WORLD Issues Spring - E-Magazine | Page 20

A Day in the life of…

Laura Mullen,
AMHA World Show Manager

1

0 years ago Laura Mullen accepted the
challenge of a lifetime, to manage the
AMHA World Show. She didn’t know
then the commitment and time management
nightmare this 10 day event could be. But
handling the 1001 details and making it look
easy are trademarks of this lady and she has
accomplished the feat successfully year after
year. We asked Laura to recount how she
became involved with Miniatures and what
makes her continue to come back for more
(punishment) every year!

What led you to the Miniature
industry and how long have
you been involved?

I have owned horses since I was about
10 years old. As an adult, I was actively
involved with Arabians and National Show
Horses. My first introduction to Miniatures
was at the Pinto National Show the year it
was held in Syracuse, NY. A local exhibitor
had purchased a vendor space and had her
pinto Miniature stallion on display. We
got to chatting and she invited me to come
and watch a local mini show that was taking
place later that month. My family went,
we watched and within that year, we had
purchased our first Miniature. My original
thought was that I could have my 5-year-old
daughter play with the Miniature while I
worked with the Arabs. But, of course, I had
to help her at first and thoroughly enjoyed
the Miniatures as well. I had reached the
point where my National Show Horses were
very successful, but were high caliber enough
that I felt I had to have a professional handler
show them. They won many National titles,
but after I got to playing with the Miniature,
I started wondering if having horses with a
professional trainer away from my farm was
where I really got my enjoyment. Once
I came to the conclusion that the real
enjoyment for me came from handling and
caring for the horses myself, the transition
from my “large” horses to small ones began.
I have been involved with the Miniatures
now for 25+ years.

18 Miniature Horse World

SPRING 2016

Take us through a typical day
when preparing for a show...
tell us the best parts and the
toughest parts of your job.

Often I get inquiries from people asking if
they can come and work with me at a horse
show and learn show management. I am always happy to have them, but am sure to let
them know that 85% of what I do is already
done before I get in the truck and leave for
an event . . . and that 85% of the work is
probably what will make the show successful. On the actual show day, I usually arrive
at least two hours early to make sure the day
is going to begin on time and in an orderly
fashion. Usually I don’t have to be there
that early, but it is a compulsive thing with
me . . . LOL! The best parts of my job are
the friendships I have developed across the
country with my exhibitors and the chance
to look at beautiful horses each weekend!
The toughest part is that the hours are long
and the travel is tiring.

Looking back over all
the horse shows you have
managed, tell us your worst
experience and then your
best horse show experience.

My first crisis in show management, when I
first started managing shows, was when I was
just a volunteer manager for my Miniature
horse club. I was pretty much a one-woman
show at a small fairgrounds in N.Y. I was
the show manager and announcer and I
brought a young girl with me to hand out
ribbons and ring steward. Back then most
people showed off their trailers as this place
only had about 20 stalls. It was about 3
hours from my home and I got there late
afternoon the day before. I unloaded my
supplies and started getting people to their
stalls and measuring started. We had to leave
at 8:00 p.m. because the fairgrounds actually
locked the gates and you could not get back
in until 6:00 a.m. I went to bed and around
1:00 a.m. (as I usually do), I woke up and
started mentally taking an inventory of what
I needed to finish up and making sure I had

everything. When I got to judges cards, I
could not visualize where I had put them.
The more I thought about it, I kept thinking
the last place I saw them was at home on
a chair in my office!! What to do? Do I
drive the 6 hours back and forth to home to
check? My husband was out of town that
weekend, so I couldn’t call him. I decided
to wait until the gates opened at 6:00 a.m.
and look for them at the show grounds. At
6:00 a.m. I was there and to my dismay the