Fun Times At The Equine Affaire – Were You There?
By Nikki Alvin-Smith

If you attended the November 2024 Equine Affaire event at W. Springfield, MA then you can’t have missed the enormously successful ‘controlled chaos’ that surrounded the Barndominium that was erected on site.
 
Who brought the barn down? The leading modular barn company and longtime Barn Sponsor for the Equine Affaire, Horizon Structures. And who else was there? Me!
 
Though admittedly I was only in attendance for one of the four extremely busy days at the event, the foot traffic going in and out of the Barndominium showcased that transporting the 5-stall barn with tack room and full ‘condo’ style living space above, artfully decorated throughout, was a good idea.
 
This year the exhibit was staffed by the well-loved and always exuberant Brad Zeigler, the charming Denise Chesnet and the amiable Merv King. All are long-time employees at the Zook’s Horizon Structures based in Atglen, PA. A company that has grown exponentially over the years since its founding by Dave Zook who took the reins and drove his team of reindeer through the skies, led to no small degree by their brilliant Chief Marketing Officer, Jill Siragusa.
 
This ground-breaking (yet no ground was broken, the venue’s concrete lot was intact), achievement of modular design and implementation came to fruition thanks to a visionary and dedicated team at Horizon Structures.

 
You might expect that the largest and most complicated of horse barns, the one that successfully incorporates the upward trending lifestyle for a ‘peaceful co-existence’ to use the Horizon Structures catch-phrase, of horses and humans, the massive Barndominium, might be excluded from the ‘over-the road’ travel option. And it was truly amazing to see in person, that it was not.
 
Here’s what Brad Zeigler had to say about the experience:
 
“The best way I can describe the traffic at our exhibit is controlled chaos. The traffic was the strongest I have seen ever, 14/15 years. There was no “normal”. People would come down out of the Barndo and look for us {Horizon salespeople} and preceded to tell us,
 
“This is my dream. I so want this.”
 
Many folks did the complete opposite of what you may think as normal, “hide from the salespeople” as many do. This year that Barndominium broke that familiar barrier of “sales people and customers”.  It was amazing to watch.
The Barndo …simply put….the most head turning structure we have ever taken to that or any show.”
 
If you missed the event and the chance to ‘live’ the Barndominium experience,  you can take your own virtual walk-through of the building here. Horizon Structures offer four different Barndo styles and size options, so there is something for everyone.
 
While Zeigler was certainly kept busy with the team at the show, he also found time to help out other members of the Horizon Structures family, previous customer of the company buying her own dream barn, award winning children’s author, Angelina Natalia. Her series of books, “Sky View Farm Adventure Series,” was also a big hit at the event. And Zeigler helped Natalia navigate the vagaries of attending sucha  large venue as Equine Affaire, lending his decades of experience to help her relocate and set up her booth.

 
As a fellow author, it was grand to be able to meet the beautiful lady that I was able to interview by phone about her book a few years back. A truly inspirational tale about this single Mom, who raised her two girls alone and encouraged their passion for ponies, even keeping the wee beasties in their attached garage at their ranch-style home in Massachusetts at one point; battling breast cancer; and ultimately settling the family on a 15-acre property in rural New Hampshire.
 
Natalia wrote about her Horizon Structures barn purchase that was instigated by her daughter’s ardent shopping skills for a good deal, in her book title, ‘A Horsey Home’. It is a book beautifully illustrated by the talented Jess Bircham, and it follows the adventure of young Maggie and her mom who true to the real-life experiences of Angelina and her two girls embark on buying a new horse barn and moving horses out of the garage. Give it a look. It would make a perfect stocking stuffer for your horse crazy child.
 
Meantime, the Horizon Structures community continues to grow ever further as the recent 6th Annual Horizon Structures Run-In Shed Giveaway ends. 10 finalists have been selected at the time this article goes to digital print. You can find their names here.  Their video submissions introducing their need for the structure and sharing their stories will be highlighted in short bursts on the Horizon Structures media channels, Facebook and Instagram.

 
The winner of the 2024 Contest will be announced live on Facebook on December 20th. So please stay tuned.
 
And if you weren’t a winner and need to ‘shed your winter worries’ for horse shelter, take a look at the deals and discounts on their Sales Lot page, because Horizon Structures likes to clear their lot every year to make the job of snow-plowing easier for their maintenance team, so hot deals are available.