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Horsing around fair
By Kalea Hall
CANFIELD
Betty Vernon swings open the door to her camper and the sparkly “Hello Horseman” door slogan glimmers in the sun.
Inside, she quickly finds a cooking pot for a friend in need.
Vernon, 81, of Salem is a staple of the fair, and her trailer is where her horsemen family goes for pots, saddle pads and to gab.
“They are wonderful,” Vernon says. “The horsemen are great, great people.”
She should know. Vernon has been here in several capacities working with the horsemen.
She was an “outrider” for 25 years or so. That meant she would ride the horses to the starting post, and if a horse broke loose and got away, she would have to safely stop it. She also used to help train horses “many years ago.”
“I am too old now,” she says. “I still ride a lot.”
Vernon was later asked to take on making (numbered) saddle pads and matching head numbers for the horses, so the bettors knew what horses to place bets on during the harness races.
“A friend had pads and I took his pads over,” she said. “I knew nothing about this end of the business until they asked me to come over and work.”
Her horsemen friends helped her get acquainted with the saddle-pad work, and for years she traveled all over the state to provide the pads for horses. Now she attends only a couple of fairs.
“I’m like a carny,” she said. “I move from one fair to the next.”
She makes the saddle pads at home, with leather and a sewing machine.
On the porch outside her camper, Vernon has the colorful saddle pads lined up for the horsemen to come and collect before their 11 a.m. race.
Dressed in her “I raced at the Canfield Fair” shirt with a harness racer on the back, Vernon greets horsemen as they check in and grab their saddle pads.
“I have made so many friends over the years,” she said.
Her camper is plotted in the same place it has been for 60 years, she says – right behind the speed barn and right next to the grandstand track.
“It’s like a family reunion,” she said.
She walks through the speed barn and greets horsemen, including David Swaney, 78, of New Wilmington, Pa. ,and his worker, Sierra Graham, 20, of Canfield, both harness race horse drivers.
“We have always had horses,” Graham said. “I wanted to do something more exciting.”
So she picked up harness- horse racing with family friend, Swaney.
Swaney is a veterinarian who has been involved with horses his whole life.
“I got into it mainly because I was doing work for these people,” he said.
He’s been driving for 25 years. The breed of horses – standardbred – are easy to work with and take about four months to get into shape.
The horses race for 1 mile, or two times around the grandstand track. The goal is not only to win the race, but to keep the horse in its specific category, for example, trotting or pacing.
“The first time [racing] it’s like jumping out of an airplane,” Swaney said.
Vernon has a special bench the horsemen put in for her right by the grandstand’s track, so she can watch the saddle pads she made fly by.
But she’s usually too busy working to watch much of the races.
“I love the people and the job,” she said.
Harness racing at the grandstand track takes place again at noon Monday.