Over the past 25 years the Oregon High Desert Classics has grown in exhibitor size exponentially. One of the improvements over the years was an enlargement of the warm up arenas. Bulletin file photo

Over two weeks, the Oregon High Desert Classics hosts more than 1,500 riders and 500 horses. But 25 years ago, the show was just a fraction of its current size.

In 1989, the J Bar J Youth Services fundraiser was known as the High Desert Horse Faire, and it was staged at Stevenson Ranch in southeast Bend.

In 1992, the directors of the J Bar J Boys Ranch — a ranch for boys 13-18 years who have been in trouble with the law to rehabilitate — agreed to provide the labor to transform the former cow and pig ranch on Bend’s east side into the site of what organizers proudly call “the most prestigious hunter-jumper competition in the Northwest.”

“In the early ’90s we weren’t netting very much money,” J Bar J executive director Stephanie Alvstad says. “In 1997 we hired Dianne Johnson as our show manager and we went from making maybe $60,000 prior to the hire to $100,000 the next year. Now we’re making $250,000 (all proceeds from the event go to the J Bar J programs).”

One of the modifications that Johnson made was changing the name of the show from Michelob Classics to the Oregon High Desert Classics. The other was making the Classics a two week show by 1999.

“I told the organizers that Bend is a wonderful destination,” Johnson recounts, noting that the opportunity to host a show on the lush grass of J Bar J Boys Ranch was another marketable feature. “There are few venues in the country that have grass. Anybody in the horse industry will tell you the best footing is good grass.”

The transformation involved several years of work — provided mostly by the boys in the J Bar J Boys Ranch program — but in 1994 the first Oregon High Desert Classics was staged on the new grounds.

“They didn’t just mow a field,” Johnson says. “When they did this, they laser leveled the field, they went down about 6 feet and put in rock and gravel. So there’s a base under the footing, where 90 percent of other facilities don’t have. It was a huge investment for (J Bar J).”

Trainer and rider Clare Warren, of Archway Equestrian Sports, LLC in Woodinville, Washington, has been attending the Bend show since 1991.

“For us, the grass here is beautiful and the weather is great,” Warren says. “Also, show management is a big reason why we keep coming back every year because we know we’re going to get our money’s worth. I think people come back because they enjoy how they’re treated.”

Warren, who attends the show with several members of her family, says the two-week High Desert Classics is one of the highlights of the riding season.

“We come from indoor sand rings, which are always dusty,” Warren says. “So, when we come down here, it’s always refreshing to have grass. And I think for the kids and families that come there’s so much to do after the horse show and in between the two weeks. A lot of our clients make this a family vacation.”

According to Alvstad, the show drew in about a quarter of the amount of people in the early ‘90s. The expansion has been largely the result of the event’s reputation throughout the West.

“The show has just grown and grown,” Johnson says. “Now we’re maxed out. We’ve been maxed out with 500 horses for the last four years. It’s been word-of-mouth mostly. Horse families are very close-knit and once they come, they come back year after year.”

Johnson says that since the ranch’s initial overhaul, organizers have made improvements, but for the most part the venue appears the same. The most significant upgrade took place after last year’s show when new footing in the competition areas and new fencing were added, wash racks were improved, and the schooling and lunging arenas were enlarged. Also water, electricity and grass were made available in all of the stabling areas.

“Most of the changes over the years have been with the footing,” Johnson says. “There have been a lot of rants and raves just from the changes made last year. We’re just going to keep doing what we’re doing. Like the saying goes, ‘When it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’”

— Reporter: 541-383-0375, eoller@bendbulletin.com.