Exceptional Vendors Provide Unique Shopping Experience at Capital Challenge Horse Show

When the Capital Challenge Horse Show kicks off on October 1, the 23^rd annual show will not only welcome many of the nation’s top horses and riders, but dozens of exceptional vendors, many of whom have made the show at the Prince George’s Equestrian Center a destination for years. The Capital Challenge Horse Show runs October 1-9 in Upper Marlboro, MD.

Among this year’s long-time returning vendors are BJ’s Hunt Room, Classic Works of Art, Dandy Products, and Quail Hollow Tack.

“I have been coming [to Capital Challenge] every year since it started,” said BJ Meeks of BJ’s Hunt Room. “The first year, I asked (show manager) Oliver Kennedy if he had a good space for me, and he said, ‘I have the best space for you.’ I’ve been in that same space every year since!”

BJ’s Hunt Room will return to its sky box vendor space again this year, with the same high-quality products shoppers have come to expect from Meeks, including Native American jewelry, Loro Piana cashmere sweaters, and much more.

“Our Native American jewelry has become one of our main staples,” Meeks said. “We go right to the reservation, and we work directly with Native American artists. They make special pieces just for us when we’re selling to collectors all over the world.”  

Shoppers looking for the same high-quality products, but with home décor in mind, should be sure to visit Classic Works of Art, which features exceptional hand-painted work all done by owner Maria Ciarpella. Ciarpella’s beautiful artwork includes painted furniture – both antique and new, painted glass and vases, wreaths, and more.

The Capital Challenge Horse Show also presents one of the few opportunities to purchase Ciarpella’s work in person, as Classic Works of Art is only available on-site at the Upperville Colt & Horse Show and Capital Challenge, where Ciarpella has been a vendor for more than a decade.

Dandy Products, of Goshen, Ohio, has also made the year-end horse show a must on their calendar for many years and will return again for 2016 with a full line of wall and trailer padding, safety mats, wooden trunks and barn equipment, and much more.

“We are the U.S. manufacturer of all of the portable liverpools and water jumps. This year we’ll also be featuring our wooden line of barn equipment, which is a little bit newer to our store,” said Colleen Reed of Dandy Products. “We have an entire wood line of barn equipment – trunks, grooming wall boxes, bandage boxes, and medical boxes. One of the great things that we do differently, is that we stock the trunks and barn equipment, so they are readily available, and we don’t have to order them in.”

Reed continued, “Our mobile store has been run by Joe Albarello for 18 years, and Capital Challenge is always a great show for us. We always enjoy going, and we love working with everyone that is there.”

For tack, riding equipment, and apparel needs, competitors and spectators at the Capital Challenge Horse Show can visit another loyal vendor, Quail Hollow Tack. The popular on-site mobile tack shop is fully stocked with English riding apparel, tack, and horse care items.

This year’s full list of indoor vendors at the Capital Challenge Horse Show include: Bennie’s Shoe Shine, B+, BJ’s Hunt Room, C4 Belts, Capital Challenge Souvenirs, Charles Ancona, Classic Works of Art, Enise, Equine Impressions, Equis Boutique, H&H Horse & Home, Hunt Ltd., Jods, Just Over The Top, Palm Beach International Academy, Skiffington’s, and Vandermoore.

Outdoor vendors at the 2016 Capital Challenge Horse Show will include: Antares, Charles Owen, Clothesline Laundry, Crafty Fox Shop, CWD Sellier, Dandy Products, Devoucoux, The Farmhouse, FarmVet, Personalized Products, Quail Hollow Tack, Sharon Lynn Campbell, Shawn McMillen Photography, Turner & Co., and Wild Horses.

For more information on the 2016 Capital Challenge Horse Show, please visit www.CapitalChallenge.org or find the horse show on Facebook here! Add twitter and Instagram links – or put the three social media icons linked to their pages in the email template

About the Capital Challenge Horse Show
Now in its 23rd year, the Capital Challenge Horse Show sets itself apart with a distinct and unique focus on preeminent hunter and equitation competition. Held each autumn at the Prince George’s Equestrian Center in Upper Marlboro, MD, the 2016 edition of the Capital Challenge Horse Show will take place October 1-9. The nine days of competition will include prestigious equitation events and the World Championship Hunter Rider (WCHR) Finals with many of the country’s best horses and riders competing in junior, amateur, and professional hunter divisions.