A Spectator’s View of Horse Progress Days 2025 (20 Photos)
After posting about the latest Horse Progress Days, held last week in Clare, Michigan, I was fortunate enough to receive not one, but two sets of photos from attendees of this year’s edition – from Jim Halverson, who many of you will recognize from frequent excellent photos here, and from Milo G. Miller, Publisher of the Budget newspaper.
Some of you might be readers of the Budget (or the Diary, which Milo publishes as well), or remember reading this Q&A with Milo on the Budget. Milo has been to every Horse Progress Days event since 2008 – so he’s on a good run here!
I’m going to share Milo’s set first here and circle back with Jim’s photos next week. Milo took some great shots showing the crowd, some of the horse presentations, and some candid shots. Maybe the next best thing to being there!
Father and son on a steam tractor.
Equipment prep.
Taking a quick break.
The event draws a big crowd. We don’t have official numbers – but Milo notes that “I did hear someone anecdotally say the attendance was around 7,500 for Friday alone (I think it was a little larger than that, but who knows).”
And “If I had to guess, I would say between 13,000 – 15,000 was the total attendance.” Again, not the official numbers. But maybe not a bad guess if you look at some of these crowd shots.
This is the “Kid’s Pony Express”, described as a “light-hearted opening tradition” at the start of each day.
There was also a kid’s stick horse race, described as “very cute”.
As you can see, this is an event for the whole family.
“Very cute” indeed!
Milo titles this one “Ready for Demo.” The yellow sign says “Tillage Equipment Demonstration” with an arrow pointing ahead.
The produce area. The event was held at the Alvin Yoder, Jr. farm.
Main arena.
The Pony Parade lineup.
The event draws attendees from all around. Here you see women with the traditional heart-shaped Lancaster County prayer coverings. That doesn’t mean they are from Lancaster County, necessarily. They could be from a related community.
Equipment lineup.
A big thank-you to Milo for giving us this up-close look from an attendee’s perspective. Stay tuned for more next week.
Horse Progress Days
Great photos, Milo! I should have hung out with you for some pointers!
Jim Halverson
Very cute
I just loved the photos of the stick horse races. I bet the children had a lot of fun.
Thanks for the excellent pictures. They showed a good variety of the different types of demonstrations and activities available to participate in/view. Does anyone know what the total attendance was this year?