An amazing breed: Mullen family shows Clydesdales at Tuscarawas County Fair
DOVER ‒ Members of the Mullen family will be camped out at the Four Way Barn all week at the Tuscarawas County Fair, showing their eight Clydesdale horses to visitors who come through the building.
The family has been raising and showing Clydesdales for 50 years, exhibiting their draft horses at county fairs throughout northeast Ohio and state fairs in the Midwest.
"We just love sharing what we love with our community. People from church, people from school, people from work come through," said Meaghan Mullen Chismar of Dover. "We get to show them how amazing this breed is. The elementary kids come through on their field trips, and we open a door and let them touch a horse and we show them what they eat and how much they eat. We just help to educate about the importance of agriculture.
"These guys played such a big role in agriculture in the U.S. I tell the kids as they come through that these (horses) were the semi-trucks. If you had to move something, you used one of these horses, and they built America."
More fair news: Three sets of twins reflect on their years as 4-H members and fair participation
A long love of horses
Meaghan's father, Bill Mullen, grew up in Mahoning County, near Youngstown. As his wife, Maggie said, "Bill has had his hand on a horse every day of his life. He was riding by the time he was 4 or 5."
When Bill and Maggie got married, they left the church in a horse-drawn buggy. In 1973, they decided to buy their first Clydesdales. They purchased two geldings sight unseen through Farm and Dairy Magazine for $1,500. It was six months later they bought John Henry and Casey Jones that they purchased a farm in Mahoning County.
"Those horses taught us. We learned so much from them," Maggie said.
They bought their first mares in 1976 and had them bred to two Anheuser Busch stallions. The first foals arrived in the spring of 1978. Their horses have had about 100 foals over the years.
The Mullens have three children, Meaghan, Ryan and Alex. "We had horses before we had kids," Maggie said.
All the children started showing Clydesdales when they were in their teens. On occasion, they were hired to show horses for other people and sometimes were paid with horses. The family still has the second generation from some of those horses.
Meaghan is married to Dr. Steven Chismar, who has a medical practice in Dover. They have lived in Tuscarawas County for about 15 years. Ryan is an accountant and has a farm, Shining Meadows, near Parkersburg, W.Va. He owns 12 Clydesdales. Alex is a veterinarian and lives in Solon. Bill and Maggie now live on a farm near Dundee. There are also 11 grandchildren in the family.
Members of the Clydesdale Breeders Hall of Fame
The family has long been active in the national Clydesdale association. Maggie was once president and helped start the education foundation. Bill, Maggie, Ryan and Ryan's wife, Amy, are all members of the National Clydesdale Breeders Hall of Fame.
Ryan also has the distinction of having the highest priced gelding ever sold at auction. It sold for $70,000.
The Mullen family has never had the good fortune to have one of their horses become a Budweiser Clydesdale for the Anheuser-Busch Co. But one of the lead horses for the team came out of a horse they sold to friends. The horse is named Sparky.
"If anybody stood in front of the hitch to take a selfie, Sparky would turn his head and open his mouth and smile. Every time someone got out a camera, that horse would ham it up," Maggie said.
Sparky is now retired.
Not a competitive industry
The family has friends all over the country that they have met showing horses. "The draft horse industry is unique in that everyone helps each other." Meaghan said. "We're competitive in the ring, but we're not competitive until you're in the ring. If we get all of stuff in the ring, and someone's still working, we go and help them."
The majority of the Mullen family is here for the Tuscarawas County Fair.
"Some people think we're crazy to come live in a barn for a week, and we love to share why we do it, getting to see the people we see every day, and they get to see what we do at home. And that's the fun part," Meaghan said.
Reach Jon at 330-364-8415 or at jon.baker@timesreporter.com.
This article originally appeared on Dover Post: Mullen family showing Clydesdales at Tuscarawas County Fair
