One summer during the 1960s, Tupelo native Hellen Fleming’s father, former Mississippi State Senator Perrin Purvis, flew her out to California to visit a horse ranch that belonged to a neighbor of one of Purvis’ army buddies.
The ranch’s owner, Les Hilton, was a protege of famous Oklahoma actor and entertainer Will Rogers. Fleming’s father had brought her to Hilton’s ranch to ride one particular horse he owned, a palomino named Bamboo Harvester. For most people of the era, Bamboo Harvester was likely better known as Mister Ed, the stage name he performed under on a popular 1960s television show of the same name.
“Mister Ed was such a beautiful horse, not too big and just very friendly,” Fleming recalled. “I got to ride around on him and watch how (Hilton) got him to look like he was talking on the show. He’d stand about 10 feet away and wiggle his hand while Mister Ed watched and moved his mouth in pantomime with his trainer’s movements.”
Fleming’s encounter with the famous palomino in her high-school years, along with the knowledge that fellow Tupelo native Elvis Presley owned a palomino named Flaming Star, led Fleming to develop an interest in raising that particular breed of horse. She eventually opened her own breeding farm called Cedar Grove Quarter Horses and took a job as a horse specialist for the Mississippi Palomino Association under former Mississippi Agriculture Commissioner Jim Buck Ross.
When the Mississippi Palomino Association went defunct, Fleming and her daughter, Amanda Viator, joined another palomino-centric organization called the H.O.P.E. Heart of Dixie Palomino Exhibitors Association. H.O.P.E. is a subsidiary of the Palomino Horse Breeders of America, an organization founded in 1941 to promote and improve breeding specifically for palomino horses.
“We call palominos ‘the golden horses’ because of their ideal color,” Fleming told the Mississippi Free Press. “The ideal we pursue is a coat the color of a newly minted gold coin with a white mane and tail.”
As secretary for H.O.P.E., Fleming is one of the main organizers for the group’s Summer in the South Horse Show, which is coming to the Lauderdale County Agri-Center in Meridian, Mississippi, on Saturday, June 20 and Sunday, June 21.
‘The Next Logical Step’
The Summer in the South Horse Show is dedicated to palominos and is open to horses with a palomino in at least three generations of their family tree. The event will also include an open show that horses of any breed can participate in. The show will feature stalls for at least 75 participating horses and is divided into youth, amateur and open divisions.
Judges for the show evaluate horses on criteria such as their muscle tone and physical structure, the color and consistency of their coat and mane, the appearance of their teeth, how they walk and trot, how they ride with different kinds of saddles, and how they perform in various riding events. Riders themselves must also demonstrate showmanship and finesse in maneuvering their horse.
Some events horse owners put their horses through in the show include English, where horses are judged on their walk and gait; Western Pleasure, which involves walking at a comfortable pace in a western-style saddle; Ranch, which gauges a horse’s willingness to perform tasks associated with working on ranches; and Trail, which involves maneuvering around obstacles like barrels, flags and stakes.
The Summer in the South Horse Show will feature a panel of six judges specializing in palominos. Becoming a horse show judge is as rigorous as the shows themselves, with prospective judges required to earn certification by passing tests on both horse show events and their knowledge of the specific breed of horse they wish to judge.
One of the judges for this year’s show—Collinsville, Texas, native Jeffory Beddles—grew up riding horses on a ranch that belonged to two of his uncles. He regularly entered palomino, appaloosa and pinto horses from the ranch into local competitions and later earned his certification to judge show in 2011. He earned his palomino certification first but also aims to pursue “colored cards” for other horse breeds in the future.
“I became a judge because I want to protect the palomino breed and help better people’s ability to exhibit them,” Beddles told the Mississippi Free Press. “It’s also harder to ride the older I get, so this seemed like the logical next step.”
Beddles started judging for the Summer in the South Horse Show in 2023 when a friend of his named Karla Kegley, who is also a horse judge, recommended him to Fleming after another judge couldn’t make it to the show.
“Hellen runs a great show, and her club is great to work with,” Beddles said. “The participants are always so nice, and their horses are beautiful and nicely trained. You just can’t say enough good things about it.”
‘A Second Family’
Fleming passed her own love of horse shows and riding along to her family. Her daughter, Amanda Viator, grew up traveling across the United States with her mother and sisters and started showing her family’s horses in youth divisions in the late 1970s. Her first horse was a palomino named Skippy, whose descendant Layla, now competes in horse shows today under the name Sweet Moonshining.
“Competing in horse shows like this one is like bodybuilding for horses, it’s all about pursuing an ideal,” Viator told the Mississippi Free Press. “Palomino shows are very competitive and require you to be versatile in a lot of different classes.”
Viator also now runs the family’s Cedar Grove Quarter Horses farm in Tupelo and is a fellow organizer for the Summer in the South Horse Show.
“Since families often share a horse across generations, they also become like a second family of choice,” Viator said. “That means these events are also about spending time with your horse family while engaging in friendly competition. Everyone wants to do well with people whose company they enjoy.”
Once this weekend’s show is over, organizers will begin preparing for the H.O.P.E. Spooktacular Horse Show, a three-day event taking place in Meridian from Friday, Oct. 16, through Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026.
Both the Saturday and Sunday’s contests for the Summer in the South Horse Show begin at 8 a.m. Spectators may attend and watch for free. For more information or to reserve a stall for future events, call 254-702-9969, email hopepalominoms@gmail.com or visit the event’s Facebook page.
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