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Horseytalk.net Special Interview
Kennis Fairfax
Riders are warming up their horses, making them jump over fences, as Kennis Fairfax prepares to walk into a world where he’s an anomaly. Fairfax is among only a handful of African-American equestrian judges in a billion-dollar industry dominated by white males.
“I know when you see me, this is the first thing you see,” he said, pointing to his own complexion. “But then again, the people who really want to see who you are, see who you are. they see what’s inside.”
It’s an early Sunday morning at East Freehold Park, where Fairfax, a 50-year-old Newark teacher, is about to judge a horse show sponsored by the Central Jersey Horseman’s Association. Organizers say he knows his stuff and has a way of making people showing their horses feel at ease with his charming personality and a smile as wide as those of the Looney Tunes characters on his tie — Bugs Bunny, the Tazmanian Devil and Tweety Bird.
This is the lighter side to this mountain of a man, an imposing figure at 6 feet 2 inches tall with a linebacker’s build, when he steps out of his cherry red Chevy Silverado.
From the back seat of the large pickup, he grabs an XXL white dress shirt, slips it on and tucks its flaps inside black pants that hang over size 12 brown cowboy boots. He adjusts his oval-shaped horse belt buckle to contain his girth, then reaches for the blue tie with his animated friends. A sport jacket and ankle-length coat round out his attire, covering broad shoulders and long arms. He tops his ensemble with a black cowboy hat, then strolls over a muddy path, ready to put his 30-plus years of experience on display with a fun-loving style of judging that makes him unforgettable.
Alyssa Kovacs, 19, of Jackson, was in disbelief, bursting into laughter when Fairfax began talking to her horse, which was in the Western category.
"Just because you’re black, don’t think you’re going to get any favoritism from me," he said.
That’s how it is with Fairfax at the shows, where
judges can take a moment or two to talk with competitors.
You never know what he’s going to say or do, like the
time he did a dance, shaking his hips and waving his hands
in the air to cheer up a young rider who had fallen off her
horse.
"She started laughing, like I can’t believe this guy is doing this," said Teresa McMahon, show manager of the Central Jersey Horseman’s Association. "It made the girl feel better instead of crying."
Fairfax, who lives in Westfield, enjoys life, often letting you know he’s a character.
His nickname is "Buttons," a tag most people know instead of his real name. He’s had the name since college because he used to wear a hat at horse shows that was filled with — you guessed it — buttons.
How can you not like a guy who doesn’t mind answering to a name like that?
At the fairgrounds at East Freehold, Katie Langguth ran up to Buttons, greeting him with a big hug before the show started. She’s excited because she’s going to be his ring steward/assistant for the day’s competition.
Robert Sciarrino/The Star-Ledger (L-R) Six year old Emma Morris form Millstone, sitting on her horse Betty Boop, gets a high five form Kennis Fairfax after she competed in the Central Jersey Horseman's Association Show at the East Freehold Showgrounds.
"It made my day when I found out he was going to be the judge," she said.
Why?
"Because it’s laughter, all day," she said
Fairfax is engaging, downright silly at times, but exhibitors such as Kovacs say he’s in control and competent while judging. At the larger registered shows, where rules are more stringent, Fairfax will cut back on the humor a bit, instead letting his knowledge of horses dominate.
Fellow judges say Fairfax is a hell of an official, a true horseman who has evaluated breeds valued from $50,000 to $250,000 all over the United States and abroad. He’s been to Mexico City, Australia and Germany. Next month, he’ll be judging a show in Canada.
You can trace Fairfax’s passion for horses back to his childhood in Linden, Georgia and Oklahoma. Living in the southwest, Fairfax said, he rode horses bareback, breaking them in with his cousins.
In Linden, he and his dog, "Champ," would sniff out horses on the weekends as they walked along the train tracks, following slow-moving freights carrying cows. The adventure, he said, often led to a barn or a slaughter house where there would be horses he’d ask to ride.
Fairfax, a father with three children, is plain folk who keeps things simple, honest and close to the vest. He won’t say how many brothers and sisters he has, only that he’s one in a bunch. You wouldn’t think he’d be this way, or know that he once tried out for the Seattle Seahawks, in 1978.
Professionally, he’s a visual arts teacher at Arts High School in Newark. Outside of judging horses, he teaches English and Western riding seminars, telling participants that the horses are going to like him better than they will.
When he has time, he likes to play the drums and other percussion instruments such as the congas, bongoes and timbales. And once upon a time, he was the Scarlet Knight at Rutgers football games, riding across the field on a horse. He considers himself an artist of sorts, sketching pictures of cowboy scenery, only to laugh at himself about it.
"I can draw a little something other than flies," he
said, with a laugh.
Fairfax doesn’t let much bother him, even though it took 20 years for him to get his first official card to judge registered shows. He says he was turned down because he was told no one was familiar with him. Fairfax beefed up his game as ring steward and learned the ins and out of judging from people giving him pointers along the way.
In 1995, he finally earned his registered judge’s card from the Appaloosa Horse Club, but even with his new credentials, there was a racial reality check he had to face.
"No one would hire me," he said.
Six months would pass before he got his first crack at officiating a registered show, but it was in Germany where another American judge, David Moore, was impressed with his ability in the ring.
"He was absolutely fabulous," Moore said.
Fairfax says he’s a hard act to follow in the ring, because he enjoys what he does. He tries to make a difference, touching lives through laughter and his love for horses. He said there’s no other place he would rather be than in a barn, out in the open air, taking in the rhythms of horse life.
"Different strokes for different folks," he said. "If I had a choice to go to a strip bar or a choice to go to a barn, I’m going to that barn."
Interveiw sourced from Barry Carter/The Star-Ledger