​WILLIAMSBURG — Claire Francis returned to the barn beaming from her trail ride with her horse Rolland on the grounds of Flintfields Horse Park, the home of Traverse City Horse Shows. A nice lady had agreed to ride with 13-year-old Claire after Rolland got nervous that they were alone on a hillside trail.Claire, a Bloomfield Hills resident, had no idea the nice lady who rode with her, and gave her an oral history of the showgrounds in the process, was an Olympian. More: Traverse City Horse Shows: What to know if you go”Margie Gold-something,” Claire said later, trying to recall her new friend’s name. “Margie Gold-something” is Margie Goldstein Engle, one of the most accomplished equestrian show jumpers in United States history, and a trailblazer for women in the sport. Engle, now 68, has won over 250 Grand Prixs, the highest caliber of classes. She represented the United States in the 2000 Sydney Olympics and came in second in the World Equestrian Games. That’s the beauty of the Traverse City Horse Shows — a girl from the Detroit area can go for a trail ride next to a legend. It’s also a place where Michiganders who know nothing about horses can come watch amateur and professional riders compete up to an Olympic level in the hunter-jumper discipline of equestrian sports, winning prize money in the hundreds of thousands of dollars per class. That wasn’t always the case.Most big horse shows in the country, like those in Kentucky and Florida, date back 50 or more years. In the last decade, Traverse City Horse Shows has grown from a four-week regional summer event to a 12-week international destination, attracting riders from across the world seeking top prize money and competition, but also a taste of summer life in Michigan. They come for the show, rent houses and apartments on the Grand Traverse Bay, and spend their summers competing, boating and dining at Traverse City’s array of restaurants.The growth of the show in such a short time span has been part of a shift in the show jumping world from a traveling circus that picked up and went to a different regional show every week over the summer, to a one-stop shop of intense competition and lakeside life.It has also been an economic boon to local communities in Williamsburg and Acme townships, Traverse City and Grand Traverse County.In 2021, the show had an estimated local direct economic impact on the region of over $120 million, according to a study the show commissioned. The total economic spending on the show itself and in the region was about $350 million, the study determined.The show took off during the COVID-19 pandemic, leaning into the advantages of an outdoor sport that already had social distancing baked in. It has also leaned on word-of-mouth in the everybody-knows-everybody world of top show jumping. The show culminates Sept. 20 with its biggest class of the year, the $340,000 Longines Fédération Equestre Internationale Jumping World Cup. The class will bring at least nine