Threading his way through racks of leather halters, belts and grooming supplies, Charlie Glenn led the way to the production facility behind the R.E. Fennell Co. in Lexington, while his mother, Kit McKinley, staffed the front desk.
In the building out back—framed by piles of handmade halters and harnesses, whole cowhides, embossing equipment and brass nameplates—Glenn explained how the materials, methods and attention to detail make Fennell’s unique. But that’s not all. The store’s history is also intertwined with his story and his mother’s.
“It’s not just a small business,” said Glenn, who has worked at the store full time since 1986. “It’s very much a family business.”
Specializing in custom-made leather goods, Fennell’s was founded in Cynthiana in 1909 and moved to Lexington in 1925. Glenn’s parents bought the business in 1963, and it has remained in the family since, earning a reputation for excellence in Kentucky and beyond.
“Fennell’s has always been ‘the place’ to shop for all things show-horsey, and their wealth of information and dedication to the best quality merchandise sets them apart from the rest,” said longtime customer Paige Quillen. “Fennell’s is a local, family-owned enterprise that has survived the ups and downs of the horse economy through the years. It’s located in an historic building, and it’s lots of fun to visit there.”
The craftsmen at Fennell’s go through about 200 hides every year—each vegetable tanned and finished for specific products, including halters, bridles, harnesses and belts. The store’s leather experts, with about 40 years of experience each, lay out designs on each hide to use as much leather as possible while minimizing waste.
The many handmade leather products produced at Fennell’s include tack such as halters and leads, bridles and harnesses, as well as gift items such as checkbook holders, key fobs, book covers and belts. The store also fills corporate orders—it recently produced custom leather and brass key fobs for The Kentucky Castle in Versailles.
Scott Stollenwerk, a customer of about 15 years, appreciates the store’s history and relationships with the staff. “They’re good, honest people,” he said. “If you need something, they can get it for you. There’s a lot of value in that nowadays.”
Fennell’s produces about 2,500 halters each year, many of them for Thoroughbred and Standardbred sales. In the production facility, an order of 72 halters was being prepared for a New York farm to use for the Fasig-Tipton Fall Selected Yearling Sale. Fennell’s receives orders year-round for farms selling yearlings and breeding stock, and even for private sales.
According to Glenn, each Standardbred that goes to sale is required to have a halter listing its name as well as its sire and dam. Thoroughbred yearlings are not named before sales, but their halters are required to identify lineage.
The process is simple, Glenn explained, as he typed text into a computer, adjusted settings on an engraving machine, and placed a polished brass plate beneath a router bit. Less than a minute later, he daubed the etched surface with gun bluing to darken the letters, rinsed off the excess, and set aside a new nameplate destined for a filly named Walneria’s Star.
Top-quality horses need top-quality halters, and for stables across the United States, Fennell’s is the place to buy. “The quality of our handmade leather goods is what we pride ourselves on,” Glenn said, holding up two pieces of a halter as an example. “It’s got to pass the quality test. People have historically expected that out of our tack.”
While halters make up a big share of sales, an unexpected result of the COVID-19 pandemic was a spike in requests for custom leather dog collars.
“When we had to be totally closed, I was surprised by how many collars we sold in April and May,” Glenn said. “It looked odd. Then I realized that everyone is sheltering in place and thinking, ‘I need to do something for—” (here, he leaned over a completed order on the workbench)—“something for Lilly and Tilly and Kirkland.”
While we talked, a phone rang in the production building. I heard Kit McKinley on the other end: “Do you know anything about an order for …?”
Glenn knows the operation inside and out, having worked in the store full time since 1986. His title is vice president, but he pointed out that his mother likes to stay deeply involved.
“She loves it, and it’s her baby,” he said, laughing. “I still have to share the authority.”
At 89, McKinley has no plans to slow down. Glenn said his mom and his 15-year-old Corgi, Otis, follow the same modus operandi—they keep moving. Given McKinley’s history with the store, her persistence makes perfect sense.
In 1963, the Glenn family—Kit, her husband Charlie, and a 1-year-old named for his father—moved to Lexington. The elder Charlie Glenn had been a Saddlebred trainer in St. Petersburg, Florida, but after developing a serious heart condition, he was forced to look for a less physically demanding job. When the R.E. Fennell Company came up for sale in Lexington, the Glenns saw a chance to move closer to family members in Kentucky and to stay involved in the equine community.
In 1966, Charlie Sr. passed away, leaving McKinley with a 3-year-old business venture and a 4-year-old son. When I asked her what it was like to run a business as a newly single mother, McKinley was blunt: “It was scary.”
Family and friends carried her through, she said, offering encouragement and monetary support that built the business up. Some support lasted for decades—McKinley’s brother-in-law, Tommy Glenn, moved to Lexington to help with the business and remained involved for about 30 years. Six family members have worked in the store, including Charlie and his children.
Today, McKinley remains energized by the friendships she’s built through the years and stays active in the community. She has served on the board of the Standardbred Stable of Memories museum at historic Floral Hall adjacent to the Red Mile—just a stone’s throw from Fennell’s—since the mid-1970s. In 2016, McKinley was a recipient of The Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation’s Barbara Hulette Award for her efforts to preserve the history and heritage of the building also known as The Round Barn.
“I enjoy friendship, being with people, and we enjoy our customers,” McKinley said. “I don’t count this as a job that I have to come to—I just enjoy it. And having my son as active as he is, I can walk out the door, and he keeps it going.”