Tuesday was day one of county fair week and started with judging day. My mom always likes to tag along and listen to the judges critique they boy's projects. Every year I try to convince her to become a judge or a helper. I figured I might as well help, so today I was a photography judge's helper. It was interesting and I enjoyed hearing the judges comments. Jake and Luke went through my judges line and I acted like I didn't know them. It was pretty funny. The boys and I were smirking at each other trying not to give it away. The boys did well with their projects and a few things got held back and considered for State. Jake left work to be judged and headed straight back after. Jake did a project telling about all the steps involved in switching from a bean crop to a corn. He had a display and write up and it got chosen for state fair. He also had a photo taken in Yellowstone of a hot spring that was considered for state and his photo of Grandpa W fishing got a blue. Luke took several photos, his gun rack was considered for state and got a purple. He did a grain bin project explaining about engulfment and entrapment that made it to state fair. Luke also did a 4H poster with the title," Aiming for Adventure" that went on to state fair also. It has been a great start for the Muench boys and we have more fair ahead.
Wednesday we were back at the fairgrounds bright and early with Tuff. Luke spent a couple hours last night bathing and grooming Tuff and he looked like a different dog. He was able to get all his undercoat brushed out. We had to be at the fair at 8 for the dog show that started at 9. Both sets of Grandparents came to watch. We really didn't have too high expectations, just thought we would participate and see how it went. Luke was up with Tuff in dog obedience walking his dog on a leash, sitting, staying, and downs individually with the judge. Part two he had to be in the arena with the whole class for a long sit and long stay. That is where he shined. He did his long stay without getting up. I am pretty sure that was the determining factor, and Luke won his class!! We were all very surprised and Luke was super excited. He also did care and grooming, dog handling, and an obstacle called rally. He got blues in all his classes and Tuff did great for him. There were only 15 dogs entered and 2 sections of classes. It was a good day and we were so glad Luke decided to do dog project. He learned some new things and will hopefully try it again next year. I could have called it a week, boys got state fair and Luke got a trophy, we could skip the rest of fair and be happy.
After being home an hour, it was time to get the horse ready to take to the fair. Luke and I gave Tex a bath. While lathering him up, Mark texted me to put the truck in, we were under a tornado warning. Jayden ended up calling us from OK making sure we knew there were tornado warnings and some had touched down around Lake City and Jewell. We let my parents know and they were watching the sky and paying attention to the weather too. We delayed leaving for awhile, Gowrie was getting heavy rains too. I am sure there were lots of livestock animals and contestants pulling into the fairgrounds in the middle of it. It rained going into the fair and waited until it let up to unload. I drove separate from Mark, Luke, and the horse. When I pulled in, the grass was turning muddy and everything was wet and stating to make a big mess. I noticed the Nelson's trailer and went and said hi to Morgan, Mason, and the grandparents. Morgan was running in the barrel race for the evening. I also found out from Dave, Tyson broke his hip the night before at the ATV park riding his dirt bike. Another reason I am not a fan of dirt bikes. The evening entertainment was a Cowgirl competition...in the mud. The arena was a mess with puddles and mud. They had barrels, goats, and breakaway. Then at the end they had an event called the Trifecta in which each competitor competed in all three at one time. They came out of the roping box and roped a calf, then dropped their rope and ran around the barrels, after running back they had a goat staked and had to catch him and tie it. It was a timed event and very fun to watch. While watching I heard my college friend Laura's daughter's name. Her daughter Cecilia competed in all the events. She missed her calf roping, but ended up winning her age group. It was so neat to see her and catch up. It was so good to see her and her youngest daughter was there too running around too. Her kids are all have big smiles and are sweet.
Luke ran around with his friends and went to see some of the evening events such as tractor pulls and . Luke and I slept in the camper several nights. I sleep ok, the mattress is a little hard on my back and shoulders, but the air condition keeps things comfortable and keeps the outside noise quiet.
I added an old photo from 10 years ago of the three kids. It was horse costume class and Jayden was Jessie from Toy Story and the boys had on their Toy Story Woody shirts. At the time Jayden had a horse that was named Jessie and looked the same color as the horse from the movie, so it was quite cute. Oh how this picture makes me smile!! They were so little and absolutely adorable. We have officially been showing at the county fair for 12 years.
Luke decorated his stall in red, shite, and blue. We brought Tex in on Wednesday this year, it has been Thursday in the past. That means one more day in the stall, more feed, and more stall cleaning.
The horse show started at 5:30. This is the first year for the change of schedule. In the past, Saturday was show day and Sunday game day. This year game day was Friday night. The first class for Luke in the intermediate division was egg and spoon. The whole class except for two riders lost there egg as soon as they said trot. The second class was poles. Luke took Tex down to the end pole at a steady lope neck reining and Tex just kept on going. He didn't slow down and make the first turn. He brought Tex back and started in on the wrong pole so it was a broken pattern, that gave him a no time. That wasn't how we were all hoping it would go. It seemed all but a few of the kids struggled the whole evening with being half out of control. I remember back to the days when Jayden competed in horse project. The competition was tough, the kids were good riders on good horses and everyone was fast. This year majority of the kids and horses seem pretty green and many of the horses are not in control. The classes took a long time as many of the kids would slow to a trot or even a walk and many broken patterns. Luke did Poles, barrels, flags, milk jug race, and keyhole race. He had the best run with barrels and had Tex go at the speed he was comfortable and was in control the whole run which made for a good run. He was happy and ended up second!
Last night we went home for showers and a good night sleep. Saturday Luke and I were up early to get back to the fair. We were both very tired and Luke was worried we wouldn't have enough time to get everything ready. We had 2 hours before the show started at 10. The barn was a hub of activity with horses tied throughout the barn. Everyone was grooming and primping their horses for the big show. Halter is always first and your horse should be looking his best. Luke gave Tex a bath and I helped scrub and work his tail over. We tied Tex in the alley with a hay bag and he stood perfectly still. We braided his mane, combed his tail, and painted his hooves. He was ready to go. He has so many knicks and marks on his face and body just from being in a pen with other horses. There isn't much we could do about that. His tail was kind of a frizzy and we couldn't get it perfectly clean. His tail has been dark and dirty all the time because he has loose stools. We did the best we could, but it wasn't great. Luke told me he knows Tex can win the halter class. I am not a show horse person, I don't know all the proper things to do or even the correct way to show in a halter class for that matter. We didn't spend the hours grooming, detailed perfect clipping, or added show sheen spray. I didn't even know if I polished his hooves correctly. I didn't know the correct way to put the halter chain on or how to hold it. I knew there was no chance of winning the class, but hoped to place in the top 4. Our horses can't compete with fancy show horses. Jayden has showed Tex a few times and we got excited to place in the top of the class. Luke took Tex in the gelding halter class with confidence. The judge looked them over then started lining them up with Luke at the top. There were still two horses standing along the rail in the front and two horses standing on the rail in the back. I thought those were his top four and Luke would be 5th and on down the line. There were 12 in the class. About that same a little girl in her first year got knocked down by her horse that reared up. I was worrying about her making sure she was ok. By the time I came back in the arena, they had announced Luke won. I saw him holding his trophy with excitement and in awe. I was in awe!! He just won the halter class. Then he got to go back in for the overall grand champion, to which he won. He got a beautiful statue and a nice trophy. Wow Tex!! Luke was so excited. I was happy for Luke, he got his trophy and his day was made.
Next up, we saddled his horse to start the riding classes. First up was trail class. His division had the most kids. I thought he did a fantastic job in the trail course. He did everything so well, slow and smooth. His side pass was so impressive over the log, Tex even crossed over in the front. The audience was even saying wow out loud and they cheered and clapped excitedly when he finished. We all thought without a doubt he won the class. Turns out he didn't even make the top 3. We watched all the other kids make errors and couldn't understand. The only obvious thing I saw was he did his backing through the L twice because he ticked the log on his first try and he trotted once extra. We told him in our opinion he won. That was a very disappointing moment for Luke. The rest of the classes seemed to get harder and Luke got more and more frustrated. Tex was being difficult, which was typical for Tex. He was preppy and prancey and would lean to the inside and not stay along the rail. Technically he was doing things right, correct leads, correct gait, he was just so fast and wanted his head tucked and turned to the outside. The pattern classes, Tex would go past the spot to stop and Luke would overcorrect and end up breaking the pattern. He ended up with a few reds. In one large class of horsemanship the judge gave the whole class reds even the winner. The judge was Jerry Sharer and I stopped trying to figure out his judging techniques after the first few classes. He was not the best at judging or giving explanations. Luke had a great support fan group with the grandparents watching. It made me sad knowing that Aunt Alice wasn't there to watch because I know she would have been right there on the bleachers too. She would have loved to see Luke get his halter trophy. By the end of the day, Luke participated in- Halter, Showmanship, Horsemanship, Walk/Trot, Western Pleasure, Ranch Pleasure, Ranch Riding, and Costume. The Costume class is always last and it's kind of a fun and entertaining finish to a long day. Luke came up with his idea, a rodeo clown, 3 days before the horse show. Thanks to his super grandma Wahlert, he was able to pull of his costume. She found most of the items, I found the perfect shirt out of Jake's closet and we got the horns that we cut from one of our roping steers earlier this summer. It was perfect, a rodeo clown and Tex the bull. The horse show was long and slow. It was by far one of the cooler years we have ever had, but the arena has no air movement so it still felt plenty hot. The horse show started at 10 with a 30 minute break and ended at 7. It was a long day! I only sat down a few moments throughout the show. I was on my feet going back and forth from barn, to show, to camper and back and forth. After the show Mark wanted to leave the fairgrounds and get some supper in town. When I got in his truck it hit me like a ton of bricks. My legs were tired and aching and I was tired to exhaustion. I wanted to just sleep. As with the current times we are living in, Applebee's restaurant was seating half capacity because of a shortage of staff and closing at 8. On a Saturday night it would typically be open until midnight. It was worth the wait and we got in and seated before they locked the doors to those that tried to come after. Back at the fair, Mark dropped me off and went on home. I was ready to go to bed. Luke went to the truck pulls. I don't know how that kid had any energy left! I rested until he came in and we slept in the trailer.
Sunday, I set the alarm late so Luke and I could sleep in a little. After feeding horses I went straight home to shower. Sleeping in a camper after being all day at a horse show sweating is not the most pleasant. Luke stayed at the fair and showered in the public bathrooms. He loved being at the fair running around with other kids his age. He has had the most fun with his freedom roaming and doing as he pleases, eating all the junk he wants, and hanging out with other kids. He got paid for mowing and car washing from his grandma and I think he probably spent it all on snacks and lemonades. I enjoyed being home, freshly showered, and catching up on the never ending laundry. This was the first time in 12 years I got to attend the parade of champions freshly showered in clean clothes. In the past it was horse game day followed by stall cleaning. Mark took on the stall cleaning, loading up, and hauling the horse home. That helped me so all I had to do was bring home projects in the tahoe. Whew, it is always nice to end the week at the fair. Another year, another fair in the books.
I had a senior and a sophomore 4h member ask me what happens when your project goes to state fair. Both had been in 4h since 4th grade and took projects each year. I explained to them that the county will take their project and they don't have to be at the fair and they aren't their for the actual judging. It dawned on me at that very moment that many kids will go through all 8 years of 4H and never have a project make it to the state fair. We take it for granted and probably don't realize how big of an opportunity and accomplishment it is. Our kids have been chosen every year for state fair in a project, sometimes multiple projects. Having Grandma's creativity, mom's attention to detail in straight letters, erased pencil marks, and edited write-ups, we generally know what things are necessary to have included in a project. The write-ups and photos polish off a project and really make all the difference. The kids have had projects go on to state fair year after year and sadly they don't really understand or appreciate the honor. One of the cousins tried year after year with nice projects. After years of disappointment, they quit 4H. Being able to attend the parade of Champions is another huge highlight and honor during the fair. Not all the kids get to do that each year. At the end of the fair, there were lots of awards and trophies.
After the county fair, the boys' projects went on to the Iowa State Fair where they received more awards. Luke got a recognition award for his 4H poster. Jake got a big award from the Department Agriculture and land stewardship for his Corn After Beans project. Jake also applied and had an interview for a 4H scholarship and he received $500!! I was surprised because he was late for his interview and Jayden never received a scholarship, and he has not been the most active in the leadership or communications side of 4H. We were super surprised and excited! Go Jake!
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