County fair week was good overall this year. Judging day was so simple this year with one project for Jake and 2 for Luke. Jacob took a project called, "Jake's Car Revivals" about 4 of the vehicles he has fixed up. I thought he did a great job on it. Luke was already being judged by the Ag judge that the boys like. He is a farmer, older gentlemen who takes his time asking lots of questions and is very thorough. He appreciates the boys projects and they almost always end up going on to state fair. I am pretty confident Jake's project would have went on to state if he was his judge. Because he was sent to the lady judge, he did not. Luke on the other hand did a quick and simple write up on lawn care safety. It was a last minute project chose and completed to make mom happy. He picked the topic and did the write up, no display. I had no expectations and never dreamed it would get held back. Not only that, it will go on to the state fair. I am not sure what the lesson learned in that was. I am pretty sure he figured out that putting a slight amount of effort got the same result as someone who spent hours, days and weeks on a major project. Well that back fired. Luke had 4 photos, two were held back and one got a purple. It was a good day of judging for him. Back at home, he got his dogs groomed and bathed, and packed the trailer for the horse the next day all by himself. I met up with my connection group ladies for a get together, so wasn't able to help him.
Wednesday bright and early was the dog show. Both grandparents came to watch and support Luke. Mark planned to be there for the horse show. Tuff was up first in dog obedience and for no reason decided to get up from his long sits and stays. That is very unlike him, so he didn't place well in the class. Ricky Bobby, Luke's 1 year old pup did awesome. Luke has done all the training on his dog. He made it to several dog project meetings and has been working on the sits and stays. Ricky did everything great! Ricky Bobby won his obedience class and a trophy! Luke used Tuff in the Rally class and won it too! That was exciting and a surprise. He also took both dogs in handling class and I thought they did great. He finished with costume class and did a trick. Ricky was Batman because he has the built in mask with his face and ears. What a great start to the fair!
The first day of the horse show started Friday night at 6:30and went until 10. It was so nice that the clouds popped up to shield the blazing hot sun, it really turned out to be a nice evening. The Wahlert grandparents, and Wade, Carina, and Levi came to watch. It was game night, Egg & Spoon, Barrels, Poles, Keyhole, Flags, and Mystery Event. Barrels were the best event for Tex. He looked good, ran a good pattern and Luke kept him at a speed he was comfortable with, a speedy lope. Poles, Tex came in hard and fast and dove in a pole too soon and broke the pattern. The mystery event was rather gross, bobbing for apples in a big container of water. Even aside from covid, I think it's disgusting! The kids would dunk their whole face, most of them their whole sweaty dirty head went into the water. They used the same water for all kids in all classes...gross!
Day two of the horse show started at 10AM Saturday morning and finished around 6PM. It was long, it was slow, it was hot, and it was brutal. Grandma Muench and Ali's family watched for awhile in the morning. The first few classes of the day are halter. The judge gave blues, reds and whites in all classes. Whoa, hold on we have never seen a white ribbon given in halter class unless something is really bad, such as an obese or skin and bones horse or a horse that looks just terrible. Even then, the judge will usually give a red and explain why. Not this judge, there were no explanations. Showmanship was then same. The kids are judged in showmanship, so it is much more personal and whites were handed out. You could see the kids walk out of the arena with their heads down, sad and a little confused. Junior, intermediate, and senior classes, no purples, a blue or two, lots of reds and mostly white. Why? There was no reason, no explanation so the kids would know what they did wrong or how to improve next time. It was brutal. This went on event after event all day long. Luke got his share of whites and reds. It became a really big deal to get a blue. The judge gave out red ribbons with the trophy for first place. During trail class, Like rode Tex in and was patient, side passed to the gate, opened it, backed Tex and side passed some more, closed it, trotted over poles, walked over a bridge, side passed over a log, and backed through an L shape without even ticking a log or pole once. It was very well done and as good as it could get. Then the big moment happened, the judge gave Luke a purple ribbon! It was a big deal because it was the one and only purple given the entire day!! The kids teased that he should frame that ribbon and he should showcase it. The rest of the day , more reds and whites. The leaders had to go to the fair office to get more white ribbons because the judge ran out! It was so bad! In all my 12 years of county fair horse show, I have seen maybe 2 white ribbons given on show day. At the end, the tally was 76 white ribbons! I felt so bad for all the kids, especially the first year kids. These horse project kids put in so many hours, so much time, and so much try and effort, it really is sad. The kids attend weekly meeting with their horses starting in April up until the fair. I have seen so much improvement in these kids and they get no recognition but a white ribbon, which feels to a 4H kid like a gut punch. It was hard to see. By then end, the kids kept a good attitude and the parents tried to make light of the situation, so it became a joke. Everyone would make jokes about getting white ribbons and try to laugh about it. Luke got his share of reds and whites also. He didn't have the greatest time with Tex in his patterns or riding classes. Tex wanted to hold his head high and was prancy and loped crazy fast. He was in 8 classes Halter, Showmanship, Horsemanship, Walk Trot, Western Pleasure, Ranch Pleasure, Ranch Riding, and Trail.
After the horse show we ate at the sweet corn feed and Mark and I went home. Jake and Luke went to the truck pulls and stayed in the camper. On Sunday Mark and I went to church and didn't head back to the fair until it was stall cleaning and parade of champions. It was kind of nice not having to be at the fair all day. It was a hot one! Luke rode Tex in a team penning clinic Nick and Susie had for the kids. Luke has really enjoyed his time at the fair and hanging out with friends, the Egli kids and Logan. He definitely made the most out of his time at county fair. He is very enthused to do more roping and riding. Luke went to dinner at the Starlight, missed the horse group photo, and went across the stage for the parade of champions. After that we packed up horse and trailer and headed home. Another county fair in the books!
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