Horsemanship opens the fair
Charles H. Featherstone/Columbia Basin Herald Shelbey Brashear stands with Twister as the two get ready for the 4-H showmanship competition on Tuesday.
MOSES LAKE — It was a beautiful way to start the Grant County Fair.
A cool breeze was blowing through the fairgrounds, and the air — which had been full of smoke from wildfires near and far — was a little bit cleaner and a little less chewy.
Cattle were lowing as kids went at them with soap and water, getting them ready for show, up early for the first day of events.
But over in the Gene Harwood Pavilion, there was silence from exhibitors, spectators and animals alike as 4-H kids were starting the fair off with horse showmanship.
“These are fit and show trials which show how well you work with your horse,” said Shelbey Brashear of Wilson Creek as she stood with her horse Twister.
“It entails basic ground manners, working together with your horse and showing that you have a good bond with your horse,” she explained.
Brashear, who has been showing with Twister for the last two years, is an old hand with 4-H and the county fair, having shown lambs since she was in the third grade.
“Showmanship on the ground is about pattern work,” said Dawn Clemons, the 4-H Horse Council President who has helped organized this year's showmanship at the Grant County Fair.
“Your judge gives you your pattern, and that's what you get judged on, on how well you and your horse correlate to one another,” she said.
The pattern judge Heidi Masengale gave the senior exhibitors Tuesday morning appeared to be a simple one — a simple canter in a straight line between two cones, a walk backwards for about a third of that distance, and then an inspection. But it was enough for Masengale to learn what she needed to about each exhibitor.
“I've been judging for close to 20 years,” the Harrah, Wash. native said. “It takes knowing what you're looking for, and it actually helps too have experience yourself, so you know what they are doing.”
And experience Masengale has, having qualified to show at the world championship level four years in a row.
The winner of the first round was Cora Dana of Moses Lake, who earned a blue ribbon and a callback with her horse Jake.
“We're going to do another round for the championship,” she said.