The Ohio State Fair - 2019 Edition

The Ohio State Fair...2019 Edition

8/5/2019

'We ended the summer show season with a few days at the Ohio State Fair.

If it feels like you have read this post before...I kind of feel like I have written this before. As the years go on, we do the same things over and over. It should make things easier...right?

Well, I don't know if our July's will ever be easy, but maybe we just don't have to think as hard and can rely on the auto pilot a little more.

Heading into the Ohio State Fair, I just didn't feel very prepared. Planning for the show was pretty last minute, because the time just wasn't there. Over the years, we have kept detailed notes, so it really is easier...but it felt a little bit too easy...so I was sure I was forgetting something.

Well thankfully, I didn't forget anything... at least that I know of.

Coming off of the county fair, we always have to will ourselves to the state fair. We are usually just too tired to really care.

Once we arrived, it didn't take us long to get into the spirit of things.

We had an awesome group of exhibitors this year.

Some old...and some new, but everyone got along great. We talked, joked, helped and just had fun together.

Monday evening was the informal junior show.

This is all about the kids...their opportunity to learn and just have fun.

We started the show with showmanship. The kids were divided up into Junior, Intermediate and Senior divisions. The goal is to let the kids showcase their showmanship skills, and then learn where they can improve.

One of the great aspects of having the junior show before the open show, is it gives the kids an opportunity to learn something new and then put it to use the following day.

Isaac and Walker were in the Senior showmanship division.

And they were not at all happy to be in the same division!

They are both pretty good...so Isaac had to be on his A-game...or he might get beat by his little brother.

The judge had a hard time deciding, so he tried to trip them up a little bit. He had Isaac pull out of the first position in line and move to the back.

Walker moved up to fill the empty position...but he hesitated just a little too long.

It was the deciding factor and Isaac was placed first in Senior showmanship.

Isaac could breathe...for a little bit...because Walker will be on his heals next year.

Following showmanship was the junior show.

Yes, that is Angel.

She still isn't back to where she was, but she is far better than she was a month ago.

We took a big risk taking her to the fair, but we figured she could handle an hour drive and two days away from home. We weren't so sure about things on Monday night, because she was just sipping water and it was very obvious that she was not feeling well.

But...she was there, so we were going to take her through the ring whether she liked it or not.

Walker showed Romance.

Good, old Romance. A trooper who just goes with the flow and never misses a beat. I wish all our cows were as easy keepers as Romance

Angel was named the Junior show Grand Champion Female.

And this is why we do it.

All the late nights and super early mornings. All the e-mails, phone calls and paper work.

It is all for a picture like this. A group of kids who have worked hard and pushed themselves outside of their comfort zones. Kids who leave the ring with a smile on their face and a bag full of good stuff.

Tuesday was another day with a different judge.

And a day to show some bulls.

Last fall we had two bulls born just a few days apart. They are both sired by "Mean Gene".

We diverted from our normal naming process because it isn't often that you get the opportunity to name a pair of bulls Smith & Wesson.

It was the first show for both of them and they weren't too amused with the whole walking thing...but we managed.

Smith did a whole lot better once Walker dropped the nose ring lead.

Yes...we had to resort to a temporary bull ring after Walker ended up on Smith's back during ring practice.

I guess that bull ride was worth it, because Smith won Reserve Grand Champion Bull.

We were also very honored to receive both the Premier Exhibitor and Premier Breeder awards.

Yes...he was as confused and he looks. They asked for a representative to come up and claim the banners...but he couldn't hear and couldn't figure out why I kept telling him to go up.

Just another day of craziness in the Wiley household..

And the highlight of our week....

Being asked to represent Ohio Cattlemen live on NBC 4.

And the alarm went off at 3:45 a.m. just so they could be on TV.

Wednesday, Daniel and I went back to work...and Isaac slept until noon. The boys have two more weeks before school starts...and I don't think they are going to wash another cow!

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