The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
NO HORSING AROUND
Miniature horses shown off at fair
Folks from across Lorain County came to the Lorain County Fair in Wellington, Aug. 23, to show off their miniature horses in a variety of contests.
“The judges are looking at different things when determining the winner of the contests,” said Rick Ternes, one of the directors of the fair. “Right now, they are going through the showmanship portion. They have the horses going through some cones and starting and stopping at certain points. The goal is to judge not the horse necessarily but to judge how well the people show the horses. The contest is divided into divisions of 12 and under, 13 to 18 and older than 18.”
“The judges are looking at different things when determining the winner of the contests.”
— Rick Ternes, one of the directors of the fair
Ternes said the day also includes other activities for miniature horses.
“There will be the confirmation portion that looks at the actual build of the horse,” he said. “Judges will be looking to see if the horse is built right by looking at muscles, movements and other physical aspects of the horse.
“They will also have a portion where they drive folks in carts and jump some hurdles,” he added. “Those will be timed events. These three events are geared toward judging the actual horse and see how they stack up with the others. A lot of it is the same thing we do for other horses; it’s just scaled down for the minis.”
Ternes said miniature horses are a big deal to a lot of people.
“People breed miniature horses for these competitions,” he said. “A lot of them are recognized by the American Miniature Horse Association and it’s real big with the 4-H program, so these guys work with these horses for a long time to get them ready for the fair.”
Ternes said the fair has been going very well this year.
“It’s been good, we had one day of rain but the weather has cooperated for the most part,” he said. “We have had a lot of people here, and the number of total horses we have had is around 280; it has been very good.”
Julie Finnegan, 7, a student at Firelands Elementary School, won first place for showmanship in her division along with her horse Cinnamon.
“Cinnamon has been coming to the fair for 20 years now and Julie did a great job showing her,” said Shanna Finnegan, Julie’s mother. “Julie has been working with Cinnamon since March on the different trots and pivots, and the goal is to make it look seamless.”
Hailey Thompson, 13, of Grafton was showing off a horse for the first time in the 13 to 18 age group.
“It was fun being out there showing off the horse,” she said.
“We have to start and stop at certain points and show control. It wasn’t perfect, but it was fun to be out there.”