Horse Show
On Saturday October 5thfrom 2:00 pm-5:00 pm Lynn Rhodeswill be presenting the Fair’s Horse Show at our Horse Arena in Wanda Priest Park.Providing an opportunity for riders and owners to exhibit their animals and compete, the Horse Show also exists to inspire the next generation. Classes include English, Western, Pony, Mini Mules, and Draft Horses. Open to ages 12 and under; 13-17; and 18 & up. Registration forms will be included in the Madison County Livestock Show books at Madison County Farm Supply, Ward’s Farm Center and other local businesses. Lynn grew up in Madison county on a farm. Her grandfather raised registered quarter horses. She rode horses her whole life. Since 2003, Lynn has been a member of the lady lions drill team and has been a Fair board member for a couple of years.
To capture the hearts of the next generation and inspire them to run life’s journey with strength and endurance, the Fair has scheduled the following extraordinary presentations throughout the Fair.
Friday
6:00 pm-6:30 pm Formation Riders and Processional participants for Opening Ceremony: Farmers, Church Leaders, Civil Leaders, Veterans, and Business Owners Line Up-Horse Arena
6:30 pm-7:00 pm Opening Ceremony-Horse ArenaFormation Riders, Procession of Farming Families, Church Leaders, Civil Leaders, Veterans, and Businesses; National Anthem Barbara Huffman; Proud to be An American Audience Participation; Honoring Farming Families, Church Leaders, Civil Leaders, Veterans, and Businesses.
7:00 pm-8:30 pm Sermon on the Mount Lessons of Leadership from the Language of the Horse: Freedom to Excel-Capture the Heart of the Next Generation-A Live Demonstration of a horse’s first ride! Dr. Lew Sterrett-Horse ArenaExcellence must always be built upon a solid foundation. Observe the construction of this foundation as an unridden horse is saddled and ridden for the first time. Observe the parallels to how human relationships are established. Learn what it takes to Capture the Heart of the Next Generation.
Lessons of Life and Leadership from the Language of the Horse. Professional horse trainer, business executive, pastor, and certified youth and family counselor, and entrepreneur, Dr. Lew Sterrett, produces one of the most unique events in the world.
Dr. Lew will address heart issues of one or more horses while he reaches into the heart of each participant. As he trains the horse, you will vividly see yourself, your spouse, your child, your employees, co-worker or customer. The needs of the heart will be illustrated and the steps to meeting those needs will be evidenced as the horse overcomes his resistance to change and finds success and fulfillment in his relationship with the trainer.
As a certified horse trainer and relationship specialist, Dr. Lew understands real life issues, accurate and truthful solutions, and clear applications for daily living. You will feel encouraged, focused, and challenged to greater excellence in your life as you see the simple steps of application for your complex life issues resulting in a positive effect, both now and for future generations. www.sermononthemount.org
Saturday
9:00 am-5:00 pm Blacksmithing Demonstrations Syd Helms-Wanda Priest Park
10:30 am-11:30 pm Fearfully and Wonderfully Created Horses Paul Weiland-Horse Arena Ask the beasts, and let them teach you. We’ll be examining horses to find out what is unique about each and how they were made to serve man. Be sure to join us for this interesting and informative presentation. Paul Weiland has a degree in Microbiology and has worked in that field for more than 40 years. He is passionate about God's creation, even the smallest microbe to an animal as large as a horse. He also gives naturalist programs at a nature reserve.
11:00 pm-3:00 pm Roping Ron Tinsley-Near Horse Arena Have fun while learning the history of Vaquero style roping, techniques to properly rope cattle, and pointers to sharpen your skills as you practice on calf dummies. Ron has been around horses for 51 years. During this time, he has gone from a simple horse passenger to an active horse/rider partnership. For the past 10 years, he and his wife have been striving to perfect roping and riding skills in order to perform stress free cattle work on ranches out west using skills handed down from the descendants of the Spanish conquistadors to the Mexican vaquero and of recent, the western buckaroo. To this day, men and women are hired to work cattle with just such horsemanship and roping skills.
12:30 pm-1:30 pm Sermon on the Mount Lessons of Leadership from the Language of the Horse: Excelling Through CorrectionDr.Lew Sterrett-Horse ArenaListen to a horse’s answers to the most significant questions in life. Compare the differences between a Reactionary horse and a Responding horse. Learn why Correcting the Heart is an essential part of caring leadership. Learn how to minimize the risks and maximize the rewards. Two horses will be used in this demonstration.
2:30 pm-3:30 pm Shoeing a Horse Demonstration-Cliff Davis-Near Horse Arena
5:30 pm-6:45 pm Sermon on the Mount Lessons of Leadership from the Language of the Horse: Excelling Through Passion Dr.Lew Sterrett-Horse ArenaThere are six factors that define people of excellence and every one of them can cause contention. Learn the issues that transform mediocrity into excellence and how to Coach the Heart. This demonstration will compare attitudes and actions of several horses.
In Love with Horses
Like all little girls and boys, my fascination with horses began when I rode my rocking horse. At five my father purchased two Welsh ponies and a little black cart for my birthday. It was a sacrificial gift because my father never rode horses. When I was 12, he purchased my first horse, a pinto Indian pony no more than 12 hands high. As soon as the screen door slammed back on its hinges each afternoon after school, my pony raced towards me in anticipation of our explores over field, woods, and bluffs. With bridle secured, I quickly jumped on her back. As soon as my feet left the ground, she ran like the wind and sailed over hedges like a well released frisbee in midair. For years, she and I were inseparable, until one day, while visiting my aunt and uncle in Sedalia for the State Fair, I saw a beautiful horse. All I said is that it was beautiful. Next thing I know, my father had it delivered to our home. It was a thoroughbred racing horse that had been put out to pasture after it broke its leg. The family had loved that horse so much, they had the leg repaired but that horse was never really right in the head after the accident, so I still rode my pony most of the time.
Once I had children, there were stick horses that we raced around the house while hooting and hollering and shooting off our pop guns. When the children were old enough to ride, I purchased two more horses for them so we could ride together. I named them Shilo and Cheyenne. Dakota, Son of Thunder, Chante, Pretty Girl, and Little Girl followed. I will never forget the sound of their hooves pounding the ground when they ran to meet us.
When the Trumpet Sounds: A Divine Inspiration for Secretariat
As a child, my father took me to the sidelines at the starting gate of the Cahokia Mounds racetrack to watch the horses break out of the gate with a force of speed that was breathtaking. I will never forget their intense eagerness to run the race, their strength, their power, their determination, and the deafening sound from the pounding of their hooves as they ran as fast as they could. Nearly fifty years later in 2010 while watching Secretariat become the Triple Crown champion, I wept as I remembered my father and I watching the horsespawing the ground in anticipation and then rejoicing in their strength as they broke out of the gate for the race of their life.
If you have not seen Secretariat, I would highly encourage you watch the real-life story of a women’s fight to keep her family’s Meadow Farm from being sold to pay for taxes after her father’s death. She believes in a stallion named Secretariat and poured everything she had into training that horse.
Not much to look at, rather wild and a bit clumsy at birth, under the loving eye of Penny Chenery and the careful training of Lucien Laurin, Secretariat flourished and proved to the world what faith, hope, and love can accomplish. His Triple Crown performances made racing history-a record that still stands today.
Secretariat’s owner and the producer of Secretariat agreed to begin and end the movie with this moving verse that best explains all horses. Do you give the horse his might? Do you clothe his neck with a mane? Do you make him leap like the locust? His majestic snorting is terrible. He paws in the valley, and rejoices in his strength; he goes out to meet the weapons. He laughs at fear and is not dismayed; and he does not turn back from the sword. The quiver rattles against him, the flashing spear and javelin. With shaking and rage he races over the ground, and he does not stand still at the voice of the trumpet. As often as the trumpet sounds he says, ‘Aha!’ and he scents the battle from afar, and the thunder of the captains and the war cry. Job 39:19-25
As Secretariat came down the home stretch at break neck speed, I realized that what drove him, drives each of us-that invisible Hand that pushes us ever onward towards the finish line.
Secretariat’s 1973 performance in the third Triple Crown race at Belmont Stakes, where he bested his closest competitor by a mind-blowing 31 lengths, is widely considered one of the most stunning horse races of all time. His times in all three Triple crown races remain the fastest in history.
Interestingly, an autopsy of Secretariat revealed that his heart was a third larger and twice the weight of the average horse which explained why he was able to set such a stunning world record. But then our journey through life is all about heart-hope, faith, and endurance.
Behind every legend lies an impossible dream. Witness the spectacular journey of an incredible horse named Secretariat and the moving story of his unlikely owner, a housewife who risked everything to make him a champion.
Like Secretariat, my father taught me to give life everything I had and to run the race with endurance. It is what parents do for their children!
To read more on Secretariat, visit:www.history.com/topics/sports/secretariat
DELIGHTFUL SURPRISES
Unit Study on Horses
Explore the role horses played throughout history for explorers, cowboys, farmers, battles, Canadian Mounties, the cavalry… Study the anatomy of the horse and then have your children label the parts of a horse. Have each child create a journal of their favorite breeds including illustrations, descriptions, facts about characteristics particular to each breed, where they originated, and their uses throughout history. Label a drawing of a saddle. After studying all about horses, create a cross word puzzle for the children using the facts they learned.
Free Online Resources: Horses Anatomy www.horse-stall.net/coloring-pages/horse-19.gif Giddy Up & Go is an interactive curriculum for children to explore training and showing horses. https://4-h.org/parents/curriculum/horse/
Classic Games, Books, and All Things Horses
Herd Your Horses was a favorite game for my children when they were young. Offering three different adventures for group play and three games for individual play. For Mustang Adventure, players become mustangs that escape the ranch and learn to survive the wild. In Rancher’s Roundup, players become ranchers who must round up prized horses that just escaped. Rancher’s Revenge is all about rounding up horses by color and markings. With over 50 fully illustrated horse playing cards, 4 horse playing pieces, 42 adventure cards, information on horses, gameboard and die, this game for ages 8 and up is a winner.
Horse Show is a strategic card game where children learn all about horse shows as they take part as riders, jumpers, groomers, and owners.
Album of Horses by Marguerite Henry is a lovely illustrated book describing over 20 horses, from Appaloosas and Arabians to Thoroughbreds and Clydesdale.
One of my son’s favorites, the Billy and Blaze series of nine books written by C. W. Anderson, is about the endearing friendship between a young boy and his horse. From the moment Billy received Blaze on his birthday, Billy was seldom without his dear friend Blaze. As a team, they jump fences and fallen trees, explore fields and woods, alert the community to a forest fire, save a frightened calf from a mountain lion, save a dog from drowning, help tame a wild horse, and even win a silver cup in the jumping class. These easy to read heartwarming stories illustrated with great drawings make a great addition to the family library. www.rainbowresource.com/prodlist?subject=Library+Builders/18&category=Billy+and+Blaze/6008
For reading books, coloring books, games, activity books, plastic and wooden figures, stuffed, playing sets, stickers, mosaics, needlepoint, Legos, Playmobil’s, wooden stamp set, stable, painting craft kit, placemats, puzzles, journal, care play set, craft set, anatomy model, ball, rug, DVD, paint kit, sandbox play set, CD’s, and more on horses visit www.rainbowresource.com/searchspring/?q=horses
Classic horse books that we read when the children were young included Black Beauty, Fury, My Friend Flicka, National Velvet, Justin Morgan Had a Horse, Misty of Chincoteague, Black Stallion, and White Stallion of Lipizza..
While I was reading to the children, they were coloring pictures in Dover’s coloring books: My Horse, Horses of the World, Ponies of the World, and Favorite Horses. They also learned to draw horses from How to Draw Dogs, Cats, and Horses. Besides coloring books, Dover offers other activity books on horses using other mediums such as origami, stencils, stained glass, pop up, sketching, drawing, anatomy…
I also had the children write and illustrate their own horse stories inblank hardcover books. For the younger ones I had them dictate the story to me and then had them illustrate what I wrote for them. www.michaels.com/5.25-in-x-7.25-in-hardcover-blank-books-by-creatology/10429943.html
Horse Movies National Velvet, The Black Stallion, Secretariat, Black Beauty, The Man from Snowy River…www.horsenetwork.com/2014/08/50-best-horse-movies/
Gifts for Horse Lovers www.zazzle.com/horse+lovers+gifts www.backinthesaddle.com
PARTIES
A Cowboy Birthday Party-Reprinted from a story I wrote many years ago.
For Jedidiah’s birthday, I gave a “Cowboy” party. Yee-ha, it was fun!! A week before the party, we started watching all of our favorite John Wayne cowboy movies. We checked out most of the cowboy books in our library’s junior section and started reading all about cowboys. I also used the books to gather information for our cowboy trivia game, historical readings, and for cowboy songs.
The night of the party, we all dressed up like cowboys. I was the only one without a cowboy hat, so I had my hair braided with rawhide (Jon’s boot string) tied at the ends. I put more blush than usual on my cheeks and nose to give me a sunburned look, because I had lost my hat during a stampede—but I didn’t lose any beeves. We all wore bandannas and our leather work gloves, because we just came in from a round up. When we reached my mom and dad’s back door, we all whooped and hollered and then greeted everyone with our howdy.
Mom and Dad had our campfire waiting—real logs with a yellow light bulb underneath. Logs were situated around the fire along with real lanterns and cook pots. I brought Jedidiah’s grey sleeping bag for his bed roll and placed it next to the tent Dad made. I also placed Jedidiah’s play rifles against several of the logs. I then quickly decorated the table with cowboy tablecloth, plates, and napkins. For the centerpiece, I placed Jedidiah’s extra pair of boots, his spurs, a fox tail, play handgun, bear claw necklace, and cowboy book.
Right before the grub was served, I beat a pie pan and yelled, “Come and get it.” For our grub, I had chili and corn muffins which I served in tin pie pans. We ate our meal while listening to cowboy tapes and country music. For dessert, we enjoyed the cake I made. I put 2 13x9 cakes together and iced them with sand colored icing, made green cactus and placed green tufts of grass here and there. I put on mini brown M&M’s for cow patties and used sliced Shredded Wheat for sage brush. We then put Playmobil cowboys on their horses to look like they were rounding up several plastic longhorn cattle. The cake was adorable!
Everyone wanted to know where we purchased it and couldn’t believe I was the one who put on the cow patties. Hey, a little out of character but I always strive for the authentic at these family affairs.
After dinner, Jedidiah opened up his gifts, all wrapped in cowboy paper—new guns and holster (now I can wear a holster, too), books on cowboys, chaps and vest, Indian headdress, plastic hunting knife, cowboy luggage and wallet, badge, cowboy and Indian Playmobil sets. We all played with his new toys for a while and then played cowboy trivia. To my delight, I found out that I married a real cowboy. My husband correctly answered the most questions. Yee-ha!
For our cowboy trivia game, I named a cowboy term in which everyone tried to guess its meaning. A few examples were: airtight-canned goods; can openers-spurs; fuzzies-ranch horses; maverick-branded animal with no known owner; outlaw-a horse that cannot be broken; wipes-neckerchiefs; beeves-full grown beef steers ready for marketing; and punching-herding cattle.
After everyone tried deciphering cowboy lingo, we played “Fill in the Saddle” with the correct answer. Here are a few of the questions I asked with the correct answers for your benefit: Horns of a longhorn had a spread up to 6 feet. On long trail drives with large herds, there was only 1 cowboy to 350 head of cattle. Night herders (men picked to guard the cattle) worked in shifts of 2-4 hours. Herds rarely covered more than 10miles a day. Perhaps the greatest contribution the Spanish brought to North America was the longhorn cattle. This breed was ideal for survival on the plains. They descended from the Andalusian Cattle of the Arabs. Lasso or rope lengths varied from 26 feet to 70 feet. They were originally made from buffalo hide. Can anyone tell me how cowboys treat their ropes before using them? Place in warm sun ‘til soft, stretch it between 2 posts to get the twists out, singe off the fuzz, and rub it with a soft cloth until polished and smooth. Name ways cowboys used their hats: To keep the sun and rain off the head, protect ears, carry water to put out the cooking fire, feed horses, use as a pillow, and for a drinking cup. I then read selections from different books on the Cowboy Era.
The children then went on a round-up, rounding up the 50 head of plastic beeves I hid around the room. They used their cowboy hats for their finds. After the round-up, we sat around the fire and listened to me read a little history about cowboys’ songs and then sang cowboy songs from the sheets of words I typed up the night before. I selected “Home on the Range,” “Yellow Rose of Texas,” “Buffalo Gals,” “Red River Valley,” “Get Along Little Doggies,” “The Dying Cowboy,” and “The Cowboy’s Heaven.” It was a lovely ending to a perfectly delightful evening.
Since Jedidiah’s birthday in January, we have played with Playmobil’s adorable sets every day. Right now, we’re getting ready to create a Texan plain on a large piece of plywood. We’re painting the board with sand color paint with sand added to the paint for a sandy surface. At one end, we will paint a winding river with tiny rocks glued around its bank. More sand will be scattered on the plain and large rocks will become mountains. I’m spray painting coarse fungus to look like sage brush. When finished, we’ll all have fun setting up the Indian village, stagecoach, wagon, cowboys on a round-up, outlaws, and the cavalry Playmobil sets with Lincoln Log cabins and fort.
Madison County Fair board members are all volunteers working hard to make our community’s Fair a success. If you enjoy these articles, please consider partnering with us by donating to Madison County Fair, c/o Sandy Dismuke, PO Box 296, Fredericktown, MO 63645.