My First County Fair – Day 3
Today was a big day for Charlie and me because it was the quality show. The quality show at the fair is about your steer and how much meat he will probably have and if he’s finished or not.
I have to get up really early because we need to get to the fair to feed Charlie before we get him ready for the show. While he is outside eating, we clean out his stall. Then we have to give Charlie a bath. He doesn’t like this very much at the fair. I don’t know why because he really liked getting washed at home.
After we wash him, then we blow his hair dry. Then we put some really strong hairspray on his legs and spray some oil on his body to make him shine. Then he is ready to go to the show.
There are 130 steers at our fair so the show takes all day long. I was in the 4th class to go in the show ring. I was nervous because when we were waiting for our class to start, Charlie wouldn’t stand still and had lots of energy.
When it was my turn, first I led Charlie in the show ring and stayed in a straight line in the front with the other steers so the judge could look at them. Then we walked around in a circle and stopped in the back of the show ring. Then the judge put all of us in line in the order he liked them best and then he told us about why he liked a steer or why he didn’t.
Charlie weighed 1218 pounds and he probably needed about 30 more pounds so I got 5th place in my class. The judge said that at first he though Charlie would be a top contender but he needed a little more muscle. A girl in my 4-H club told me, “Think of it this way, you got first place of the second half.”
I was kind of mad at Charlie because whenever I stopped him, he wouldn’t stay there. My legs were shaking when I was in the show ring, but I didn’t let go of his halter and kept good hold of him.
After the show, we washed and scrubbed him again to get all of the hairspray and oil out of his hair.
A couple hours later, Charlie was laying down and I tried sitting with him and he liked it so then I started singing songs to him. Then I thought, “Why not make up a special imaginary land for us to live and our own language.” Charlie told me not to tell you what it was called. How he told me no was by head butting me when I asked him.
This morning, I was a little mad at Charlie because he wouldn’t stay still during the show but I was only mad for a little while. Then he let me sit with him for a long time in the afternoon and I remembered how much I like him.