The 2016 Junior Fair Horse Show was held Thursday morning and the Fayette County Fair Queen, Bethany Reiterman, was named the overall horse showman.
The show began with a few classes of showmanship, for both English and Western exhibitors. Judge Kay Tracy watched each participant perform a pattern they were given and determined class winners based on cleanliness of the horse, information they knew about their project and accuracy of the course. She announced Anya Matthews, Brittany Martindale, Bethany Reiterman, Madison Johnson, Haley Fletcher and Garren Walker as the winners for their respective classes.
The overall showman class was then held and each first and second place winner from the showmanship classes were invited to participate. After a pattern, and some comments from the judge, Reiterman was named the overall horse showman.
“I am super excited (for the Showman of Showmen class),” Reiterman said. “I cannot wait to go deal with a little bit of all the different kinds of livestock, be able to work with my friends to learn how to do it and just being in the opportunity is super exciting in general. I want to thank my family, my friends and the fair. It has been running smooth. As far as being on the junior fair board, everyone has been pitching in, kind of filling in for me when I can’t be there and just helping it all to run smoothly and I am really thankful for that. To all of the younger exhibitors, just keep practicing. Everyone out there who went for the showman did so well earlier.”
Finalists for the overall showman class were Mary Gerber, Garren Walker, Anya Matthews, Haley Fletcher, Andrea Robinson, Skylynn Barden, Madison Johnson who placed second in the class, and Bethany Reiterman.
Following the showmanship classes, the horsemanship, pleasure and other classes were held and they put the contestants up on the back of their horses. Class winners were Bayley Thompson who won two classes, Haley Fletcher who won two classes, Gabbie Miller, Mary Gerber, Brittany Martindale, Skylynn Barden who won two classes, Anya Matthews who won three classes, and Lorelei King.
