Fair part 4 - Showmanship -Lambs

We start out the day with the Pee Wee Show. This is when all the siblings of the lambs showers get to take their brother or sister's lamb in the ring and walk it around to the judge, tell him your name and the lambs name then get a ribbon and a prize. Simple enough but you have to remember some of the lambs are 6 times as big as a 4 or 5 year old kid. Sometimes a parent will walk next to the Pee Wee just in case it gets away or tramples the kid. They also are allowed to keep the halter on.
I got the times mixed up so this little girl made it just in time. She was almost the last out of 120 peewees to enter the ring. Whew. She had fun and didn't get ran over.




Here we are again but this time it is showmanship! The judge will be looking at how well the kids handle their animals in the ring. They need to always look like they are having fun, keep their eye on the judge, never get between the animal and the judge because you are trying to show off the animal and they need to remember to be patient and never let down their guard. When the judge comes you move into a position that pushes the lamb just right so it flexes all the muscles in its back and legs. You need to brace the lamb so it doesn't jump when the judge feels the back muscles or I would call it tickle the lamb because that is why they jump. You also need to constantly be setting up the lamb which means moving its feet so they are "square", not one for ward or back but always in a rectangle like box position so that the muscles are flexed and it shows off all the best features of the lamb.



Then each child will have to move the lamb around and do a pivot always remembering to never turn their back to the judge or get in between them and the animal. It is a lot to remember.


In each class 2 or 3 out of the 12 will be put in the star class. The star class is where they pick the best showman from all the classes. They are invited to come back a second time in the ring all together to be lined up by how well they do and the grand champion and grand champion reserve is picked from this bunch.


The second girl, you know who because I have so many pictures of her smiling big, did great! She made it to the star class in 3rd place in her class. In the star class she ranked right in the middle - 11 out of 22. That is great! Anything lower then that would have been very disappointing. She was the only one in our club that made it to the Star Class for showmanship.



The oldest boy Iv did very well ranking right from the beginning as #5 in his class. He was in the JR. class because I got his grade mixed up when I signed the kids up but that didn't matter because he held his own. We almost missed his class because we were eating lunch and thought we had plenty of time because he was in class 12. The judge was moving right along with the JR classes and we got there just in time to go in the ring. I don't have pictures because I left the camera next to my watermelon.

BEFORE:

His lamb never settled down the whole time and got away right at the beginning but that was to his advantage because he never gave up and that was what the judge was looking at. He stuck to it when others would have just cried. Shawn his lamb was jittery the whole time at the fair but Iv stayed with it despite her stubbornness and jumpiness of his lamb.
AFTER:


Both children are very glad it is over and they both think it was worth all that walking and practice. I was glad they remembered so much this year and they really did have fun...last year it was stressful but this year they just went with it and relaxed a bit. The judge was awesome! He was from St. George and teaches down there in a school. He really took time to tell the kids tips and explain why he wants them to do different things. He was very consistent and that is the best quality in a judge.