The Sherburne County Fair starts Thursday, and 4-H’ers have been busy preparing their projects and practicing with their animals to compete in lots of events. This year will be a little different than in the past. Because of the bird flu outbreak, this year will mark the first time no poultry will be entered in the fair. But the kids have been working with other livestock and show animals. 4-H’ers in the Happy Hoofbeats Club have been especially busy preparing for the fair. Over the past few weeks, they’ve gathered at the Krisko ranch in Becker to train their horses and llamas for the spotlight at the fair.
Mykailah Aucapina of Big Lake has been working with her miniature horse Stormy, preparing for games and Pleasure/Trail events. Stormy is 10 years old and is sometimes hard to handle because he likes to graze, says Mykailah. She says Stormy has changed over the years.
“When he was little, he was gray. Now he’s mostly white,” she says.
Stormy is just one of a number of horses that can bee seen at the Krisko ranch.
Becca Lambert of Becker has been working with her horse, Ranger on lots of different events.
“I’ll be competing in basically all the classes - western pleasure, horsemanship, games..,” she says.
It’s the third year competing at the Fair for Becca, and she expects she’ll do well.
“I’ve gotten better every year. I set goals for myself and last year we met all our goals,” she says. “This year I hope we’ll do even better.”
Zack Smith of Big Lake is one of three in his family who will be showing animals at the fair.
His sister, Kaitlyn will be riding Hippi, a 30-year old horse, in a number of events. Hippi is getting over a foot problem, but Kaitlyn says he’s doing better.
“He’s 30 but he acts like a four-year old,” she says. “He’ll be ready by Thursday.”
Zack will be riding Lacey, a seven-year old horse. He says workouts have been going well.
“We practice every Thursday morning,” he says.
He competes Thursday, Friday and Sunday, and he’s pretty confident he’ll do well after the results he had in a fun show a few weeks ago. “I had a first place and two fourths,” he says.
Ruth Krisko of Becker has been in the Fair for the past eight years. She has a busy week ahead with her miniature horse Firecracker and her regular horse, Tag. She’ll also be showing a llama.
Ruth is entered in almost every horse event.
“Everything except for English Pleasure,” she says.
The Sherburne County Fair starts Thursday at 8 a.m. Horse events begin at 9 a.m. with the Pleasure/Trail competition.
