T-R PHOTO BY LANA BRADSTREAM Brayden Webber leads his horse “Gigi” from the arena after claiming the grand champion title in the halted mare competition of the Central Iowa Fair horse show. Organizers had to make a sudden change and the show was moved to Wolfe Ranch because the fairgrounds outdoor arena was not suitable for horses following recent rain.

A little rain could not stop the return of the Central Iowa Fair horse show, but it did change the venue.

Originally, the horse show was going to be held in the outdoor arena on the fairgrounds. However, the recent rain made the ground unsuitable for horses. Show co-superintendent Sydney York said the decision was made Wednesday evening to move the show to Wolfe Ranch. Fellow superintendent Grace Collins said they were lucky Wolfe Ranch had a place for the show, otherwise it would have been canceled.

“They were hoping [the arena] would dry up and were trying to work it,” Collins said. “Unfortunately, it just wasn’t going to be ready, but it’s still going and the girls and boys are still having fun.”

After five years of the show’s absence from the fair, the superintendents are happy they did not have to make that call, especially since the show had 10 entrants. York said the number of entries was a big jump from the zero they had last year. Collins said they were blown away by the amount.

“We were definitely underestimating the numbers we would have,” York said. “We are very pleased to get this many.”

“We are very excited to see this many kids want to learn about horses,” Collins said.

One of the entrants was Brayden Webber, 13, of Marshalltown, who said the best aspect of this experience has been the horses. He is thinking of participating in the horse show again next year.

Webber brought two horses to his first-time show and his 3-year-old mare “Gigi” earned the grand champion title in the halted mare division. However, he was a little conflicted about his victory.

“I feel good, but I also feel bad because the other person was really good, too,” Webber said.

Collins enjoyed showing the kids about the process of taking care of horses, and there is more to 4-H than winning.

“It’s learning hard work, learning patience,” she said. “Learning those life skills we are losing out on nowadays – having to get your hands dirty, getting up early in the morning, staying up late. Those are important. The kids have come such a long way. It’s been great to be a part of their journey.”

Collins and York said they were lucky to have a higher number of interested participants, which made the large amount of work to bring the show back worth it. The kids who showed the horses practiced at the fairgrounds every week during the summer.

“Hopefully the girls and boys really like showing, and they’ll come back next year and we can keep growing our number,” York said.

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Contact Lana Bradstream

at 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or

lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.