Sunday, July 27, 2008
Show horses can take a shower for the first time at the fair.
LISBON — Improvements at the annual Columbiana County Fair will promote fun, friendship and family.
Over at the ice cream barn, workers from Stamp Construction Co. last week were installing a new deck with a ramp for the handicapped to make sure everyone can reach the incredibly popular ice cream.
At the dairy barn, Doug Cooper of Hanoverton was waiting for a friend to help remove a platform from his pickup.
Cooper said the platform will be placed in the barn where he says he plans “to sit and socialize.”
He added with a smile, “I wish I hadn’t made it so big.”
He’ll be exhibiting cows in the open-class dairy competition, and his son will be exhibiting a pig and a cheesecake in the junior fair.
Other workers were installing chain-link fencing at the new entrance on the north side of the fairgrounds.
Near the horse ring, work was being completed on showers for horses.
Shannon Mosti of Highlandtown, vice president of the Columbiana County Saddle Horse Committee, said it’s the first time at the fair where youths can wash their horses with fresh water.
The work is being paid for with cash donations of $500 and a large drain donated by the Ray Lewis Co.
The majority of the 76 youths in the association will be entered in the fair judging.
Scott Judy of Salem, who is also on the saddle horse committee, said he exhibited horses in the 1980s. “Now my kids are in the competition,” he added.
The competition helps youths learn how to deal with the animals and any problems they may have, Judy added.
Mosti said that in competition on a scale of one to 10, horses should be in the four-to-seven range. Lower numbers mean the horse is too skinny, and higher numbers mean the horse is too fat.
So how does a person determine a horse may have a problem?
Mosti said watching the horse walk off may help indicate whether the horse has a lame foot. People can also feel the horse to see if there is heat coming from muscles that may have pulled.
Horses can live into their 30s, she said.
“I still have my first horse. I’ll keep that animal forever,” Mosti said.
“They are not just animals. They are family.”
The fair begins Monday and continues to next Sunday at the fairgrounds, 225 Lee Ave. Country-western singer Jake Owen performs Tuesday, and country singer Lorrie Morgan will be on the grandstand stage Friday.
wilkinson@vindy.com