My girls really stepped up their hog showmanship yesterday at our county fair.
Oldest daughter has shown 4-H pigs for 5 years, but this year she decided to enter some jackpot shows. She was consistently beaten by a couple of kids from other counties (one was her hog breeder) and had a challenging week at the State Fair two weeks ago. She stepped into the ring yesterday and showed her A game and took Reserve Grand Champion Senior Showmanship in her first year in the senior class. She then took 5th place market hog out of 200 entries--she picked out the weanling pig back in March and bought it herself at auction. She worked her ass off all summer to train her pig and her efforts really paid off.
Little sis was in her 3rd year, and watched big sis intently while she showed. She stepped into the ring and upped her game about 1,000% but hadn't worked her hog as hard this summer. While she was ready to show at the top level, her piggy was not! She got called back for the final junior showmanship class, but her pig didn't want to have anything to do with it and between laying down, rolling over, biting her, and trying to get into 3 fights (which the kid stopped without outside help) finally stepped on her foot and rolled onto her leg, pinning her on the ground. She bravely kept showing and took 3rd place in Junior...and the tears flowed freely once she got back to her stall. She's going to be very prepared next season. I love the life lessons they're learning--radically different from hockey--but a fresh challenge in the off-season.