Fair horse show includes classes for young and old

Tailored dress coats in jewel tones like turquoise and garnet, long silky tails sweeping along the ground, and gleaming leather adorned the Grandstand on Sunday at Arena Park during the SEMO District Fair horse show.

The show was open, meaning anyone could enter.

Eleven of the 23 classes showcased gaited horses, which are bred to perform smooth paces, breeds like Tennessee Walking Horses, Racking Horses, Missouri Fox Trotters, Saddle Horses and Paso Finos.

These types of horses competed in classes, including ladies gaited, plantation pleasure and country pleasure racking, for a $125 payback per class, for the first- through fifth-place finishers.

Winners also earned a victory gallop around the somewhat muddy arena in front of a crowd of about 250, and were escorted into an impromptu "winner's circle" for a photo opportunity complete with wrap-around ribbon.

Emily McElreath of Cape Girardeau showed Gentlemen Prefer Blonds in the yearling gaited halter class at the SEMO District Fair on Sunday. (Fred Lynch)

A pet parade preceded the horse show, where children of all ages showed off their costumed animals. Everyone got a prize, which made for some creative categories like "best use of sparkly collar" and "best fuzzy tail." "Best costume for a horse show" went to a dog disguised as a medevil knight's charger, complete with armor and horse's tail.

As far as the horse show classes, crowd favorites seemed to be those that matched the smallest children with the biggest horses, like the leadline class, where children ages 6 and younger get their start in a show ring by having an adult companion lead their mounts.

The first-place team of that class, Lane and Carmen Diechman, donned matching pink dress shirts and straw cowboy hats.

Pop's Pizza of Cape Girar-adeau sponsored the leadline class.

The show is run entirely by volunteers, said Pete Poe, spokesman for the fair.

"There's a lot of good people doing good work for the fair," Poe said.

bdicosmo@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 246