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First-ever supreme showman contest finds best of the best

Judge Nick Riecke evaluates the sheep showmanship skills of 4-H members (from left) Josh Leidig, Michael Thompson, Sarah Hunnicutt, Braydon Poulson, Jada Johnson, Rachel Jackson and Kaitlyn Drayer.
Judge Nick Riecke evaluates the sheep showmanship skills of 4-H members (from left) Josh Leidig, Michael Thompson, Sarah Hunnicutt, Braydon Poulson, Jada Johnson, Rachel Jackson and Kaitlyn Drayer. Photo by Cindy Klepper.

The art of showmanship, 4-H leader Luke Vickrey explains, is all about the person doing the showing.

"This is the only thing where the animal doesn't matter," says Vickrey. "It's that kid's ability, that day, to present the animal."

Every 4-H animal show, from cat to cattle, includes a showmanship competition. Until this year, being named master showman in a specific species of animal was the highest honor a 4-H'er could shoot for.

This year, that changed. The master showmen in each of seven animal projects - horse and pony, beef, dairy, goat, starter calf, sheep and swine - were given the opportunity to display their versatility by showing one animal from each species in the Huntington County 4-H Fair's first-ever supreme showmanship contest.

All of the species except starter calf were shown in the contest.

Braydon Poulson, who entered the compettion as the beef showmanship champion, walked away with the chest-high trophy signifying his status as the 2014 fair's supreme showman. He faced some stiff competition from six fellow 4-H'ers - Kaitlyn Drayer, representing the horse and pony project; Rachel Jackson, dairy; Michael Thompson, sheep; Josh Leidig, goat; Jada Johnson, swine; and Sarah Hunnicutt, starter calf.

The supreme showmanship contest was held on Wednesday, July 23, in the show arena at Hier's Park.

Every effort was made to level the playing field, says Vickrey, who organized the competition.

Four-H'ers not involved in the contest volunteered their animals for the supreme showmanship competition, guaranteeing that none of the contestants was showing his own animal. Identical equipment was supplied for each of the competitors, who were identified only by number and evaluated by judges unfamiliar with Huntington County 4-H'ers.

For six of the seven animals, the supreme showmanship contestants entered the ring together with their animals, which had been assigned at random, in a random order that changed for each competition. Because of the small size of the show arena at Hier's Park, the 4-H'ers displayed their horse showmanship skills one at a time.

"The judge ranks them one to seven, and the scores are added up at the end," Vickrey explains. "Just like golf, the lowest score wins."

The 4-H'ers who qualified for the supreme showmanship contest spent fair week working with other 4-H'ers to learn how to show an unfamiliar species, Vickrey says.
Several members, knowing it was a possibility they'd qualify for the contest, started taking horse showmanship lessons even before the fair started.

"All of these kids have worked with each other all week," he says.

The competitors also took a written test designed to serve as a tiebreaker.

Complete caption: Judge Nick Riecke evaluates the sheep showmanship skills of 4-H members (from left) Josh Leidig, Michael Thompson, Sarah Hunnicutt, Braydon Poulson, Jada Johnson, Rachel Jackson and Kaitlyn Drayer. The Huntington County 4-H Fair’s first supreme showmanship competition was held on Wednesday, July 23, giving showmanship champions in seven individual animal projects the chance to show their skills in showing other types of animals.