It's Show Day!

   The smell of fried foods filled the air as the first peak of sunshine peaks through the opening of camper blinds. I check my phone which reads 5:30 a.m. this means it's time to get up because it's show day! The day has finally came that I have been waiting and training an entire year for. 

    I proceed to wake up my brother and we make the long walk from the camper to the cattle barn. We begin as normal by waking up the sleeping beauties and taking them to the wash rack. I grab the steer and my brother grabs the breeding heifer. After the rinsing comes the long process of blow drying the two from head to toe which is a lengthy process. 

    Class list are finally posted as I finish drying calf number two. The first class starts promptly at 7:45 a.m. and I am in class two. We finish grooming the steer and begin to head toward the show arena as we hear “Class two please report to the show arena” come over the loud speakers. 

My stomach instantly drops and the nervous begin to fill my entire body. As we stand in the holding pen the first class finishes up and we begin to enter the ring. The only thing I can think of is ‘come on buddy we got this, just like we have practiced every night for hours on end each night.”

We enter the ring as I take a deep breath and Tyrone freezes. I instantly start sweating and internally panicking. I give him a little pull on his halter and a few click with my mouth and he frees up and begins to move. As we pull up to our first stop he steps into perfect show position as we had practiced. I begin to stroke his brisket for his comfort. The judge approaches and asks the usual questions and I answer appropriately. 

We pull up to do our circle around the ring and the judge pulled three  from this class and I was one. This means I get to come back for the final drive. I was the only exhibitor who did not show in circuit shows all year round. The champion drive begins and I placed in top five! Joy filled the air. This top five placing means all our hard work had payed off!