Showing animals for sport

While most people who think of sports think of athletes in a gym or on a field, some North Harford students have a very different definition. Seniors Anne Maxwell and Elaine Keithley spend an equal amount of time practicing and preparing for their “sport,” though theirs is in a ring and not on a field.

Maxwell travels all around Maryland, PA, and Delaware showing her pigs and purebred sheep. She said that she does about 12 shows a season. This year at a national show in Delaware, Maxwell took second in showmanship, but this is not unusual for her. She said that she normally does very well in local shows and normally places in the middle of the pack when she shows nationally.

      Placing well means a participant could win a larger premium, which is money, and they could also win ribbons and trophies. Because the sheep can only be show up to a year old, after her animals retire from showing she usually either keeps them as pets because they can breed until they’re ten and she has an emotional attachment to them, or she sells them to other families for them to keep as pets.

   Maxwell describes a typical competition weekend as leaving Friday night to get there and either sleeping in a hotel or in the barn. They wake up early Saturday morning and are judged on their showmanship before they actually judge the animals. Then, animals are shown all day Saturday and Sunday and they leave Sunday night to come home.

Elaine Keithley shows horses in her shows which also take place around Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. The showing season for horses depends on the event the horse will be participating in, such as show jumping, which  takes place more in the spring and summer. She also competes for money, medals, trophies and ribbons like Maxwell.

     Although right now she only shows horses, she’s trying to get into showing pigs. After her animals retire from showing she keeps them as pets or sells them to family with kids that need a more disciplined horse to learn how to ride on. A typical show weekend for Keithley is similar to Maxwell’s. They get to the show early saturday morning, show all day Saturday and Sunday and then come home on Sunday nights.