Ending On A High Note at the North Carolina State Fair
Tuesday, October 29, 2002
Raleigh, N.C.--Held at the Governor James B. Hunt Jr. Horse Complex, the North Carolina State Fair Horse Show was a successful season wrap for many southeastern barns. American Saddlebreds, Morgans, Hackney Ponies and Road Horses gathered to compete in the open show from Oct. 23-26. Other breeds, such as Pasafinos and Miniature Horses, showed throughout the week as well. This year, some conflict surrounding other breeds that formerly participated in the show hindered the total number of entries. Despite the absense of Arabians and Quarter Horses, total entries still reached the 2200 range.
While the horse show exhibitors did their thing in the back corner of the fairgrounds, the North Carolina State Fair vivaciously went on across the rest of the large ground. with the fair being held simultaneously with the show, many fairgoers got to catch a glimpse of an excellent group of horse show contenders.
As quality was high in many divisions, spectators also witnessed many classes that were quite deep. The pleasure division was viable as well as several classes in the three-gaited and five-gaited divisions, making for many memorable moments for barns traveling near and far for their season closure.
One of those barns was Drowning Creek. Under the direction of Lewis Eckard, this Carolina farm stepped it up to the plate in full force to capture MANY wins throughout the week, including explosive wins in the Five-Gaited Championship with Eckard himself aboard Hawkcrest and Connie Sessoms aboard Assets and Attitude in the amateur gaited stake, just to name a couple.
Other Carolina barns putting on grand finale performances: Cash Lovell Stables, Boone’s Farm, Magnolia Stable, Ingleside, Castle Hills, Wood Bridge Farm, La Mirage...a few barns from Virginia as well as other states made their mark throughout the week.
Marilyn Macfarlane had the difficult task of marking the cards for the Saddlebred, Road Horse and Equitation divisions while Betty Grey took on the Morgan portion of judging and Laurence Carrs tied the pony classes.
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