This week the Bridle Path leads to the Washtenaw Farm Council Grounds on Ann Arbor-Saline Road on Ann Arbor's south side.

The Washtenaw County 4-H Youth Fair is in progress, having started Sunday, July 24 and lasting until Friday, July 29 at 9 p.m.

All day, every day there are events scheduled for kids showing horses, rabbits and poultry, llamas and alpacas, cattle, sheep and goats, pigs. The dog show was Sunday; the cat show was Monday.

Most kids who show an animal at the 4-H Fair exhibit more than one species. In addition to showing animals, a myriad of “still projects” are judged on Monday and placed on display for the remainder of the week in the Block Building A. This year there are 181 horses and about 200 riders at the fair, up a bit from last year.

Mackenzie O'Connor shows her horse, Wenloch Sans Voyager "Trigger" to an admiring group of children and parents.

Each fair day starts early, with participants preparing clothing and supplies for the day’s activities. Quick breakfast, then off to the fairgrounds to feed your critters! The horses need to eat and digest their food a bit before they can be worked. If you want to exercise your horse in the main arena, this must be done before showtime at 8 a.m.

Between classes, the kids check on each of their charges, making sure each animal has food, water and exercise as needed, and that stalls and pens are clean and ready for public display.

If your horse showing goes well and you take first or second place in your division, congratulations! You are invited to participate in the championships, which begin generally about 7 p.m. and have been known to go well into the night.

Your charges (equine and otherwise) then need to be fed and bedded down for the night. They need not miss their owners for long, as morning comes early again!

Rachel Johnston cleans the stall of Twistin' to be Wild "Twister", a Paint horse belonging to fellow club member Ben Ehrlich. Clubs earn points and awards for the tidiness of their show areas.

For the 4-H Horse Show, Monday is devoted to showmanship, demonstrating control of the horse on the ground. Good ground control is a requirement for showing at the week-long Youth Fair.

Showmanship requires a considerable amount of practice, and can be a beautiful thing. Some kids find it painfully tedious, and suffer through their required class it in order to ride for the rest of the week. A related class called horsemanship was recently instituted, which accomplishes the same goal in a less rigorous manner.

Tuesday is jumping and dressage day. This year there was a large increase in dressage contestants, so the 240 rides were scheduled on Monday as well. The nice thing about dressage is that riders are given a certain ride time to plan around, as opposed to most horse show classes, which simply follow the class before, whenever that may be.

Jumping carries the greatest risk to horse and rider, and from a parent standpoint, it can be harrowing. Before the class starts, horses and riders are allowed a few minutes to practice the brightly painted jumps, which can be quite startling to a horse.

Several horses and riders go in the ring at once, at least a few of whom are not convinced of the wisdom of approaching the intimidating contraptions. Once the horses and riders enter the ring individually as contestants, they generally complete the course obediently. Tuesday, thankfully, passed without the need for Huron Valley Ambulance services.

Wednesday is Western and Saddleseat day. These are diametrically opposed disciplines. Western was developed in the United States for working horses valuing a quiet, pleasant ride. Saddleseat is an English discipline that values flash and animation. As practiced at the Youth Fair, saddleseat mainly involves young women dressed as English gentlemen riding lively, showy horses. Few 4-H kids ride both Western and saddleseat, so hosting both disciplines on one day makes sense.

Thursday is Hunt Seat day. Hunt seat is basic English riding, and has the greatest number of participants. Most 4-H riders participate in hunt seat, even if they primarily ride another discipline.

Friday is a day of fames. Some youth endure the entire week of fair for a shot at glory running horse games like barrel racing (looping around three barrels at speed), pole bending (weaving in and out of six tall vertical poles), flag race (grab a small flag out of a bucket of sand sitting atop a barrel, race around a second barrel, and stick it into a bucket on a third barrel) and speed and action (race from one end of the arena to the other and back, stopping inside of a box on the ground made of white powdered chalk).

Showing a horse at the 4-H Youth Show requires tremendous energy on the part of the youth, his or her family, and their show animals. For those who show multiple species and/or still exhibits, it can seem Herculean. Year after year, we willing submit ourselves and our animals to the 4-H Youth Fair.

The fair is an excellent opportunity to show our animals in a variety of disciplines with friends, family, and club members, forging memories and friendships to last a lifetime.

Kathy Lundberg is owner of Scio Church Stables and welcomes your contact via e-mail.