WESTON -- Despite the rainy weather, horse lovers of all ages gathered at the Trefz farm in Weston during the weekend to participate in the 54th annual Lewis County Boot and Saddle Club Horse Show.
Children as young as 3-years-old joined dozens of experienced riders from West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio to vie for honors in a multitude of classes during the three-day event that ended Sunday evening.
The shows included about 130 horses, including walking horses, saddle horses, quarter horses, Arabians, Western and English and miniature horses. The riders competed to earn points that count toward the West Virginia Horse Association year-end awards.
"I think it's rained every year, but people still enjoy it. And we had a lot of spectators come out to watch the shows," said Dave Glover, a club member from the Weston area.
Glover's horse, Sarah Lee, an 8-year-old road pony, won the open class competition on Saturday night. On Sunday, Sarah Lee was on the sidelines getting a shoe replaced by Darrell Good, a farrier from Charleston.
Good and his wife, Wanda, brought a trailer full of supplies and set up shop in a tent so that Darrell could repair or re-shoe the horses.
The Goods have come to the Weston show for several years, according to Wanda Good, so that "if a horse blows a shoe, they can get it fixed and still show," she said.
For Wanda, who is a nurse at the Charleston Area Medical Center, the Weston show is more of a vacation for her.
"I get to hit the antique shops in the area and get to watch everybody else show. It's a nice change," she said.
Doris Harper, owner of the Meadow View Stables near Hornor, has been involved with the local horse competition for years. This year her 4-year-old great-granddaughter competed in one of the shows on Sunday.
"A lot of people headed home because it rained so much on Saturday, but there are a lot who stayed. It's still been a good show," she said.
Staff writer Gail Marsh can be reached at 626-1447.
