WHOA KEEPS Show November 6 , 2021 • Brownsville , Kentucky
I was looking forward to seeing my horse show buddies at the last two WHOA KEEPS Shows with great enthusiasm until the weather reports started dropping the temps all week prior to the show . However Saturday morning at a frosty 29o I donned my “ Gernt gear ” and headed out to meet my “ Boss Dude ” with a smile on my face !
It was a dang good thang that I had put on my artic wear as the heater on my truck quit just as I reached the Lewisburg exit . Now it is pitch dark , heavy fog , windshield frosting over , ugggggg just not an ideal start to the fabulous week end I had envisioned . I called Tommy and asked him to start his car so it would be warm and my teeth would stop chattering . He did and the smile returned . When we pulled in to the scenic Edmonson County Fair grounds the sun was out and the smiles were bright on the faces of our exhibitors . Thankfully I had put a small heater in the load however by 11 a . m . we were shedding our layers and there was no need for the heater .
WHOA hosted a tremendous show with 269 entries showing on Saturday . Carla Hurley served capably as Judge with Lori Lee Lowery just as capable in helping out as ring mistress which was greatly appreciated . I am pretty sure at least half the exhibitors came to help gate man Sput Hotchins celebrate his 64th birthday ! Sput had been the gate man for all the Brownsville shows and does a great job .
The show started with several versatility classes . The younger Starnes family came home to 18 • Walking On
Brownsville for the last versatile show of the season . Children and adults did their usual outstanding job in versatility almost sweeping all the classes . These classes were well filled as were all the classes . Those elusive KEEPS points were counting up as this was the end of the season for accumulating KEEPS points .
It was exciting to see exhibitors new to the Brownsville scene . The young riders , Evan Claborn and Dalton Goodman brought a trailer load of horses for William Flowers and took home a trailer load of ribbons . The Liberty Show was the first time I had seen these two young men in the ring — in just two weeks their trail techniques had visibly improved . Keep up the good work boys ! Dickie Gardner was on hand with a trailer load of nice horses that did very well exhibiting in both youth and adult classes . Kim Richwine brought her good Alexander Hamilton and returned to Franklin TN with a blue and a red . Jared Phy aboard Harlin ’ s Legacy shared the trip with Kim returning to middle Tennessee with 2 blues and a yellow thus making the return trip a very happy one . That was all of the new exhibitors that I remember however some of the “ old faithful ” had outstanding shows to finish the season . J & T Stables had an excellent day as the Jason Crawhorn trained horses performed exceptionally well . Whispering Wind Stables of Pikeville TN also had a fantastic day as I think their horses were undefeated for the day . Ditto Maggie Moore with her trio of blue ribbon winners . While Maggie is not new to the Kentucky scene we hadn ’ t seen her in a few shows so it was entertaining to watch her horses perform . Terry Doyle can be counted on to bring a string of good horses to support WHOA . He did and he and Nicholas Thomas returned home with a string of the right colored ribbons .
The first day of the WHOA KEEPS last of the season shows proved to be very successful . We ended the day with 269 entries . The staff is looking forward to a lovely day tomorrow with hopefully a full day of full classes , without our 60 + versatility entries we may be down a bit in horses but we are expecting not quite as many . We shall see !
– Sis Osborne
The youth versatility exhibitors had a great time at the show . Pictured are Linda and Jack Starnes with Belle Of Rocky Hill , Dana Cowles , Parker and Palmer Green with Polka Dottie , and Blues American Woman with Hannah , Andrew , Dan , Abigail , Laura , Jon Lawrence , and Catherine Starnes .