WALTON - Open horse show competition at the 136th annual Delaware County Fair got underway Sunday, Aug. 13 with open hunt seat, saddle seat, western, driving and miniature horse classes, with day-end grand and reserve champions named.
Joseph Hafele, of Walton, was named Driving Pony Reserve Champion, second place. Hafele has been showing horses at the Delaware County Fair for 56 years. Sunday, he showed in a variety of pony driving classes including reinmanship pattern, pleasure, timed obstacle and men’s pleasure.
In the classes he competed in, he said, the judge is looking for a pleasure horse - a horse that moves quietly and can go through its transitions from a slow trot to a strong trot; one that can stop and stand quietly, and can back up on request.
Hafele competed with Peter and Joelene Wahl’s pony, 26-year old Halley Bops, a Cob. “She’s a strong pony she likes to go,” Hafele said of Halley.
When he asked her to trot, he said of his slightly less-than-perfect performance, “She just likes to open up and trot. I just needed her to go a little more collected.” For Halley to go into a show ring and “be quiet” is a bit for a challenge for her, Hafele explained. “She is very well behaved.”
Hafele explained his love of horses. “There is a connection between humans and horses, and once it gets into your soul, there is no escaping it. It’s there for life. It’s a great sport because you can not master it,” he said. “It can not be mastered.”
Hafele competes with ADS-style (American Driving Society) driving. “It’s full of rules and protocols, and with ADS, the horse does a flat walk. They do a slow jog, a working trot and they do a strong trot,” he said of a horse’s different gaits.
Day-end Champions
• Junior Driving Grand Champion: Ellie Grace, Bloomville
• Driving Horse Grand Champion: Mindy Tweedie, Hanford Mills
• Driving Horse Reserve Champion: Chris Tweedie
• Driving Pony Grand Champion: Tom Frechette, Chenango Forks
• Driving Pony Reserve Grand Champion: Joseph Hafele, Walton
• 13-and-under miniature Grand Champion: Hayden Bowers, no address available.
• 13-and-under miniature Reserve Champion: Donovan Stanton, no address available.
• 14-17 miniature Grand Champion: Ellie Grace, Bloomville; showing “Spice”
• 14-17 miniature Reserve Grand Champion: Ellie Grace, Bloomville; showing “Sugar”
• Open miniature Grand Champion: Tierney Dykstra, Sidney Center
• Open miniature Reserve Grand Champion: Ellie Grace
• 17-and-under Grand Champion: Georgiana DeWitt, Delhi
• 17-and-under Reserve Grand Champion: Olivia Morton, Bloomville
• 17-and-under walk/trot Grand Champion: Grant Wildey, Binghamton
• 17-and-under walk/trot Reserve Grand Champion: Issabelle Horn, Delhi
• Hunt seat Grand Champion: Sheree Noviello, Downsville
• Hunt seat Reserve Champion: Desiree Sawyer, Delhi
• Saddle seat Grand Champion: Corrine Hine, Harpursville
