Raging storm Stormy Halladay
Caleb A. Gallegos/News-Sun
If you thought Doc Holliday was the toughest Holliday you knew, you haven’t met 10-year-old Stormy Halladay of the Enchantment 4-H Club of Lovington.
Halladay will be the only one in her 4-H Club who will be showing a horse in the Fair and Rodeo livestock show, starting Aug. 2 in Lovington.
Halladay and her mountainous personality have been in 4-H for four years along with her older sister. Although she is new to the show world, she said she has been around horses her whole life.
Her horse “is a yearling show halter, and I will be showing him in a halter during the show,” Halladay said. “Basically the formation is kinda like a ‘L’. I’ll trot up to the judge, then turn away and “set up,” which is getting his feet squared and having him stand still so the judges can see all parts of him.”
Along with showing her yearling, Halladay said she will also be showing sheep, lambs, rabbits and pigs in this years livestock show. She explained how they are shown and what judges are looking for.
“The sheep you have to ‘show walk’ them, which is leading them with your hands on their head. You walk them around, stop and ‘set them up’, which setting up is basically the same thing, legs wide, squared up. The basic show lamb you want to be able to see the muscle whenever they tense up when they push on you. You want a big butt, you want to be able to feel the backbone whenever the judge feels the back to know they aren’t too fat,” Halladay said.
“Pigs you have to walk them. Your going to walk them the entire time you’re in the ring, unless you get put in a pen.
Although she is only 10-years-old, Halladay along with her colossal courage knows from experience what goes into breaking and training her livestock. She said the most challenging animals to train out of her livestock are the horses and sheep and explained what goes into breaking them for show.
“With the horse, you get them as a baby. You have to break them and train them. Break them to sound, break them to movement and just get them to calm down,” Halladay explained. “For the sheep, honestly the hardest part is probably doing legs. Leg wraps, washing, blowing (dry) and just teaching them how to tense up. Same goes for goats.
“I got lucky with a calm horse this year. But honestly if they aren’t calm you need to train them to calm down and gain their respect, which is getting on them whenever they need it and showing them that you’re boss, stuff like that. If they try and run off, pop their halter and put your boots in the ground and stay. If they take you to the ground let go, that’s with any animal.”
While most 10-year-olds are sitting inside during their summer vacation, Halladay said she would rather be tending to her animals.
“Fair, after the shows, hanging out with friends I enjoy all of it. I honestly don’t know what my summer would be without my animals,” Halladay said.
Halladay is also competing in the sweepstakes where she will be sewing an apron, baking a double-crust apple pie, three strawberry scones, a loft of banana-nut bread, cookies and canning spaghetti sauce, green peas, carrots and corn.
With big plans to match her fearless personality, Halladay has plans of becoming an animal ophthalmologist and a traveling veterinarian, but during the rest of her time in 4-H Halladay said she hopes to show a steer sometime in the near future.
