Show Ring Provides Life Lessons

As anyone who spent time in the show ring can tell you — there are a lot of applicable life lessons learned. I would encourage youth to at least try showing animals at least once if you have the opportunity.
Darcy Sexson is a Pacific Northwest Ag Blogger, you can find her blog called Success is Reason Enough at www.sexsoncharolais.com. She grew up showing pigs and dairy cattle but now volunteers with the PI Livestock Show in Central Oregon.
She shares a few of the important lessons she learned at the end of a show halter.
Sexson: “I’m a very competitive person and it’s not fun to lose. The first life lesson I learned was how to lose humbly. It is important for kids to understand that if you are going do something you need to give it your best shot and try your best. My dad always said, ‘If you going to do it, you might as well do it right the first time.’ So I took that attitude to the show ring. I was successful at our county fair level, but when you go to a bigger arena like a state fair or something of that nature, and you don’t win. It was a good lesson to learn how to lose humbly and support the other people around me that had been successful. That is hard when you are 14 or 15, but I think it is such a good skill to learn.”
She adds the benefits of learning to work well with others, taking pride in yourself and your animal as well as gaining lifelong friends.