I had hoped that my foray into the quasi-literary world had changed me, that it has made me less judgmental. Being judgmental, this was what cost me the respect of those in the horse community.

But no, I have not changed one single itty bitty bit. I’m still quick to make note of inconsistencies in those working with horses, inconsistencies that I feel are deleterious to these animals.

Today it was this – it was dressage and sport horse day – my terms. As I was walking past the stall area, I saw several what I call eye candy horses, being evaluated. These were large, sleek, high headed horses. People were milling around them, measuring height and taking notes.

Shortly thereafter, about a dozen horses and three dozen people appeared in the area in front of the equestrian center. The horses were large, fine boned, mostly piebald pintos. Some would say these horses were beautiful because they had been meticulously groomed and were high headed. Me, I thought, eye candy. I remarked to one person that these were the AKC equivalent of the dog world – bred to be caricatures – idealized animals. However, they seemed to me to be lacking in brains.

A short while thereafter I looked over at the arena where they were being shown in hand. A woman was chasing one of the horses around with a bag on a whip. The horse was wide eyed, and wanting to cease moving.

Then it began happening. Noise coming out of the speaker, above Taku’s stall. Taku is one of Sierra, the barn manager’s horses. Wise and patient, the black gelding with the white spot on his forehead has been a good horse ambassador the entire time of the fair, letting people pet him and retreating into his stall when he’s needing a break.

There was a speaker under the awning, right above his head. And those in charge of the eye candy horses saw fit to turn up the music that was being played in the eye candy horse arena. This problem was exacerbated by the, you guessed it, sound of the monster truck exhibition, which was taking place across the way.

There was nothing I could do about the monster truck noise. But seeing as the arena noise wasn’t fair to Taku, I went and asked the judges to turn it down. A man wearing an orange/red suit said that this wasn’t possible. Maybe they didn’t distinguish between the announcer horsey orders and the music. I had no recourse but to walk away, of course wondering why this was just a concern of mine. No one else seemed to care.

I spoke to Sierra, Taku’s owner, and she said that a new speaker system would be installed in the near future. She also said that the 15-year-old horse could handle this.

I tried but got nowhere. And no one else seemed to care.

Next: 239. 9/7/26: The Last Day of the Alaska State Fair