Houston Stock Show Essay

At an early age, I began preparing for the Houston Livestock Show, being that I am 5 years younger than my brother and I followed in his footsteps. I loved being in the barn with him and my parents, I would practice driving my hog just like my brother did. He is, and has always been, my biggest critic. Over time, I participated in clinics to learn how to show my hog to the best of my ability. I also participated in honorary shows before I was old enough to actually show in the county show and major livestock shows. Through the years I have learned how to care for the best species in the Houston Livestock Show, hogs. Learning how to feed and care for my hogs was a process; I had to learn when to feed them, what to feed them, and how much; and if they
I have even hauled warm water in buckets from my house to the barn yards away, when the water in the barn had been frozen. Learning responsibility at a young age puts me on a different level than regular teenagers. In the showbiz the hogs come first, no matter how awful I feel or if I have other plans. Not every kid comes straight home from school and goes to a smelly pig barn, but it's been apart of my daily life for nine years. Through stock shows, like my alltime favorite the HLSR, I have earned how to stay dedicated to something I love. The Houston Livestock Show is the largest major show that I have been able to participate in. As our county’s FFA and 4H students arrive to the stock show we begin competing with teamwork. What I mean by this is, we all want to do the best we can showing our animal, but we also want our team members to do their best as well. As the saying goes, “it takes a village.” Well, it takes all of us to prepare for our own time in the show ring. We build our pens, divide them, and put up our show racks and the equipment that we will need to keep our hogs in the best shape we can until we show