Queen for a day

Chelsea Russell might be a little bit of a tomboy, but she can get dolled up for the right occasion. On Friday Russell, a student at Colfax-Mingo High School, and her horse Gopher, were dressed to the nines as she headed into the Richard O. Jacobson Exhibition Building at the Iowa State Fairgrounds to compete in the cowgirl queen contest.

The contest is divided into two sections, a junior queen division for girls 16 and under, and a senior division for girls 17 and over. Contestants, who have to qualify by competing, and winning in a lower round, come from all across the state to vie for what Russell described as “the homecoming queen of horses.” The glittering tiara that sits atop Russell’s black cowboy hat reminds everyone how she got here, by winning the Jasper County Equine Experience Junior Queen at the Jasper County Fair.

Each girl is judged on her horsemanship first, and then after a final cut has taken place each contestant will have to answer questions ranging from state issues, to matters of horsemanship.

The contest is one of the highlights of the Iowa State Fair, and on Friday night every seat in the building was filled with friends, family and onlookers. With girls from across the state competing for a chance to be crowned cowgirl queen the stakes were high, but Russell said she wasn’t feeling the heat.

“Everyone gets along here, there’s a lot of girls like me that do this just for fun,” Russell said, as she applied another coat of gloss black paint to Gopher’s hooves. This is only the second year that Russell and Gopher have competed together in the contest, and she said they’re both still getting used to each other.

Showing horses, and competing in the events at the fair every year, means Russell hasn’t had a “typical” fair. In between bathing Gopher, and making sure he’s had plenty of water, food and exercise she hasn’t had a chance to head out for a corndog or stopped to check out the butter cow. There’s chores to do every morning at home first, and then she’s got to take care of her horse.

“When you show, you kind of get your fill of the fair, we don’t venture out of the barn for too long,” Russell said.

It’s a lot of work to get ready for the event, but Russell and her parents have become part of the community in the horse barns Russell’s mother Billie Joe, said the other families that show alongside Chelsea have become part of their family.

“We’ve got our family, and we’ve got our horse family, too,” Billie Joe Russell said.

With so many girls competing the contest is divided into sections, called “go’s” where groups of 15-20 riders will each take the ring. Inside, each girl will display their horsemanship skills, running their horses through a cycle of walk, trot and lope, all under the watchful eye of the judges. Once they’ve seen enough, the judges will line up each horse and rider, and then the selection begins. Only five girls from each group will get a chance to move and compete in the final.

She says she always tells herself that she won’t get nervous, but once she’s in the saddle, looking out from under the black hat with its glittering tiara, Russell feels that old familiar feeling kick in.

“More or less I’m just hoping that I’ll do better than I did last year,” Russell said.

Those 10 minutes will represent the culmination of a week’s worth of work, from loading in at the fair on Tuesday morning, to the finale Friday under the lights.

“It’s a lot of work for a 10 minute ride, but it’s worth it,” Billie Joe Russell said.

Contact David Dolmage at 641-792-3121 ext. 6532 or ddolmage@newtondailynews.com