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Kayleigh Hickman prepares her horse Pearl before competing in a barrel race competition at the Auglaize County Fair on Wednesday evening.
WAPAKONETA - Many who had encountered Pearl immediately found out that the grey American quarter horse speckled with black spots and bearing a countenance similar to that of Eeyore the donkey would not bend to the will of another.
Upon being approached by anyone, Pearl would pin her ears and either turn her head or back up. Further intrusions would serve only to intensify the horse's ire, causing her to lunge and bite at the interloper.
But with a kind hand, calm demeanor and an unyielding degree of patience, Kayleigh Hickman of Freyburg earned Pearl's trust and turned the pasture horse into a grand champion at this year's Auglaize County Fair.
Hickman, a member of Fryburg Happy Farmers 4-H Club, took home the top prize in the ages 14-18 category, as well as numerous other ribbons during her second showing at the fair this week with Pearl. The two also participated in their second Ohio State Fair this summer.
The 16-year-old sophomore at Wapakoneta High School is certainly proud of the accolades racked up thus far, but said Pearl, who at 13 is still very much in her prime, has miles to go before reaching her full potential.
"I want her to earn the all-around horse card, so we've got to do like a lot of different things, and that's going to take a while," Hickman said in the fair horse barn on Wednesday evening ahead of the Junior Fair Horse Contesting Show.
Brooke Craft competes in the speed and control competition at Auglaize County Fair on Wednesday evening.
Hickman has been riding Pearl for five years and became the horse's owner three years ago.
"My mom went to 4-H with her (Pearl's) owner, and her old owner brought her back here from Texas," Hickman said, noting Pearl then was a roping horse. "She just sat in a field for two years because the owner didn't have any time for her."
Pearl quickly earned a reputation as a stubborn horse that would not be bothered.
"Everybody just got tired of trying to catch her," Hickman said. "They just gave up. They would corner her, pretty much, or put her in a small pen … so they could catch her, and they'd let her run until she would be willing to stop."
Sophia Jolly, who has known Hickman for many years and considers herself her assistant, affirmed that Pearl was indeed a difficult horse.
"I rode that horse when it first got to the barn," said Jolly, 20. "All it would do is buck and rear and run and that's all it knew, and I said, 'I don't want anything to do with this thing anymore.'"
Hickman, committed to winning over the incorrigibly peevish horse, approached Pearl softly and tenderly.
"I would just put a small handful of grain in my hands, and I would sit at about right where her feet were, and she'd have to take it through my hand before she'd have to get her food," Hickman recounted.
She would continue to embrace the horse in the same manner each day.
"You go out there for quite a few hours and just sit there and let her come around you herself and not force her, because if you force them, then they get more nervous and they get more hyped," she said.
After about eight months of this, Hickman said Pearl finally dropped all of her defenses. That's when the training began.
"She was out of control when I first started riding her, like she would rear and try and flip over, and she'd run into walls," she said. "Now I'm getting her to slide stops and to do whatever I wanted her to do - and she puts up with all my shenanigans."
The two have gotten to know each other very well in five years.
"She's very responsive and she's probably the most sensitive horse I've ever ridden," Hickman said. "When you're around her, she can sense your emotions. As soon as you sit on her back, she can feel it ten times more, your emotion."
Kayleigh Hickman, middle, and friends talk while they wait to be called at Auglaize County Fair on Wednesday evening.
Jolly said she marveled at the bond that developed between Hickman and Pearl.
"She has a special way of doing things. It's never harsh. She's very gentle and calm, doesn't get too worked up with her because that horse is hard to ride. That horse is tough," she said. "It's all about connecting and if you're not patient, you're going nowhere with that horse. It's pretty special what she's done, because I would have never guessed she's be here winning classes."
Hickman's grandparents, Ed and Debbie Hickman, have come along for the ride.
"Well, she (Pearl) had the life of leisure out there where she was," Ed Hickman said. "Once Kayleigh got a hold of her and started working with her, then she had work, so instead of being a pasture horse, she had to start doing a little bit of work and they just jelled and everything just kind of works together for them."
"They love each other," his wife added.
Kayleigh Hickman is already looking at colleges that have equine programs.
"When I was little I wanted to be a vet but now ever since I got her and started retraining her, I want to either be like an assistant trainer or something for someone big," she said.
Ben Craft and his horse race down the arena during a speed and control competition at the Auglaize County Fair on Wednesday evening.
Camron Dammeyer and his horse race down the arena at the Auglaize County Fair on Wednesday evening.
