CASSOPOLIS — When Brody Lace and his horse, Tater, were announced as the grand champion halter in the youth horse and pony show, his friends and family surrounded him and his horse as they joked that the winning trophy was bigger than he was.

Lace, who is 10 years old and from Niles, showed off his quarter horse at the Cass County Fair event early on Tuesday morning to a crowd of 50 spectators, who sat in the stands to cheer on their sons, daughters and friends, who competed with many different styles of horses.

“It feels good,” Lace said as he smiled a wide grin and grasped the trophy tightly in his arms. “I am showing every class I can go in.”

This is Lace’s second year competing at the Cass County Fair with the 4-H club Sleepy Hallow. Lace, who attends Eastside Connections School in Niles, has shown in a multitude of other categories, but this was his first time competing in the halter category with Tater.

“His name used to be Tatum, but he is kind of like a dog,” Lace said. “The name just didn’t fit him right, because he didn’t have that kind of personality, like a serious one.”

Eventually, the Lace family decided to name their horse Tater and now Brody gives his competition companion nicknames, like Tater tot.

Brody’s mom, Chris, got Tater when he was a yearling and now Tater stands tall as an 8-year-old.

“We started having [Brody] ride on an old horse,” Chris said. “Once he learned how to ride, we gave him this horse and it’s kind of been a process ever since of them becoming a team. This year they’ve really put it together and he did really well yesterday, too.”

During the horse and pony category at the Light Horse Show Ring, Dan Grunewald, the judge for the event, watched as each youth handler walked their horse from one cone to another and then trotted them away to stand in rows. From there, Grunewald continued looking at horses to assess how they were built, event organizers said.

“I’m just kind of looking at overall balance of the horse,” Grunewald said during the judging of the senior halter mares 1362 class. “We have different styles of horse. That’s tough for me to judge sometimes, but I believe correctness is correctness, no matter what breed of horse it is.”

Before announcing the Grand Champion Halter, first and second place winners in each class were welcomed back on the concourse for a final round of judging by Grunewald, who gave the 4-H youth competitors a piece of advice.

“I always tell my clients and my youth kids, you can have the best horse in the class, but if you don’t present it well, it’s tough for a judge to judge,” Grunewald said. After his speech, he complimented everyone for showing their horses to the best of their ability.

Although Brody said he was nervous for the grand halter show because of the class he was in, he prepared his horse prior to the event by jogging Tater around to warm him up and get his legs loose.

A challenge Brody had during the competition was not being able to get Tater’s head and ears to stay up, he said. 

Overall, Brody said his relationship with Tater is a very important one.

“If your horse doesn’t like you, he won’t cooperate with you,” Brody said.

At this year’s grand champion halter, two boys walked away with the highest titles. Chris said the youth horse and pony shows are usually dominated by girls at the 4-H level.

“When the boys win, that’s good,” Chris said. “Boy power!”

David Doyle, from Cassopolis, was named the reserve champion halter with his horse, Goldie.

Doyle, a student at Michigan State University, usually competes in speed events hosted on Friday, he said, but decided to compete in the halter show as he was already at the fair.

“It’s all about the breeding ability of your horse, and it’s a county fair, so it’s a lot harder,” Doyle said of the event. “I’m really just getting out [here] and seeing where I stand with everybody else.”