The daylight session was held to make up classes that were rained out Wednesday night, and it was not your typical day at the horse show.
The crowd was small, though that was to be expected, with the audience of 150 or so spectators made up primarily of horsemen.
No admission was charged, but most of those who might have attended Wednesday night - or Thursday night during the regularly scheduled session - were at work when the rescheduled show began at 11 a.m.
"We're pleased with the turnout," show manager Brad Noel said.
The fairgrounds were quiet, with no other fair activities going on at the time. Whether announcer Dave Collier was talking to those in the stands or those in the barns on the dual public-address system, he could easily be heard in both areas.
The silence seemed amplified because the organ music that usually accompanies the show was missing, as longtime organist Gene Wright had a prior commitment that kept him away from the first half of Thursday's day-night doubleheader.
"It's pretty quiet," Langdon said. "You could hear all the people talking to each other on the rail."
The Muffin Man stands steady
Langdon said she still felt at ease because she knew her horse did, too.
"My horse has shown here three times, and he always does really good in this ring, so I was hoping he'd be good again," she said.
The 10 other horses in the ring didn't rattle The Muffin Man, which Langdon said won a 25-horse class just a couple of years ago.
Langdon said she has owned the horse, which also won a three-gaited show pleasure class earlier this month at Lexington, for about five years.
"Hopefully he's been peaking out a little more in the last year or so," she said. "I'm happy with him."
The Muffin Man is one of a handful of horses brought to Harrodsburg by Whitestown, Ind.-based trainer Mike McIntosh, and his first winner among three entries over the first two sessions. McIntosh and Langdon plan to show him again in the three-gaited pleasure championship Saturday night.
Almost all of the owners and trainers who had entered Wednesday night classes before the rainout showed their horses Thursday. Noel said there were 70 entries, with 60 to 65 horses showing.
"Most of the horses were entered yesterday, and we've had very minimal scratches," he said.
It had been four years since an entire session was rained out, and those classes were made up by adding them to the show's remaining nights.
Noel said he decided on the makeup session after calling the show off at about 3 p.m., but only after he made sure he could do it.
"Most of our workers are volunteers, and one of the first things we had to do was make sure we could get enough people here to put on a horse show," he said.
He said Thursday's session under the sun has given him the idea of scheduling a matinee for next year.
"It's something I want to consider, possibly putting in a day show on Friday," he said.
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Tonight's session will feature another new wrinkle, as a ceremony will be held to retire eight-time world's champion roadster Power Ranger.
Such ceremonies usually take place at the World's Championship Horse Show in Louisville, but owners Raymond and Lillian Shively chose the Harrodsburg show for the retirement party of a horse with strong roots in Mercer County.
The former trotter was bought in 1997 by the late Edwin Freeman and won the first of eight world's championships under Freeman's grandson, Milward Dedman before being purchased by the Shivelys in 1998.
The retirement ceremony will be held between classes 60 and 61, about one-third of the way through the program.
