McGowan Sisters Show Skills With Horses

County Fair Success

Displaying their love for horses at a young age, sisters Maia and Kora McGowan enjoyed success at the recent Roosevelt County Fair held in Culbertson.

The daughters of Matt and Karli McGowan earned the top two spots in horse showmanship for beginners and for the western pleasure beginner class. In addition, Maia was her class champion in barrels. They are students at Vida School and live abut seven miles from Wolf Point.

This marked the second year that Maia has competed in the fair’s horse show while Kora was a newcomer this year. Maia, 10, enjoyed the experience with her horse Scarlet. “It’s just fun to show my horse and learn different things.” Kora, 8, rode her horses Ruby and Drifter during the fair.

They are following their mother’s footsteps with their love for horses and other animals. Karli started competing in 4-H events at the age of 10 and earned several showmanship titles throughout her younger years.

Maia’s goal heading into the fair was just to do her best. “And smile at the judge, and then I forgot to do it.”

Kora is the more competitive of the sisters, and her goal was “to win.”

Maia and Kora can also be seen competing at barrel races most weekends during the summer. They each do well in different divisions, although they disagree which one is faster.

“Maia is usually faster,” Karli explained. “It will be a lot more cut throat shortly.”

Maia and Kora also enjoyed success with their pigs at the county fair. Maia’s 407-pound pig and Kora’s 440-pound pig each won red ribbons. They each earned blue ribbons for showmanship.

They credit their mother for their fair honors in the swine division.

“It’s hard to teach someone to show a pig,” Karli explained. “They’ve learned a lot this summer how to deal with pigs.”

The girls agree, however, that they rather spend time with their horses than their pigs.

Other fair highlights included Kora earning titles with her devoted cat. Karli noted, “The cat hasn’t left her side for five years.”

Maia took home a blue ribbon with her 6-month-old dog. “My puppy was a little distractive, but I got a blue ribbon,” she said.

It appears that the sisters will become even more active at the fair in future years. Maia wants to enter a bottled-fed calf next year and she can’t wait until she can raise a steer in two years. Kora is thinking about entering a sheep or goat for next year’s fair.