Photo by Sabrina Pankratz The AMES Construction Inc-AMES Percheron Farm Inc’s six-horse hitch of dapple-grey Percheron geldings from Jordan drove around the arena.

SLAYTON — Tyler Wiseman yelled out a “whoop” to the crowd when it was announced on the loudspeaker Sunday he won the Farm Teamster award during last weekend’s Murray County Classic. He participated in the Farm Team, Feed Team, and Obstacle Course on Sunday.

“It feels amazing, this is my first time up here and really the first time I’ve driven these guys in quite some time,” Wiseman said.

Afterward, Wiseman shared how he started in driving horses with a wagon.

“Their owners’ grandson stole my horse on a wagon train and I jumped on a four cart with him and these guys (the horses) and started drinking whiskey and that was it,” Wiseman said.

The Murray County Classic brought showcasers from across the Midwest including those from Minnesota, Iowa and Oklahoma.

Events on Sunday included the Men’s and Ladies’ Cart, Farm Team, Unicorn Team, Four-Horse Hitch, Feed Team Race, Classic Series Six Horse Hitch, and Obstacle Course. This year Classic Series Six Horse Hitch first winner being the AMES Construction Inc — AMES Percheron Farm Inc who showed a six-horse hitch of dapple-grey Percheron geldings from Jordan.

Aanya Fuller, a young driver from Clark, South Dakota, participated in the Farm Team event for her family, said that this will be her third year driving in the Farm Team and her family participated in the Farm Team, the Feed Team race, and Obstacle Course.

“I’ve been driving since I was little,” said Fuller, “I just like being around the horses and I want to carry on the tradition of driving.”

Fuller said that her favorite was the old-time farming demonstrations held on Saturday.

“You get to show people the old equipment, and the people know that the horses aren’t being left behind because of tractors, that they are still being used,” said Fuller.

Many Slayton locals attended, such as Theresa Nysetvold, whose backyard borders the fairgrounds. Nysetvold said this will be her second year attending the show.

“I see these beautiful horses and it’s really fun to watch them compete. I think it’s fun to watch the bigger teams — they are so impressive, “ said Nysetvold.

Others came from the surrounding areas such as Abbie Menze who is originally from the Duluth area but moved to Marshall in the past year.

“I used to go to horse shows before I moved to the Marshall area and it was a chance to remind me of home,” said Menze.