A purple-ribbon gray horse

Connie Jo Discoe/McCook Daily Gazette

Judge Randy Butterfield of Ericson, Nebraska, foreground, deems "Babe" a purple-ribbon-quality mare. Tom Percival of Oxford showed 5-year-old Babe Tuesday morning in her first-ever horse show, at the 2013 Furnas County Fair 4-H horse show in Beaver City. Tom is training Babe to be a team roping "heeling horse." "She's tracking a dummy really well," said a smilin' Tom, who has just introduced her to roping live cattle. Tom will be a senior this fall at Southern Valley High School, and will end an eight-to-nine-year career in 4-H after graduation. "I'll continue to rope on Babe after high school," he said, "and turn her into working horse." The fair schedule includes many other 4-H and kids' activities through Saturday. Family fun includes the ranch rodeo at 7 p.m., today; rodeo at 8 p.m., Thursday and Friday; free-will donation barbecue from 6 p.m. until 7 p.m., Friday; and a demolition derby at 7:30 p.m., Saturday. The county-owned carnival runs each evening through Saturday, from 7 p.m. until midnight.