CONNOQUENESSING TWP — Seymor is always ready to perform whether it’s before, during or after an equine event.

The 2-year-old miniature mule was trying to nibble everything in sight Wednesday while biding her time at the Butler Farm Show.

Seymor’s handler, Mariah Helch, 16, of Chicora said the mule likes to do her own thing while not trotting out in front of the judges.

“She’s bad outside,” Mariah said. “As soon as she gets in the ring, she’s good.”

Seymor may have been amped up before the best of breeds and showmanship events because of what she used for fuel.

“She actually just drank a whole bottle of Gatorade off me,” Mariah said.

Mariah stressed the bottle was the small size.

Along with power drinks, Seymor does have a sweet tooth.

“She likes mints,” Mariah said.

Last year, Seymor won a competition at the state level.

“She made it all the way to Harrisburg,” Mariah said.

She said despite Seymor being a female mule, she was christened with a boy’s name.

“It was funny I guess,” Mariah said.

Her sister Macie, 13, accompanied Mistletoe, a 6-year-old miniature horse strutting her stuff.

Macie said Mistletoe was holding her own so far this week.

“She did all right,” Macie said.

The third member of the Helch brood, Madison, 13, handled M80, an 8-year-old paint horse.

M80 previously maneuvered barrels and did jumping.

“He did really good,” Madison said.

She said M80 doesn’t require much prompting when it’s show time.

“I don’t really have to say a whole lot,” Madison said. “He’s very active.”

The Helch sisters agreed tending animals while working on a farm never gets old.

“Not at all,” Mariah said.

Kaleb Schubert, 14, of Summit Township guided Patsy, an 8-year-old horse through her third year of showmanship.

Patsy is named after country western singer Patsy Cline.

Patsy’s sweet tooth craves herbal cough drops.

Like the Helch girls, Kaleb is undaunted by farm work, which includes taking care of horses, chickens and a duck at the Schubert farm.

Jim Lokhaiser, farm show board member, said this morning that the number of visitors was up at the farm show despite the unfulfilled threat of rain in the morning. “We had a great day yesterday,” Lokhaiser said. “The crowd was really up last night.”

He said about 2,700 people attended the 4-Wheel Drive Pulling Contest in the main arena.

Tonight’s activities include the Figure 8 Races, performances by the bluegrass band Allegheny Drifters and the 4-H-FFA Livestock Sale.