I walked into the show ring, so excited, with a look of thrill on my face. Lights shining down on me from all angles. As a 3rd grader, it was my first show and I thought winning was the result of every show. Being a very competitive person, I was so excited and prepared to win, though I hadn’t been prepared for another outcome. I had been mentored by a great family that had a lot of experience with winning, which put me in a mindset in which winning was the only option. My pig got let out of her pen and started trotting around the ring, so happy to be free from the confinement. As soon as we got out there, it became apparent that the same people won every class. I felt confident, but in my head, I was wondering how that could ever be me. I began to doubt the self-confidence I had stepping into the ring. 

I was placed in second to last place pretty early on. I felt very defeated and all the confidence I had entering the ring vanished. I had looked forward to showing and being let out of my pen for the first time for so long and I had hoped that it would go well. From that moment on, I felt defeated and was stuck in a mindset that winning wasn’t for me and that I would never be one of the winners that I looked up to so much. I began to think negatively about things and complain more that I should have. I thought that I would forever be a loser. 

A few years after that first show I began to notice things around me that made me question what was happening at all of the shows I attended and in the community that I considered myself a part of. I started noticing people sneaking around and doing things that I had never noticed before. When I mentioned those things to friends and family they just laughed and said that I was just seeing things and that nothing was happening. 

Parents and other people were dumping feed to pigs, that didn’t look like the kids that should be doing all the work for their animals. Drenching was occurring, which forced animals to drink large amounts of water and slop mixtures. In our state, there is a rule that only the person showing the animal can touch that animal at the show, and in many cases, this wasn’t what was happening.  I realized at that moment that some of the winners that I had looked up to for my whole life may not be that great, and might be breaking a lot of rules. I began to think that if I wanted to win, I had to cheat. The problem was that I had been told my whole life that cheating was wrong. I decided in that moment that I wasn’t going to cheat. I realized that taking the high road may cause me to never win a show, but not winning is better than being known as a cheater.

After witnessing these events, I was very hard on myself. I considered myself a part of this community that I loved.  I began to wonder though if this community could all be fake. I decided to talk with the family that had mentored me from the beginning, and they gave me lots of advice. They had experienced cheaters in their show careers and explained to me how they worked to get past them. They had also been pressured to cheat by people around them but realized that wasn’t the answer.  I realized that cheating wasn’t the answer, and knowing that others around me were cheating should just make me want to try harder to win. 

After this turning point in which I realized that hard work was the answer, I got Dottie. Dottie was the best pig that I had ever been blessed with. She was good-natured and it became apparent to me that she was a very good competitor and could be my chance at winning. I put in a lot of hard work with her and spent hours washing and walking her to make her look and feel her best. As I started showing throughout the summer and she kept winning shows I realized that it felt good to beat the cheaters that I used to look up to. 

Then, at the county fair, Dottie and I ended up in 7th place overall and I decided to accept a trip to take her to the biggest show in the state, the State Fair. I worked with her for hours each day to make sure that she was looking her best and that she would do the best she could do. I hoped that all of my hard work would finally prove that cheating wasn’t the answer. As soon as I stepped into the show ring on that hot August day, I knew that my hard work would pay off. I ended up as the Champion in her breed and had finally accomplished everything I had ever dreamed of. 

Dottie made me realize that even though cheating may seem like the right answer, it is never the way to go. Hard work is one of the hardest things to achieve but Dottie made me realize that if you put in the work, you will always get something in return. Being in the same ring as cheaters made me realize that I could go from watching the cheater to beating them with a little hard work. Looking forward from that amazing day at the state fair, I realized the right way to compete. While we can’t always win, working towards victory is the best feeling, and cheating is never the answer.