Animals an irresistible attraction at the Fair

At the San Diego County Fair, you can meet Hercules, a horse so huge that he looks super-sized. Billed as “The Giant Horse,” the 13-year-old Brabant (aka Belgian draft horse) stands six-feet-six inches at the shoulder, weighs approximately 3,000 pounds and eats an entire bale of hay a day plus 10 pounds of grain.

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“The average weight for his breed is about 2,000 pounds. He’s just a lot bigger,” owner Christian Worley said of the gentle equine giant who shares a 15-acre Florida ranch with critters including the mega-steer White Mountain, another Fair attraction. “If Hercules steps on your foot, it hurts.”

Hercules and White Mountain are just two of the hundreds of animals at the Fair, which continues through July 5 at the Del Mar Fairgrounds. There are everything from dog shows and horse shows to Pet Booths, the Junior Livestock Auction and the Barnyard Babies Petting Farm.

Among the oddest creatures I saw were the Jacobin pigeons, birds with such elaborate feathers that they look as if they were custom-designed by Elton John, and English Trumpeter pigeons, whose feet are like feathered snowshoes.

Among the cutest critters are the ones in the Petting Farm. It was fun to feed the lambs. They ate daintily, despite some slobber.

And the llamas, named Storm and Cassie, were on their best behavior in a separate pen.

“They don’t spit at people unless you give them a very good reason,” said Hector Mejia, a llama owner and trainer from Lancaster.

Charming in his own way was Lightning, a captive-raised, California desert tortoise who’s about 40 years old. He served as goodwill ambassador for the San Diego Turtle & Tortoise Society, which adopts out about 100 of the animals each year.

“He’s the most personable tortoise,” said society president Ginny Stigen. “He’s a real people tortoise.”

As she held him, you could almost imagine him smiling.

Valerie Scher is the SDNN Arts & Entertainment editor. You can reach her at valerie.scher(at) sdnn.com

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