By LINDA McGURK
Indiana Correspondent

BOSWELL, Ind. — As preparations for the sheep show at the Benton County 4-H Fair entered the final stages, one contestant was particularly eager to get started.

Kyle Albertson, 10, of Fowler, Ind., had watched his friends showing sheep at the fair for several years and wanted nothing more than to participate himself. There was only one problem: Kyle has a form of muscular dystrophy, a genetic disorder that causes muscle weakness, and he is confined to a wheelchair.

“We really didn’t know what to do,” said Kyle’s father, Curt.
But a friend of the family came up with the idea of constructing a device that enables Kyle to show his sheep, Speckles, with little assistance.

“We pretty much try to do anything possible to get him to participate as much as possible,” said Tracy, Kyle’s mother. “We could’ve had somebody show it for him, but that wouldn’t have been the same.”

The device is made of the same type of bracket that sheep handlers use to hold the animal in place when shearing it, and attaches with a couple of steel bars to the side of Kyle’s wheelchair. Curt brought Speckles out of his pen and chained him to the device, while Kyle demonstrated how the sheep willingly follows him around on his right-hand side.

The Albertson family bought Speckles, a Southdown sheep, from John Cox of Oxford, Ind., in the spring. Cox, who has a total of four breeding ewes, was pleased to see Kyle buzz in and out of the sheep barn, notably excited about the upcoming show. “It’s really impressive,” he said of Kyle’s feat.

Kyle keeps Speckles at a friend’s barn 10 miles from their home in Fowler, so feeding and working with him requires a lot of travel. “I feed and water him, and give him baths. It’s fun to take care of him,” said Kyle about his animal.

“And, he supervises the shearing,” Tracy added.

Kyle said he can get around well with his wheelchair in the barn and he has trained Speckles for shows from the get-go.

“While we were waiting for the bracket to be made, Kyle went into the stall so that Speckles would get used to him,” explained Tracy.
The show was a first for both Speckles and his handler, but Kyle said he plans to continue his hobby. While waiting for the show to start, it seemed he already had his eyes on the prize.

“I want to be Grand Champion,” Kyle said, with a coy grin.