Team a cute 5-year-old boy with a pretty pony and you've got a winning combination. J. V. Bruno, of Ellsworth, hugged a miniature Shetland pony named Shade and proudly pointed to the purple "grand champion" ribbon he and Shade won at the Washington County Fair.

"It was his very first show," said his mother, Katrina Bruno. "It was a halter class," which means Shade wore a halter with a lead line, rather than a saddle. J.V. walked beside, rather than riding the pony.

Many children and adults who love horses and ponies will never actually get to own one. Going to a county fair can be the next best thing. For me the best part is visiting the barns where the horses and ponies stay during the fair.

Watching the equines compete in the ring is one thing. Visiting them in the barns is better. You can see horses and ponies up close, you can pet them and can talk to the owners.

I spent an afternoon at the Washington County Fair in Chartiers this month. There were also cows and hogs and rabbits and chickens, but for me the horses and ponies are the big draw.

Shade doesn't actually belong to the Bruno family. J. V.'s parents raise pigs and beef cattle, Mrs. Bruno explained. Shade's owner, Sharon Cooper, of Burgettstown, is a horse lover who shares her ponies with children who love them.

Shade can carry only riders who weigh less than 90 pounds, so why does Mrs. Cooper own the very small pony?

"I got him four years ago. He was free to a good home," she said. Shade was 14 years old and his owners were unwilling or unable to care for him, so Mrs. Cooper and her husband, John, took him in.

"He's so nice and so pretty," Mrs. Cooper said. Shade is what horse people call a "bay" which is dark brown with a black mane and tail. With a personality that is much like a much-loved dog, Shade is gentle with children and adults and likes to be petted and pampered. "He comes to the fair once a year and then he loafs the rest of the year."

Back home at the Cooper farm there is another pony and a quarter horse mare and foal. Mrs. Cooper rides a standardbred mare named Laura.

A couple of years ago Mrs. Cooper saw Laura at an auction. The mare, who had competed at harness racing tracks, was about 20 years old and was no longer needed for racing or breeding.

"She probably would have ended up going to slaughter," Mrs. Cooper said. So she bought her.

"I grew up around farms. My uncle had a dairy farm and I've always been around horses," Mrs. Cooper said. "I'd hate to live without horses. I just love them and of course I talk to them. I also have three pugs, a house cat, two birds and a husband," she said, almost as an afterthought.

The county fair season is pretty much over this year, but consider visiting a fair next year. Allegheny County is surrounded by counties that still put on fairs that give urban and suburban residents a taste of farm living.

Eighty dogs were shot and killed at two Berks County commercial breeding kennels on July 29. They were shot by their owners, Ammon Zimmerman and Elmer Zimmerman, of Kutztown, after state dog wardens inspected A & J Kennel and E & Z Kennel and issued four citations for kennel sanitation and maintenance violations.

The Zimmermans cannot be charged for killing the dogs, because under current state laws what they did is completely legal, according to a news release from Dennis Wolff, Pennsylvania secretary of agriculture.

When Pennsylvania dog wardens inspected the kennels on July 24, they also saw fleas and fly sores on 39 dogs and ordered the owners to get veterinary care.

Instead of paying for a veterinarian, the Zimmermans killed the dogs and informed state officials that they had voluntarily closed the kennels and surrendered their state kennel operating licenses, Mr. Wolff's news release said.

Proposed House Bill 2525, which seeks to improve conditions for dogs in commercial breeding kennels, would outlaw such shootings, he said. The bill, which has the support of the state Agriculture Department and the governor, would mandate that only a veterinarian could euthanize dogs in commercial breeding kennels. The proposal could come up for a vote in the fall when legislators return to Harrisburg.