Alex Gavin has found working with horses to be rewarding.
Last summer he competed at the Interior Provincial Exhibition and Stampede in Armstrong, bringing home first prize for the amateur four-horse hitch.
The neat thing is, he only got into horses about two-and-a-half years ago when his mom, Bonnie Gavin, met her husband, Lindsay Blackburn of Blackburn Belgians.
"I love them," Alex said of the six Belgians he half owns with his stepfather. "They are such gentle giants."
Aside from the four-horse hitch, he competed in other events such as the team riding, heavy horse pull and cart class.
"In the heavy horse pull the horse pulls a boat filled with salt blocks and drags it through the sand to see how much weight the horses can pull," he explained.
When he was not competing at the IPE, Alex enjoyed helping junior drivers with their harnesses and other aspects of the events.
Alex attended 150 Mile Elementary School and graduated from Williams Lake Secondary School in 2011.
He works at Peterson Contracting in Williams Lake and said he misses the horses when he is back home because they are in Salmon Arm at his mom's.
When asked what he likes to do aside from working with horses, he said riding his quad, camping and being in the outdoors.
This year was the 123rd IPE and it ran from Aug. 28 to Sept. 1.
