ALTAMONT — On Monday afternoon, girls in the Pony Pals 4-H drill team were tacking up their horses, patting their necks, braiding their tails, and talking to them in soothing tones.

They were at the Altamont fairgrounds to rehearse for their Friday evening performance. Then, each of the 10 girls will look as if she is one with her horse. They will ride in perfect synchrony, American flags swirling as they gallop around the horse ring in a kaleidoscope of changing formations.

Elizabeth Lendrum, 14, says she’s been riding “a long time — five years”; that’s more than a third of her life.

“I live on a farm with a bunch of cows,” she said. “At the fair, that was the first I saw horses.”

She was 7 or 8 but her mind was made up. Now, as a member of the Pony Pals 4-H, she rides one of Sue Mason’s ponies.

“It’s like a family to us,” said Elizabeth. “We all share ponies.”

Kelley Doolin, 19, lives on her family’s farm in Berne. She is about to start her second year at the State University of New York College of Agriculture and Technology in Cobleskill. She’s majoring in agricultural business management and animal industry.

This week at the fair, in addition to performing with the drill team, Kelley will be showing chickens and goats she has raised. She is wearing a red T-shirt that says, “Keep Calm and Love Goats.”

Her family moved from Guilderland to Berne in 2012 and got chickens soon after. “We got goats in 2013,” says Kelley.

She says of being on the drill team, “It takes a lot of patience and perseverance.”

Alyx Trulsen is holding the bridle of the horse Kelley will ride, Batteries Not Required. “She’s really fast,” says Alyx, explaining the horse’s name.

Alyx, 17, is from Delmar and says, “In my main 4-H club, I do cows.”

She says of the 4-H program, “You have to care for your horse. Safety and fun are the two most important things.”

“We only do the drill team at the fair,” says Kelley. “We practice once a week as soon as school gets out….This year, we’re doing new patterns. We had to start from scratch. Sue makes them up.”

Kelley is referring to the leader of the Pony Pals, Sue Mason. She’s been leading the drill team for a decade — Mason counts out the years by recalling her daughter was 8 at the time.

“It all started because I challenged a 4-H club to enter a drill team in the fair,” she recalls with a smile.

And, although the other leader did not rise to the challenge — “She was smart,” quips Mason — Mason did, and is still at it.

“When they asked us to perform for the fair, that was a big deal,” she says.

Mason comes up with ideas for the patterns by looking at other drill teams on YouTube. The drills teach the girls more than horsemanship, says Mason.

“They help each other. They take one for the team,” she says.  “We are a team and need to help each other to succeed.”

Like the girls she coaches, Mason has loved horses since her youth. “I grew up on a farm. At 8, I could put the saddle on. My father was a farmer; he was too busy,” she says.

But George VanEtten heard his daughter’s pleas. “I wanted a horse. I wanted a horse. I wanted a horse. He bought me a donkey.”

Then, gradually, he’d start getting rescued ponies for free, Mason said. “I’d bring them back,” she said of restoring the ponies’ health. But a clear fact of life, she said, was this: “There are no pets on a farm.”

So she started a Ponies for Hire business where she brings her ponies to festivals and birthday parties, often delighting children who have never ridden horseback.

“It’s contagious,” said Mason of a love for horses. “The child wants to ride so the parents take the child to lessons and then end up buying their own horse.”

For more than a century, horses have not been part of daily life — pulling plows or drawing carriages — but the attraction remains.

“It is how you feel being able to control such a big animal and teach it things,” says Mason, explaining the attraction.

She adds, “They’re very smart.”

Alyx chimes in, “One year, you get bucked off three times. The next year, you’re grand champion. It shows progress. You just have to get back on and keep going. That’s what horses teach you.”

Alyx also says of Fair Week, “This is the best week of the entire year. I have a countdown on my phone for it. It brings everyone together. You get to see horses you’ve only seen on social media.

“And,” she went on, “you try new things. Last year, I showed a cow for the first time. We won our novice showmanship class. She concluded, “It’s tiring showing horses but it’s worth it.”

“Everyone watches out for one another,” says Kelley.

Alyx holds Trix R 4 Kids, so Maggie Doolin, Kelley’s sister, can mount the horse.

As Maggie and Trix enter the ring with the other girls astride their horses to practice, Alyx calls out, “You’re doing great, everybody. Smile!”

And they do.