BY KELLY HANNON

Noah Whitehead, 3, was ready to ride.

Noah's mom, Rachel Whitehead, drove him two hours to the State Fair of Virginia from Farmville yesterday for his rodeo debut.

Noah looked the part, wearing a miniature silver belt buckle and cowboy boots. "They've got horses!" Noah said, proudly showing passers-by his boots.

After watching a scene in the movie "8 Seconds" where a cowboy rides a sheep as a little boy, Noah talked about nothing else. "He's been obsessed ever since then," Whitehead said.

To fulfill her son's dream, Whitehead entered Noah in the afternoon Mutton Bustin' competition at the fair at The Meadow Event Park southern Caroline County, along with 22 other children.

Mutton Bustin' is the safer, gentler youth version of bull riding.

Instead of bulls, children weighing less than 60 pounds don helmets and safety vests and try to hang onto very fluffy, very fast sheep as they run inside a muddy ring.

Noah was confident he could hold on tight.

"If he runs faster, I'll get him," Noah said. "I'll chase him."

Mutton Bustin' originated in the 1960s as a fun way to involve youths at rodeos, said Melinda McDonald of Goochland, co-operator of Mutton Bustin' at the State Fair. McDonald has run the youth event at the past two state fairs with her husband, Greg McDonald, through their company Carney Man Productions. The family organizes Mutton Bustin' competitions throughout Virginia. "It gives the children their first step to bull riding events," she said.

Hanging onto a sheep is not as easy as it looks.

One by one, future rodeo stars took turns riding sheep into Ring 1 at the fair's Equine Area.

Within a few seconds of being released into the ring, the sheep bucked their passengers into the mud, usually to the delight of the riders.

Last year's State Fair champion mutton buster, Lily Rowe, 7, of Mechanicsville, repeated her win yesterday afternoon by clinging to her sheep for 5.86 seconds.

"Beautiful work," called Greg McDonald over the loudspeaker.

Lily went in with a strategy. "You're supposed to squeeze your legs and grab a handful of hair," she said. "It's really fun."