State 4-H Horse Competition results

Sorry that this has taken so long. I have been waiting on pictures but decided that I needed to post these results with the pictures I had.

On April 16 and 17, 2010 our Lazy Stars 4-H Hippology Team traveled to Juneau, Alaska for the State 4-H Horse competition. There were three competitions: Quiz Bowl, Presentations and Horse Judging. Each member of the team had to participate in two events. Three of them participated in all three.

The team has been together for three years now. Some of them are competitive by nature and most of them are not. However, they all want to go to a national competition and are willing to work learning all the stuff you have to know. One of the books they learn from is a three inch thick Horse Industry Handbook.

Horse judging was on Friday. There were four quality (or halter) classes and two performance classes. The kids had to place each class and give reasons on one quality and one performance class.

Presentations and Quiz Bowl were on Saturday. There were five teams in the double elimination quiz bowl. Our captain pulled a bye for the first round. The Lazy Stars did great.

Team Judging:

3rd Place - Lazy Stars Team #2 (Paige Martin, Annelyssa Massie, Briar Thurmond)

4th Place - Lazy Stars Team #1 (Jacob Kern, Jenna Kern, Allison Wandell)

Individual Judging:

Overall Horse Judging Champion - Paige Martin

High Performance Class Judging - Allison Wandell

Intermediate Level:

1^st Place - Paige Martin

3rd Place - Annelyssa Massie

4th Place - Allison Wandell

Illustrated Talk/Demonstrations:

Team: Juniors:

1^st place - Jenna Kern & Allison Wandell

Individual:Juniors:

1^st Place - Paige Martin

Seniors:

1^st place- Briar Thurmond

Horse Bowl:

Team Awards:

2nd Place - Lazy Stars (Paige Martin, Allison Wandell, Jacob Kern, Jenna Kern, Annelyssa Massie)

Individual Awards:

2nd Place - Paige Martin

As with any group activity (especially one with teen girls) there has been some drama that may break this team up. They have been under a lot of pressure from each other since October of last year when we first started studying for this competition. I'm burned out too from weekly and twice a week study sessions when some of the kids don't want to study but to socialize. I not sure if I want to spend the time, effort and energy to take them to Nationals if they are not going to be competitive. The plan is now to take the summer off and just ride. We'll meet in October for a decision on next year.

Wordless Wednesday - early!

ARRRRGH...........

I feel like Charlie Brown - everything is conspiring against me!!!

Between computer crashes and extremely slow internet, I have been unable to post about last Friday's ride and I even had a picture. Now that I have a decent internet connection I have no time!

We (the Lazy Stars 4-H Hippology Team) leave Thursday morning for state competition in Juneau. I guess that the kids are ready. I have been holding weekly study sessions since October. I have two kids who are not interested in competition. They just want to hang out with their friends. I have three kids who are interested and knowledgeable and one who is the driving force behind wanting to have a competitive team. I think she's going to be disappointed. Last year one of my teams came in fourth out of fourteen. She was the captain of that team and upset that they didn't try harder and finish better.

If I can find internet in Juneau I'll post results Friday night for horse judging and Saturday for quiz bowl and presentations.

Our ride on Friday was great. Voosh almost dumped me when she spooked at the sun shining on the snow. Thank goodness my saddle has 16" swells and I can brace my knees against them like a seat belt.

Lyssa rode Dusty again and both of them did really well. They have made a lot of progress in a short time. We'll see how it goes next week.

When we got back to the barn, Lyssa untacked Dusty and put her in the paddock. Dusty's paddock is 10 feet wide and about 40 feet long. There's a freezer for grain storage beside it. Dusty laid down and rolled in a space 10' x 12'. She got cast. The good thing is....she didn't panic. Lyssa was outside the pen and caught Dusty's front feet. Her hindquarters and rear feet were against the freezer just past vertical. She was stuck. I grabbed a leadrope and got in the pen. I looped her bottom rear foot and pulled hard. Lyssa guided her front feet and Dusty rolled right back over. She stomped my feet pretty good when she scrambled up but not on purpose. So that is another plus on her score sheet.

This morning (Wednesday) we woke up to 4" of snow. It has snowed all day and we now have about 6" of the nasty fluffy white stuff. Yuck!! Can't plow it because the ground is thawed. At least the temps are in the 40*s during the day so it should be gone soon.

If all of that isn't enough............two ewes haven't lambed yet. All indications are that they will probably lamb while I am gone. Usually I have at least two backups. Of course, with the way things are going, my vet is out of state, my first back up is in Juneau with me, my second back up is in Florida at a conference and my third back up is at the hospital with her husband doing chemo. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they lamb tonight or wait until I get back.

So goes life in Alaska. I guess it could be worse. I could be living somewhere where there are too many people!!

Another Friday, Another Ride

I picked Lyssa up from school and we went trail riding again today. The temps were in the 40s and the sky was mostly cloudy. The snow on the trails was more rotten this week than last and Voosh had trouble walking in it. She would put her hoof on the snow and as she stepped forward, the snow would give way and she would fall about six inches or so. It wasn't enough to be dangerous, just enough to be really annoying. She got frustrated several times but never got ugly about it.

Lyssa rode the Mare for the first part of the loop. It takes about and hour to an hour and a half to complete the loop.

Just like last week, our plan was to ride the loop with the Mare and Vooshka then go back and get Dusty for the second part of the ride. This time though I was going to ride the Mare and pony Dusty while Lyssa rode her. I love the Mare! She is so solid and nothing bothers her. Dusty was rubbing her head on Mare's hindquarters and all Mare did was pin her ears and glare at Dusty.

Dusty never did relax on this ride. She didn't do anything wrong exactly but you could tell that she just wasn't comfortable with something. I did notice that she's in squat, pee and wink heat. She's been on Breeder Pak since she's been living with me.

With this ride today, I'm hoping that she will settle down and relax on the trail. Only time will tell.