4-H??

[wild_mini_horses]

Does anybody do 4-H? I do and i love it. I do horse 4-H, Livestock 4-H, and regular 4-H.

 

[Laura]

My daughter Mia is 7 and just joined this last fall

 

[Genie]

We have a 4H club at our farm.

We are the leaders and our first year was last year.

The kids love it too and because we are just starting, if anyone has some ideas that will be interesting and educational for our group, it would be nice to hear them.

 

[Joanne]

I did a miniature horse 4 H class for many years until we just got too busy with our own foaling season. I do miss it, but the local clubs typically do a one day special class every year here.

We split up the group into two groups, The younger under 9 years old and an older group. We had so many kids wanting to do it it just made sense that way. If you have a lot of kids make sure you have several parents that will help you. The kids love grooming and braiding the mane and tails and it was great for the horses as well.

We did our classes in the spring when the weather was better and they could also see the newborn foals. The kids also LOVE to lead the horses around, and again this was good for both the horses as well as the kids.

If you have any other questions or want anything else I would be happy to help you. Just PM me.

 

[Genie]

Thanks, we just might take you up on that!

We had 15 kids the first year and I expect there will be more this year.

Only one of the kids had their own horses at home, the rest were inexperienced with horses for the most part..

I split them up three to a horse and we used 5 horses of various ages, all fillies and mares.

They "shared" showing the horse in the various classes and the prize money went to the group and they split evenly.

I did most of the show preparation and it was very painful. Too much for an "old girl" - so this year will be different.

I told them last year the group would be assigned their horse and they were responsible to have it "show ready" and however it looked that's the way it would go.

 

[picasso]

My son has shown in Kentucky 4-H the last few years. He shows his Quarter Horse in Western Judged (Western Pleasure, Showmanship and Horsemanship) and also shows the minis in Halter and Driving. They have a really great State show in Kentucky. He has one more year of eligibility, but not sure if he is going to show or not.

 

[targetsmom]

We don't have a 4-H group ourselves but have hosted other 4-H groups that are involved with big horses. All our minis do performance so the last time we did this, we had the kids tie and groom the minis first, and then help us set up a halter obstacle course. We demonstrated the course using our stallion, so show how to negotiate each obstacle. Then we let the kids (and leaders!) pick any of our other 6 minis (including our pregnant mares) and take them through the course. Everyone loved it!!! Next we demonstrated hunter and jumper with a couple of the minis, and then we hooked Ruby to the cart for cart rides. BTW, the leaders seemed to enjoy this at least as much as the kids and almost as much as we and the minis did! I did post some photos on the photo/video forum back in October if anyone wants to look.

 

[Miniv]

Our daughter, Brianna, has done Horse 4-H for two years........

I asked about forming a miniature horse 4-H club last year. I was told that if I was willing to be leader, located a second leader as backup or an assistant, and had at least 4 kids to sign up, they would form a new club!

So, that's something we've considered.

 

[wild_mini_horses]

My son has shown in Kentucky 4-H the last few years. He shows his Quarter Horse in Western Judged (Western Pleasure, Showmanship and Horsemanship) and also shows the minis in Halter and Driving. They have a really great State show in Kentucky. He has one more year of eligibility, but not sure if he is going to show or not.

I showed in mini trail,hunter/jumper,showmanship,and driving. I showed a bay and white paint mini. Also a kid that goes to my church does western pleasure,showmanship,horsemanship, and he did huntseat.

 

[littlearab]

I have been a 4-H laeder for 25+ years.

I was in 4-H growing up and all 5 of my kids were or are in 4-H. Then FFA!

It is the best youth program any where.

Not just for farm kids but for every kid, if you have kid, love kids and you have not look into it you are missing out.

My 16 year old dauther is going to Denver in 2 days for the national horse judging contest. Last year she went to the national Hipolgey contest.

My kids use to think the H stood for HORSES.LOL

 

[nbark]

I was a 4H leader for several years and we had the kids run open horse shows to raise money to take them to New York for the horse show at Madison Square Gardens. They had to man the gates, assist the judge, set up the jumps and obstacles, etc. They learned a lot of responsibililty doing this and had a nice outcome for all of their work. Our club had more "horse lovers" than horse owners. So, we had them pair up with horse owners to learn how to groom, halter, walk them, etc.

Just putting this out there to let you know that with a little imagination you can have some great fun!

 

[WLS]

Yes, I started a Miniature Horse 4-H club, now in our 4th year. And I LOVE it, very rewarding, and I have formed friendships with both Youth and their families.

In the beginning, it was overwhelming since I had 22 kids sign up for my first club, of which most of these kids knew NOTHING or NOT MUCH about horses. I thought, OMG, what have I done.!! But with the help of my local 4-H and my horse contacts in the community, our club has been a big success.

Our club does two sessions, Spring session related to horse care etc. I have had my local vet and farrier come to our meetings. Last year the vet did a dental care presentation and did a horse floating demonstration which amazed the kids. WE also studied color genetics and this was very interesting to the members. I had the kids help with DNA testing.

Our summer session, is Show Grooming and Showmanship. Now this takes serious work. But I follow the 4-H Motto. "Learn to Do by Doing". WE do a bathing and clipping demo at a meeting, and then the kids are on their own. Yes, in the beginning, there are lots of clipper marks and horses have gone to shows looking like this, but this is how they learn. Actually now, I have some very good clippers who help the new members.

As for the showmanship, the smartest thing, I ever did was invite my AMHR Judge friend Judy Bakker (Thanks to Judy), over to a meeting. She gave them lots of tips etc, and then we did a Show Rehearsal, complete in show clothes, etc. Judge Judy placed them all and gave them reasons why as their placing. This was a huge help to the kids and parents liked it to.

The good news is I now have about 10 members who have their own horses, and parents have provided trailers, and the new members use our horses, and we compete in about 5 shows per year. Two members last year chose harness driving as their Achievement and these kids amaze me. And I am having the time of my life.!!

I could go on for pages, but if anyone is interested in any of our topics, I am preparing a manual as I go and would be happy to share, so just contact me.