4-H | A Place of Learning

As someone who grew up in a non horsey family, I did not have much exposure to horses and am largely self taught. When I was nine I took a couple of riding lessons at The Horse Schuh Farm (a big breeding farm of racing and performance Quarter Horses) and then when I was in sixth grade, a couple of more lessons at Forrest Hill Farm when it was in its early days.

(Photo from Forrest Hill web site.)

My friend, Bobbie Sue, and I were some of Forrest Hill's first students - back then it was operating out of a small, six stall barn with a tiny outdoor arena. As you can see from the photo above, it has really grown since then!

My parents bought me my first horse, Amy, in February, 1971. I was all of twelve years old, and the only person in the family who had any kind of knowledge about horses. As a result, I was in charge of what became a growing herd.

 Me with Amy, my sister Leslie, with Irish Flame, and my youngest sister, Jenny, with St. Nicholas in 1972.

I made a lot of mistakes - like putting a gate down by the flood-prone Wabash River instead of closer to the highway that split our property. The thought was to keep people from stopping and opening the gate to let the horses out as a prank. Needless to say, that backfired! (We had to cut the fence to get the horses out of the pasture that day as the floodwaters came up so fast.)

 Thankfully, there was an excellent 4-H Horse and Pony Club in the county, and I joined it.

 There was a lot of informative literature available to help the kids that enrolled in the program.

 I read and reread those materials.

 We were given manuals in which to record the care we gave our animals.

 Although this was not enforced and I never actually filled mine out. Oops!

There were clinics and camps for us and overall good support from the leaders.

But the culminating event was the 4-H Fair that was held in July. We hauled our horses into town and spent a week at the fairgrounds, participating in the 4-H horse show and having a blast. (Last year I wrote two blog posts about the 4-H fair; go here and then look here to read them. Those exhibitor cards haven't changed much, have they?)

 I still have one of the year-end pins that 4-H members received at the end of the year.

4-H was a big help to me in my quest be be a good horse owner and learn all that I could so that Amy, Nick, Flame, Cee, and Pokey would be well cared for. I still remember my leader, Jerry Synaesal, who passed away a year or two ago and the help he gave me in my early years of horse ownership.

Nearly fifty years later, I am still using what I learned in 4-H to take care of this gal!