Good Fences #14

This is the second year that we have had to do a skills test to qualify for the State 4-H Horse Show.  They added this as an additional  measure to try to make sure everyone could handle their horses safely.  This is a good idea in theory but sure makes it difficult on the parents in practice.  The closest one to us was over an hour and a half away, so I contacted a neighboring county's volunteer leader and we set up our own test day. 

New Arena Fence in Bland

 We had 8 4-Her's participate and it took over 2 hours to get through all of the skills,

 which included being able to put your horse into and take it out of a stall.  Brother has never been in a stall to my knowledge.  He was a little nervous but handled it well.

 There was also individual riding skills and riding in a group.

Part of my frustration is that one rider couldn't get her horses to do some of the skills but was passed anyway because it was a "baby horse"  (5 years old) and they still had two and a half months to work with is before the show.  So what is the point of the test anyway?   You just can't regulate everything when it comes to kids and livestock.  Sometimes life is unpredictable.

For more Good Fences click HERE.