Fillmore County 4-H Horse Project goes national

Five states, 3,270 miles, two national competitions and many memories.  Five members and their coach Maggie Haugstad of the Fillmore County Horse Project were awarded two national trips at the 4-H State Horse Show in September.

Chase Ketterhagen, Kira and Courtney Nelson and Nati Vande Zande comprised the horse judging team that won a national trip to the All American Quarter Horse Congress in Columbus, Ohio, in October.  They had a full day of judging and then gave reasons for why they judged the horses as they did.  An awards breakfast took place the next day.  The team placed 18th.  They were able to tour the area and learned about a mobile veterinary unit.

Kira and Courtney Nelson and Mikayla and Nati Vande Zande competed on the hippology (study of horses) team that won a national trip to the Eastern National 4-H Roundup in Louisville, Ky.  They spent an entire day taking a written exam, solving a team problem, doing identification stations and judging horses.  An awards breakfast followed the next day.  The team took 19th place.  The next day they had an opportunity to tour the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Ky.  It was also very educational and an interesting park to visit.

These youth spent much time and effort to make it to the national competitions and thank the many businesses and individuals for their donations to help make these trips possible.