Fillmore County 4-H Horse Project has a lot to offer. Benefits of joining the Fillmore County 4-H Horse Project are making new friends, learning new and interesting facts, and being able to participate in multiple activites such as project bowl, drill team, hippology and judging to name a few. New this year will be the Challenged Rider Program. This program is for youth who want to be a part of Fillmore County 4-H Horse Project and have a physical or mental challenge. Participants in this program will be mentored by youth that are currently enrolled in the Fillmore County 4-H Horse Project and will participate in the Fillmore County Fair. We also offer youth in grades K-2 the opportunity to join Fillmore County 4-H Horse Project as a Cloverbud. A Cloverbud will be paired up with a current ninth grade or older mentor to show at the Fillmore County Fair. Cloverbuds do not bring their own animals, rather they will show the mentor’s horse. If you are not a member of the Fillmore County 4-H Horse Project or are interested in the Challenged Rider program, please contact Rebecca Lofgren at the Fillmore County 4-H Extension Office, (507) 765-3896.
The Fillmore County 4-H Horse Project Annual meeting took place on Monday, November 12, 2018. New officers voted in are youth officers: Kiersta Hinz, president; Nati Vande Zande, vice president; Grace Goddard, secretary; Kelcy Nagel, treasurer; and Alysse Gehrke, Lauren Olson and Cora Schnebly as historian/reporters. Adult officers are Deb Haugstad, president; Lynn Hinz, vice president; Alysha Himle, secretary; Shannon Goddard, treasurer; and Maggie Haugstad and Brook Nagel; historian/reporters.
On Sunday, February 17, 2019, Fillmore County 4-H Horse Project held their annual recognition banquet. Even though the weather was not the best, we had one of the best turnouts we’ve had in years!
The night started with everyone feasting on a huge potluck of an awesome variety of food while listening to Dan Solberg give an excellent speech on goal setting. He used visuals so all the youth were able to understand and follow what he was saying. Surely all the kids are currently setting goals for the 2019 show year.
Upon completion of the feast and Dan’s talk, we started with our awards presentation. The first to be recognized were our National Hippology and Judging teams. The hippology team (Kira Nelson, Courtney Nelson, Mikayla Vande Zande, and Nati Vande Zande) headed to the 2018 North American International Livestock Exposition in Louisville, Ky. The horse judging team (Nati Vande Zande, Kira Nelson, Courtney Nelson, and Chase Ketterhagen) participated in the 2018 All American Quarter Horse Congress in Columbus, Ohio. They talked about their trips and walked everyone through their day step-by-step. Thank you to their coaches Maggie Haugstad and Carrie Enright for all your hard work and dedication for these two teams. After they finished, both drill teams and the project bowl teams were recognized.
The awards this year were excellent! The awards ranged from personalized blankets, saddle pads, homemade pillows from Miss Me jeans, wooden pallet hangers, halters, pictures frames, fly boots, hay bags and a bucket full of goodies.
This year’s high point award went to Heather Apenhorst. Horse Person of the Year went to Chase Ketterhagen. The most memorable ride was Zoe Case and Sophia Bronner’s rescue race. The most improved rider went to Dylan Billmeier. Herdsmanship award went to Chase Ketterhagen. Lanesboro Livewires was voted as having the best stall decorations.
Not only did they have great awards, this year we also had some very fun games along with a photo booth. Thank you to the committee for all your hard work and time spent to make this banquet a huge success!
Good luck to all the youth this year in Fillmore County 4-H Horse Project.
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