Millarville Saddle Sores

On October 1st, the Millarville Saddle Sores 4-H Horse Club held our first meeting for the 2011-2012 year. We elected a new Vice President and Historian. Our executive is: Robin Knol as President, Sasha Lewis as Vice President, Megan Rawn as Treasurer, Lindsey Ranks as Historian, Nevada Rowe as Secretary and Brooklyn Collard as Reporter. This year, we added a new horse project – rodeo. This project will include gymkhana events like barrel racing and pole bending, with possibly a clinic or two over the year. Our light horse ride was the next day. Pat Ross taught us instead of our usual instructor, Cassandra Day. She taught us about proper Western equitation and having the right body position. We also learned how to control our horse with soft hands and how to steer with just our legs.
In July, thirteen club members attended the Regional Horse Show in Olds. We participated in English, Western and Gymkhana events. Megan Rawn and Shaelynn Brogden won high point in their classes and Alina Johns and Jillian Ranks won reserve. Nevada Rowe attended the Provincial Show in Olds in August. Our club members also attended the Stampede Invitational Rodeo in September. This event is cool because it takes place on the Stampede grounds. On August 17th, several members of our club participated in the Wild Pink Yonder, a 4-H gymkhana fundraiser for breast cancer. There was even a competition for the pinkest horse and rider. Another fun event was the Deb Renger barrel racing clinic put on by Canterra Energy for 4-H kids in August.
On September 11th, ten of us met at the Millarville Racetrack to clean saddles for the Foothills Therapeutic Riding Association. This is one of our community service events for the year. Gar Beacom of the Riding Association said, “We knew it was a 4-H club who cleaned the tack because they did such a good job.” Over the summer, we also did volunteer work for the Millarville Racing and Agricultural Society. We picked up garbage at the Millarville Rodeo and helped out at the Fair, Races and markets. We are very excited to be back at 4-H, and we're looking forward to a fun year!