Vermont 4-H horse members kicked off the new year with 4-H Winter Horse Camp at the Champlain Valley Exposition in Essex Junction.
The event, billed as “winter horse fun without the horses,” was hosted by Chittenden County 4-H and open to 4-H’ers from throughout the state. Thirty-one horse enthusiasts from five counties attended the January 3 and 4 event.
Friday evening activities included a pizza party and get-acquainted game. The 4-H’ers also took part in two craft workshops, one on leatherwork to make key chains, bracelets and other leather crafts, and the other to create wind chimes from recycled stirrups, spurs, bits and other horse-related objects.
The evening concluded with a horseless horse show with the 4-H’ers as the horses. In the Gambler’s Choice Jumping class, executed by Kate Stone of St. Johnsbury, participants were scored on the number of jumps they made in 30 seconds. The jumps varied in size, type and point value. In the Egg and Spoon class, led by Jean Fay, Essex, and Maddie Langlois, Westford, participants followed commands such as walk, trot, canter, halt and back as they carried a golf ball on a spoon. The winner was the last person not to drop their “egg.”
Mary Fay, Westford, led the Driving Trail class. Working in teams of two, the “driver” steered the blindfolded “horse” by using “reins” (a rope) and teamster’s commands such as walk, gee, haw, whoa, back and trot.
The following morning, the 4-H’ers learned about the 4-H hippology competition. Amanda Gifford, Fairfax, described the stations phase while University of Vermont (UVM) Extension 4-H Educator Martha Manning talked about the slides phase.
Afterwards, participants rotated through skill-a-thon stations. Abbie Dattilio, Essex, and Kate Stone conducted the Parts of a Horse game, a relay race to correctly label the parts of a horse. Another skill-a-thon event was knot tying with Graham and Deb Robinson, Underhill. They also learned about the new scoring system for 4-H fitting and showmanship from Mary Fay.
The final winter camp activity was the Tack Grab Relay, where members of each team competed to be the first to find a specific item in a pile of tack and equipment. Once the pile was empty, each team had to identify each claimed item and explain its purpose.
Participating in winter horse camp, by county, were:
- CALEDONIA: Devin Davidson, Barnet; Kaylee Demars and Thea Ross, both from St. Johnsbury; Adriana Holbrook, Hardwick; Averill Scott, Lyndonville
- CHITTENDEN: Fiona Adams, Catherine Baker, Avery Halverson, Ian Kascha-Hare, Callan Knapp and Saige Prisco, all from Milton; Hallee Dixon and Aubrey Olsaver, both from Colchester; Maeve LaBossiere, Anna Minor and Aubri Richards, all from Westford; Grace Peterson, Essex; Graham Robinson, Underhill
- ESSEX: Alexis and Madeline Cotter, Concord; Breeana Garcia, Woodsville, New Hampshire; Jacqueline Lear, Bath, New Hampshire. (Breeana and Jacqueline are members of an Essex County 4-H club)
- FRANKLIN: Lochlan Bertrand, Mason Medor and Julie Merlo, all from Swanton; Kinzi Grindle, St. Albans; Avery Minor and Claire Romano, both from Fairfax; Lilyana Peet, Bakersfield
- LAMOILLE: LeighAnn Judd, Wolcott; Nora Kidder, Cambridge
The Champlain Valley Exposition generously offered use of its facilities at no charge for the event, which was coordinated by Mary Fay, leader of the Whispering Pines 4-H Club in Westford. Two of her club’s members, Milton 4-H teens Lillian Kascha-Hare and Silje Kruse assisted with the pizza party and ice breaker activity. Julie Thommes, Fairfax, prepared the Saturday morning pancake breakfast.