HORSEPLAY: 4-H horse club gears up for county fairs with pre-show

HELPING HANDS ARE ever so important as we age, thus I was tickled pink to see Olympic Peninsula Equine Network (OPEN’s) founders Diane Royall and Valerie Jackson get a tractor-trailer load of hay delivered and stacked inside the organization’s barn.

The two have spent years following tractors around fields to pick up freshly baled hay — which is heavy — to load onto their trucks and trailers in order to get the lowest priced hay they could in order to feed the rescued horses under their care throughout the year. Thanks to generous and ongoing donations from their supporters the duo — one has health problems, the other works full-time and both are getting older — were able to stand and watch as an eight person crew from R&C Farms delivered and stacked the hay inside OPEN’s barn.

4-H youths

Our 4-H youths have worked hard throughout the year in preparation for showing their skills and animals off at the annual county fair. In order to qualify to show at the fair 4-H horse club participants compete in a pre-fair show.

High point winners from the show at Clallam County Fairgrounds were:

Games, seniors

Hi point: Savannah Boulton

Reserve: Zakarah Braun

Games intermediates

Hi Point: Asha Swanberg

Reserve: Katelynn Sharpe

Performance seniors

Hi Point: Taylor Maughan

Reserve: Ruby Coulson

Performance intermediate

Hi Point: Asha Swanberg

Reserve: Katelynn Sharpe

Performance Walk/Jog

Hi Point: LilaTorey

Reserve: Aidan Johnstad

This year’s Jefferson County Fair is Aug. 12 -14 and the Clallam County Fair is Aug. 18-21.

Moving up

Port Townsend’s Heron Pond Farm owner/trainer, Christine Headley, is now offering her high level dressage training skills to The Iron Horse Farm. Located near the Tacoma area, the 28-acre farm and its facilities are a top notch boarding facility with a focus on hunters, jumpers, equitation and dressage. For more information visit its website www.theironhorsefarmwa.com or maxine@theiron horsefarmwa.com.

She’ll continue to teach students once a week at HPF, with her assistant Hannah Grace stepping in to teach introduction level students. Grace was a member of 4-H and is currently an adult member of Equitese Pony Club. She started working as a working student at HPF more than three years ago. She apprenticed under Kim McGuire and Headley. She emphasizes a kind teaching style that nurtures growth and confidence within each student’s ever expanding horsemanship skills.

Headley continues to offer dressage clinics through her business CH Dressage. Contact Headley and HPF at 360-286-9256 or ch_equestrian@yahoo.com.

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Karen Griffiths’ column, Peninsula Horseplay, appears the second and fourth Saturday of each month.

If you have a horse event, clinic or seminar you would like listed, please email Griffiths at kbg@olympus.net at least two weeks in advance. You can also call her at 360-460-6299.