Missouri 4-H horse teams do well in national competition

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Missouri’s 4-H equine teams received high honors among more than 330 of the nation’s most knowledgeable 4-H horse program members during the 2012 Eastern National 4-H Horse Roundup, Nov. 3-4 at the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center in Louisville, Ky.

Sue Knautz, state 4-H bowl and hippology coordinator, said 17 Missouri 4-H members competed individually and as teams in the categories of horse bowl, hippology, horse judging, public speaking and demonstrations for prize money and trophies.

The North American International Livestock Exposition hosts the contest.

The Missouri team placed sixth in the Eastern National as a team in hippology.

The Jefferson/Franklin County team of Emma Knickmeyer, Katherine Miller, Ashleigh Redman and Rebekah Redman took seventh place in the exam phase of hippology.  Knickmeyer earned ninth place in the exam phase.

Knickmeyer also took second place and Ashley Redman took third in the individual station phase of the hippology portion of the contest. The team took second-place honors in the station phase.

Overall, Knickmeyer took sixth place and Ashley Redman took seventh.

Kristy Cox and Chris Kahlenbeck, both of Franklin County, earned fifth-place honors in the team demonstration portion of the public-speaking events.   Missouri’s communications/public-speaking participants placed 10th in the Eastern National as a team score.  Participants included Alexia Mathis of Pettis County, Jessica Cobban of Greene County, and Kahlenbeck and Cox of Franklin County.

Geana Snart of Jackson County/West Central region brought home a second-place trophy and ribbon as Bowl High Individual in the Horse Bowl. The Missouri team of Faith Hawley, Geana Snart, Carsyn Glenn, Lanie Shelton and McKenna Matthewson, coached by Cynthia Calbert, took second place in the Eastern National and beat an undefeated team before losing the first-place trophy by a mere two points.

Taylor Fisher of Bates County brought home a second-place overall finish in the horse-judging contest.  Fisher placed 10th as an individual in the conformation area of horse judging and second as an individual in the performance area. The team took fourth place in the horse judging performance category, and 10th place in the horse judging-oral reasons competition. Missouri placed eighth as a team overall in the horse judging competition.

Additional results of the Eastern National 4-H Horse Roundup can be found at www.4hroundup.com. More information about the North American International Livestock Exposition can be found at www.livestockexpo.org.

About 4-H

4-H is a community of 6 million young people across America learning leadership, citizenship and life skills. The 111 land-grant colleges and universities and the Cooperative Extension System through 3,100 local extension offices implement 4-H programs across the country.