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All About 4-H

Basic info

  • The four H's of 4-H stand for Head, Heart, Hands and Health.
  • 4-H has many projects available, ranging from animal projects, to cake decorating to laundry projects!
  • You don't have to own a horse to do a horse project. There is a Horseless Horse project book.
  • 4-H is open to people ages 9 to 18 as of January 1st.
  • Cloverbuds are for those under age 9 as of January 1st.
  • The 4-H motto is "To make the best better"
  • You can find clubs by looking in your local newspaper.
  • 4-H awards scholarships to seniors in high school who've applied to them.

    Horse 4-H programs

    Horse Bowl: Horse Bowl is kind of like Jeopardy. You are on a team of 4 with one person being the team captain. You and your team must correctly answer as many equine-related questions as you can. You are either categorized under a junior team (9-13 year olds) or a Senior team (14-18 years old). There's one-on-one questions (Person A on team 1 vs. Person A on team 2), individual questions (only yourself is allowed to answer them), and team questions (anyone on either team can answer). If you win in your county, you can go to state and then nationals after that. I was on a senior team for two years, and let me tell you, it's not easy! You really gotta know your horse stuff! So study hard!

    Horse Groom & Clean: In this contest, you have 30 minutes to groom a "dirtied horse," take an equine-based test, and perform a showmanship pattern with your dirtied (which, by now, should now be clean) horse. There's junior teams (9-13) and senior teams (14-18) which contest seperately from each other. For the county level contest, you may use any horse you can get a hold of. (i.e. your horse, a friend's, etc.) However, at state level and above, while Juniors still get to use a horse of their choice, Seniors cannot. There will be horses available for senior teams, and your team must pick one. The horse gets covered with mud and dirt prior to the contest. As I stated before, you and your team will have 30 minutes to groom your "dirtied horse." You have to use specific and safe grooming techniques; that's what the judges are looking for. I can't remember if this is the correct order, but next, you perform a simple showmanship pattern with the horse. This shows how well you can handle a horse you don't know. (It doesn't really matter how good the horse is at showmanship in this contest.) Lastly, you will take an equine test that shows your horse knowledge. There are three on a team, plus one adult who holds your horse while your team grooms it. This event us fun, and I recommend it!!

    Horse Judging: Basically, four horses are brought into an arena, and you and your team judge their conformation, like in a halter class. There are junior (9-13) and senior (14-18) teams that contest seperately from each other. There are (I think) five things you judge the 4 horses on. Senior teams must give reasons for how they judge. You can go to state and beyond with this contest too.

    For more information, please visit these sites:
    The National 4-H website
    The National 4-H council website