The Rural Voice, 1980-06, Page 37The
Young Farmer
Horses plus kids
equal fun
BY ROBYN THEEDOM
"I was at Lucan Fair last year getting
my pony (Freckles) ready for the keyhole
race. The boy before me knocked two pails
down. My number was unlucky number
thirteen. They called my number. I entered
the rink, I was off and as soon as I knew it, I
was coming home. I was fifteen feet from
the gate. I yelled stop to Freckles! Five
feet, four, three, he shot up and over the
four foot fence. I was in a western saddle
which didn't make it easy to jump. As I
got off my pony, I heard the gate man call
out, "Get me a coffee and m ake it Black!"
Laura sums up completely the
combination of horses and children.
Together they are fun, exciting, rewarding,
frustrating, sometimes painful and always
interesting.
If you watched the horse and pony
classes at your local fair last year, you
Lorl Cameron, 15, of Belgrave, with a patient Cindy standing by bobs for apples in a local
fun meet held for 4-H riders.
PG. 38 THE RURAL VOICE/JUNE 1980
noticed a lot of horses and ponies ridden by
children. In most cases, they were having a
ball. But why do they get along so well?
1 asked four Huron County 4-Her's to tell
me about their horses. Carolyn Dinsmore,
Fordwich; Lori Cameron, Belgrave; and
Jennifer and Laura Johns, Auburn, helped
me by answering some questions to help
you understand why children work so well
with horses.
Laura Johns, who is twelve and joined
4-H this year, has been working witn her
parents' horses and ponies for five years.
Freckles, her Appaloosa pony, has been
with her for two and one-half years.
Laura's 4-H project, Eternal Sharpie, is
"an eighi- ear -old quarter horse mare and
is very high-spirited (spunky)."
Before she started with Sharpie,
Freckles was Laura's project. She taught
him to "slow down will: doing a hunter
course and to settle down at ;hows by
talking to him more." FreckLs, on the
other hand, taught Laura to "hang on and
be ready before he takes off for a jump."
Laura figures 4-H is "a good way to
learn more about your horse or whatever
club you are in and it is COOL!
The future for Laura -"I plan to be an
equestrian -riding hunters and jumpers."
Laura's fourteen year old sister, Jennifer
has been working with horses for about ten
years.
As Jennifer puts it, "my horse now is a
twelve -year-old quarter horse mare. When
we bought her two years ago she was used
as a broodmare and didn't know anything.
She is generally stubborn and quite quiet
out on the trail. I have tried (or tried very
hard) to teach her that I'm boss (much to
her dismay) and get her behaving in the
show ring. My horse has taught me that
riding and trying to train a stubborn old
mare isn't the world's most enjoyable job
but it sure pays off in the end and keeps
getting better."
Squeak's Pet (the stubborn old mare)
has taken Jennifer to many triumphs in the
show ring. Despite her humourous side
(such as "jumping beams of light in the
Johns' arena"), Squeak was Jennifer's 4-H
project in 1979 when she was the Reserve
Junior Champion Showman of Huron
County.
Jennifer's future plans -"to stick as close
to the horse world as possible."
Carolyn Dinsmore is 17 and on her sixth
4-H horse project. She has been riding
since she was five. Carolyn works with two
horses -"one is a 10 -year-old purebred
Arabian mare named Gaileyna. Gailevna
has a wonderful -temperament and is gentle
and loves to be ridden. She is very versatile,
being able to do almost anything. My other
horse is a four-year -old purebred Arabian
gelding named TAS Royal Tartan. Tartan
also has a very good temperament but
because he is young, I have had some
exciting times training him under saddle."