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What is a 4-H Club?
By Mary Jo Zanolli
4-H is a volunteer-led organization, open to boys and girls ages 8-19. The individual 4-H clubs have different interests and projects which club members become involved in, with the goal of the club being learning through hands-on experience.
4-H projects can include animal, theatre, arts, food, photography and environmental education. Among Connecticut 4-H clubs, agriculture projects are very common, with 4-H members exhibiting their animals at 4-H and agricultural fairs around the state.
The Connecticut State 4-H Horse Program is a popular project choice for many 4-H members. Horse ownership is not required, members can attend events related to horses and participate in horse knowledge contests such as public speaking, horse bowl, horse judging and hippology. Of course many horse program participants chose to become more involved with horses through horse leasing or even ownership. Connecticut 4-H Horse Program offers kids a 4-H show series that provides an opportunity to show horses throughout the state, enabling members to meet new people and share their love of horses.
The 4-H Horse Project requires record keeping of horses that are shown in the 4-H Show Series. Records are quite detailed and include yearly goals, steps to be taken to achieve the goals, financial summary, education as well an end of year reflection on skills learned and knowledge gained. The classes found in the 4-H show series include a mandatory fitting and showmanship class. In this class participants are judged on how they present their horses and points are given (or deducted) for grooming, overall health of the horse, care of tac, and presentation of the horse and rider.
Among the other classes offered are Equitation, Pleasure, and Trail Classes. Equitation is judged on a rider’s correct position and use of the aids, while Pleasure Classes are judged on how the horse moves and responds to the rider’s aids. Trail class requires both horse and rider to negotiate a course of obstacles at various gaits.
4-H horse shows and 4-H classes can be found at some of the larger agricultural fairs that are held across the state of Connecticut. There are also 4-H Fairs throughout the summer. More information about dates and locations can be found at www.ctfairs.org. For more information on the 4-H Horse Program in Connecticut, and how to find a club near you visit http://sp.uconn.edu/~ jnadeau/4-h.html.
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