Delaware County Fair Junior Fair Equestrian champions

By LENNY C. LEPOLA

News Assis­tant Man­ag­ing Editor

It’s noted in The Sun­bury News each year fol­low­ing the Delaware County fair, but it can­not be said often enough, 4-H and FFA County Fair Eques­trian projects can be expen­sive and are often thank­less pur­suits. Exhibitors spend years grow­ing into their sport, hon­ing skills and train­ing ani­mals. But once they arrive at the fair, there’s no huge crowd cheer­ing them on, just fam­ily and friends. Exhibitors don’t go home with thou­sands of dol­lars in their pock­ets from sell­ing project ani­mals at Mar­ket Sale; and the day after the fair is over, they still have horses to feed and groom and train and clean up after.

All of that said, most eques­trian exhibitors would tell you that their game is a labor of love and all the time and energy and money invested in eques­trian project ani­mals is a small price to pay for the mostly intan­gi­ble rewards they receive in return.

Most eques­trian exhibitors would also acknowl­edge that each year dur­ing the Delaware County Fair, East­ern Delaware County 4-H clubs take home more than their fair share of rib­bons and plaques. Their par­ents under­stand that there is not some magic ingre­di­ent in the 965 phone pre­fix atmos­phere; the secret of Big Wal­nut area eques­trian exhibitor’s suc­cess is good old-fashioned ded­i­ca­tion to their craft and hard work by both exhibitors and club advisors.

This year was a typ­i­cal year at the Delaware County Fair for 4-H and FFA mem­bers at the fairground’s Main 4-H Eques­trian Show Ring. The weather was near per­fect, there were the usual fam­ily mem­bers, friends and a few casual spec­ta­tors stop­ping on their way to and from the park­ing lots, but the busi­ness inside the show ring was serious.

With horse projects, unlike other fair ani­mals that are judged for fit­ness for mar­ket, eques­trian judges rate how Junior Fair Horse Show exhibitors present ani­mals dur­ing Eng­lish and West­ern horse and pony events.

Notable 2012 First Place fin­ishes were cap­tured by JJ’s E-Z Rid­ers 4-H Club mem­bers Claire Chat­ter­ton, Sara Dan­tuono, Emily Chucta, Alli­son Kiger, Megan Kir­sop, Alex Arm­bruster, Austin Iatonna, Allie Abbott and Ash­ley Henry.

Mem­bers of Sun­bury Hal­ter & Sad­dle 4-H Club who cap­tured First Place plaques were Aimee Dill, Shaye Steele, Nici Bregel, Ash­ley Mathis, Joce­lyn Cardi, Rachel Rus­sell, Olivia Pre­ston, Maura Flana­gan, Mag­gie Lacy, Kody Knapp and Albert Wiggers.

Addi­tional First Place Plaques:

• Shadow Rid­ers 4-H Club First – Cookie Dew.

• Cow­boy Con­voy 4-H Club Firsts – Sam Smal­l­ets, Andrea Dun­lap, and Scott Martin.

• Just Lopin’ Around 4-H Club Firsts – Mikayla Glad­man and Brit­tany Harter.

• Wild Rid­ers 4-H Club Firsts – Mor­gan Kiehl and Maken­zie Fletcher.

• TNT Horse and Rider 4-H Club Firsts – Saman­tha Holobaugh and Kenzy Oiler.

• Delaware Trail­blaz­ers 4-H Club First – Alexis Poulton.

• Bar­rels, Rails & Such 4-H Club Firsts – Lenora Boyer, Mag­gie Cain and Kashia Blackburn.

• Bit Of Coun­try 4-H Club First – Jor­dan Burge.

Posted by Gary Henery on Sep 26 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.