Weekend Winnings

This past weekend, my daughter participated in the South Carolina 4-H Hippology (Horse Science) and Horse Bowl competitions at Clemson University.  I was able to go with her and we enjoyed a wonderful weekend. First, many thanks to Greenwood County, 96 4-H Horse Club. To compete, you need teams of four. They had seven junior aged children, so were one shy of having two teams.  We are in Lee County and Kristy was the only member of the Sunset Riders competing this year.  Greenwood invited her to join with them and we appreciated the opportunity.  Kristy loves this competition! Thanks also to the three girls on her team, who welcomed her with enthusiasm. They were known as 96/Sunset this weekend.

Also many thanks to the very sweet lady in the photo below, Ms. Susie. She is a dear friend of our county's 4-H agent and invited us to stay in her home, near the university, for the weekend.  This saved our club the expense of hotel fees and in memory of her husband, we made a donation to the National Kidney Foundation, Say Hey Kidneys chapter, instead.  The 2012 Upstate Kidney Walk will be on April 28th in Greenville, SC.  If you are in the area, please consider participating.  Click the link above or visit the page for Say Hey Kidneys if you'd like to make a donation.

We can't express enough how thankful we are for Ms. Susie's hospitality.  She honestly spoiled us the entire weekend.  This was the first time since, giving birth to the pretty young lady in the photo above that I had a vacation of sorts.  Yes, I went with my daughter, but she is self-sufficient.  I didn't have any kids to take potty, give baths to, cook for, etc.  Ms. Susie cooked for us and took me shopping while Kristy was testing on Saturday.  Wow! I missed my boys, but this time with Kristy and this little trip was quite refreshing.  Check out this photo:

We came home after the awards on Saturday, to this wonderful dinner.  Look at the place settings she made and sent home with us.  Star shaped bowls, with rocks and flowers.  She wrote our names on the black rocks. Very charming, sweet touch.  Kristy said it felt like she spent the weekend at grandma's house instead of with a stranger.  I agree completely! Thank you so much Ms. Susie!!

Now to the competition and photos....

96/Sunset....Kristy, Ansley, Aubrey, Catherine

Hippology is divided into four phases.

1. Exam Phase, consisting of slides and a written exam
2. Stations Phase
3. Horse Judging Phase
4. Team Problem (they are given a subject, 10 minutes to prepare a 5 minute oral presentation in which all members must speak)

Winnings are divided into individual scores for the first three phases above and team scores for all four.  Then they also give out awards for the top scores combining all four phases for individuals and teams.  This year there were 75 junior age members from around the state participating.

Hippology Winnings:

Aubrey: 4th place High Individual Exam Phase, 2nd High Individual Station Phase, 3rd High Individual Overall

Catherine:  6th High Individual Judging Phase, Blue Danish ribbon overall

Ansley:  3rd High Individual Judging Phase, Blue Danish ribbon overall

Kristy: 1st High Individual Exam Phase, 1st High Individual Station Phase, 10th High Individual Judging Phase, 1st High Individual Overall

Team:  3rd High Team Exam Phase, 1st High Team Station Phase, 2nd High Team Judging Phase, 5th High Team Problem, 2nd High Team Overall

Yay!!!  Proud of her.  She put a lot of work into preparing for this competition and we were very happy to see her do so well.

 Horse Bowl Day!!  Sunday was a busy, nerve-wrenching day.  There were sixteen junior teams competing.  Teams match up against one another, working through a bracket system until they reach the last two teams standing.  Happy to say 96/Sunset won, taking first place.  Very proud of these young ladies.

In addition to team scoring, they keep individual scores for the answers given throughout the day.  Ansley and Catherine both received blue danish ribbons for their scores.  Kristy earned second place overall and Aubrey earned fourth.

That is our weekend in a nutshell!!  Exciting and wonderful!  Many thanks also to Darlas, our county agent who works so hard for 4-H and took us to this competition.  We also cannot thank enough our team leader, Melissa.  She works with Kristy, teaching her horse science and setting a standard for excellence.  Without her, Kristy would not be competing and doing so well in 4-H.  Love you Melissa!!!