KRISTIN FISCH, SUPERINTENDENT: We're at the Livestock Pavilion for the horse show.
We have I think this year about 85 participants. Around 120 horses. That
is showcasing about 55 different individual school chapters from across the state of Iowa.
The exhibitors range in age from 7th grade to 12th grade.
One thing that is unique about our show is that we have such a wide range of types of horses here
in classes, so some of these exhibitors, they go and saddle their horses and maybe
show at the county fair and state fair. Some of these exhibitors show across the country.
Today you'll see western pleasure, English pleasure, equitation which
means the rider is more judged than the horse. They have a pattern they'll do one at a time.
LITA PERRIN, JUDGE:
The Open Walk / Trot Pleasure Class is going to be an exciting class, because we're going to have
English and western exhibitors. It is going to be on the horse. So how the horse moves, how broke
the horse is, how they do their transitions will all be really important. It'll be fun.
So the Pony Western Pleasure Class will be a good class today. Those horses are going
to be exhibiting, showing their movement and their brokeness. We are looking for horses that
are soft, that can go with the relatively loose rein that shows a higher degree of difficulty.
ANNOUNCER: First place with
the purple, Kirstin Schaefer from Midland.
KRISTIN: Heavy Hitch is one of the highlights of our show. It makes our FFA show unique. It
is one thing we always appreciate when the exhibitor takes the time and effort
to bring that up here. It is a lot of work to bring the wagon and the team and all of that.
We've lucked out the last five or six years and had at least one entry in that class.
ANNOUNCER: First place with the purple is Dally Orman, Agri-Power FFA.
LITA:
We will be judging the English Pleasure Class today. The riders use their seat and legs to drive
their horse up into the bridle. Which creates a collected, driving movement. That is what we
also want when we are going to go jump a fence so it kind of is a preparatory class for that.
ANNOUNCER: First place with the purple is Morgan Hanson, IKM-Manning FFA.
MORGAN QUICK, SUPERINTENDENT: I think the biggest takeaway for our students is the amount of people
they make for friends. There are so many people I can go back and say, "Hey, I showed at the Iowa
State Fair with them." So it's all about making those life long connections for these students.
We're hoping that the older students are helping the younger, inexperienced ones go through and
get better with their showing techniques and, also, inspiring the little kids that come around
the barns to hopefully one day that they'll have a horse and be showing. You never know,
one day this might spark their future career and lead them to their next great journey.
LITA: The FFA horse show or any horse shows like this where there is a big competition
takes so much preparatory work. These kids look forward to this for a long time. They
take lessons. They work their horses sometimes five, six days a week in preparation for this.
And there is so much pressure on these youth to be able to compete that sometimes it goes
south for them. So they have to learn how to win, how to lose, how to work hard.
Showing horses is so great for youth because it prepares them for so many things in the future.