The Murray County Horse Project hosted a 4-H Horse Pleasure Clinic open to the Murray County youth and surrounding counties.
The clinic was held all day June 27 and 28 at the Murray County Fairgrounds, 3048 Broadway Ave, Slayton, MN. The camp cost $130 for each youth member to attend. Families were given the option to camp on the fairgrounds for an additional fee.
During this clinic, kids covered topics such as showmanship, horsemanship, western pleasure, ranch riding, ranch pleasure, trail, English equitation, and English pleasure. The Clinician for this event was Kathy Johnson who resides in Minnesota where she teaches various kids at the local, state, and national level. Her focus is on developing youth, not just the riders. By teaching horsemanship through the lens of developing the rider’s ability to identify a problem, break it down and find a solution for solving is the key to being a good horseman, not just a rider.
There are various maneuvers that a horse and its rider need to learn in order to be successful in their competition, but also in their relationship building. Walking/ stopping, trotting, pivoting, pull turns, and backing up are just some of the actions that need to be practiced on a consistent basis.
We want to give a big shout out to Jody Jackels and all the hard work that she put into making this event possible for youth to attend!
