BVHS participates in FFA Horse Judging Contest

MANLIUS — The Bureau Valley FFA horse judging team consists of Holly Guither, Sam Krieger, Danae Ross, Marissa Bivins, Seth Ross and Dustin Vainowski. Our team traveled to Black Hawk East College on Sept. 19. We were required to be up and ready at 6:30 a.m. We were on the road by 7 a.m. We also had the luxury of stopping for a bite to eat at McDonalds!

When we arrived at the ring, the riders were already warming up their horses and taking them through the ring to practice a couple of times. Soon after we arrived, the other teams arrived. We split into groups and spread out across the building. The main rules were no cheating or no talking (which was a bit of a challenge for some of our members).

We began judging the reining class, which judged the rider controls or maintains the horse. Then, we began western pleasure. It was based on the technique the horses used, like the trot and the lope. Next came hunt seat equitation, on which the horses ran a course. The color breed mares class was based on the color and neatness of the female horses. Halter mares class was up next; it was judged on the muscle structure of the female horses.

After the halter mares was the color breed geldings class, based on color and neatness of the male horses. Lastly, was a class on the muscle structure on a class of geldings.

After we were done with the physical judging, the reasons participants (Guither, Krieger, Seth Ross and Danae Ross) went into a separate room and gave their reasons for the scores on their sheets.

The others headed off to lunch. The reasons were done in an estimated two hours.

After a fun filled day, we headed back home.

After about one week, we received the results from the contest: Guither — silver, Seth Ross — silver, Bivins — bronze, Vainowski — silver, Krieger — gold, and Danae Ross — gold.