February 2015 Newsletter
Indiana Ranch Horse Youth Association
Hello everyone!
It’s time to start planning for the new show season! I’m sure everyone is ready for
some warmer weather and some time in the saddle. We are looking for volunteers to be
on IRHA’s World Show Youth Team. Teams are allowed to include four members and
one reserve member. Charters are allowed to have more than one team. We are also
looking for someone to be the youth representative for our team or teams. You can be a
member’s parent or an affiliate to accept this responsibility. Deadline for submissions is
June 1st. Please let me know if you would be interested in being part of our team!
This year we are providing some new activities to get our youth involved in
Ranch Horse. We will be offering “Refer a Friend”. Refer a friend to become a member
of IRHA and earn a prize. IRHA’s charter shirt needs a new design! We are asking the
youth to come up with their own design of an IRHA shirt as well as an IRHYA (Indiana
Ranch Horse Youth Association) shirt design. You can come up with a design for both or
for one and you may create more than one design. We will have a short youth meeting
Friday evening where designs will be judged and voted on at the IRHA May show. The
winning participant/s will earn a prize and have their designs used on the new shirts.
Some of the proceeds of the new shirts will go to the IRHYA. Another new activity, we
are calling the “Complete Five”, consists of five activities to be completed throughout the
year either at home, shows, other clubs, etc. Complete all five of the activities and earn a
prize. The five activities are:
1. Advertise for IRHA. Place flyers or show bills at local tack/feed stores, local
barns, 4-H clubs, etc. Have a parent or affiliate confirm you have done so (you
can even take a picture of a flyer or show bill you have hung).
2. Display or present a poster on your choice of topic. Example: topics related to
equine health/diseases, particular discipline, breed, gaits, hoof care, safety,
careers in the horse world, etc.
3. Following the guidelines of ARHA, create and illustrate your own pattern for
one of the following classes: ranch trail, horsemanship, showmanship, or
ranch reining. Explain how your pattern would be judged (what is the judge
looking for as a horse/rider completes this pattern). Explanation can be written
or oral.
4. Scrapbook containing 10 breeds with information about each, including why
or why not these breeds would make good ranch horses.
5. Collage of pictures of you and friends at Indiana Ranch Horse Shows.
6. ALTERNATE ACTIVITY (can be used in place of one of the upper five).
This could be a 4-H equine related activity that you have completed for this
year or for a different club. Just present proof of what activity you have
completed and what it was completed for.
Your projects can be completed and turned in throughout the show season. If you choose
to present your projects to IRHA members, we can arrange for you to present them
during our youth meetings at the shows. We would like to have all projects by the August
show, so we can display them in our hospitality booth at the Mid West Classic. Projects
will still be accepted at the Mid West Classic in case you were unable to make the August
deadline or the show itself. We will announce those of you who have completed the
“Complete Five” project and will present your award at the IRHA awards banquet.
We would also like the youth to present the colors during the opening ceremony
of our shows. If your horse is tolerant to carrying a flag and this would be something you
would be interested in let me know and I can provide you with more information.
Listed below are the youth activities we have planned for our 2015 show season:
May Show:
Youth Meeting
Activity: Scavenger Hunt
Fundraiser: Cookie Bake Off /Bake Sale (Proceeds will be
by donation) Participants can either be IRHA adult/youth
members or non IRHA members. Bring your best cookies!
Winner of the best cookies will get a small prize.
Roll O Roper (Metal frame with a saddle and horse head
attached with a ‘calf’ on wheels under it. When the roper
‘kicks’ the calf shoots out and you rope it. Dollar per
throw. Proceeds go to IRHYA.
June Show:
Youth Meeting
Activity: Horse Polo with Broom Sticks
Fundraiser: 50/50 Raffle
August:
Youth Meeting
Activity: Horse Bowl with water balloon fight to follow.
Fundraiser: Root Beer Float Sale (Proceeds by donation)
If you have other ideas of activities, fundraisers, clinics, etc. please let me know
and we can arrange for those to be included. We are striving to meet your demands and
expectations. Especially if there is a high demand for a certain activity, we want to be
able to make that happen!
Sincerely,
Bethany Schoon
IRHA Youth Advisor
If you have an email address that you would like to receive IRHYA updates, please
email your information to me at bbonagur@purdue.edu. Also check IRHA facebook
page for updates as well.