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The U.P. Riders
Club Reporter
RiLee W.
Club Reporter
RiLee W.
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Here's what's news:
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Happy New Year!
Visit Our |
The U.P. Riders Club Reporter RiLee W. |
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On the week of September 28th, nine of our U.P. Riders, Cassidy C., Camryn C., Aria F., Ansel F., Axel F., Clara C., Katy M., Emily B., and Emilie S., embarked on one of the biggest adventures of their lives! After three years of planning the day had finally come! They were leaving for
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Pulling into the parking lot of Churchill Downs was a surprisingly emotional experience. Seeing the main entrance and the gorgeous Barbaro memorial brought tears to the eyes of the 4-H’ers. After a fun filled day watching the race horses during their morning workouts, touring Churchill Downs, seeing the Kentucky Derby Museum and shopping in the Kentucky Derby gift shop, the 4-H’ers finally had to be dragged out of the gates. For lunch that day we took the advice of our tour guide and went to a place called Wagner’s Pharmacy. We had been told that over the years many horse trainers, owners, and jockeys came to Wagner’s to eat. It was amazing to see all the horse memorabilia on the walls! The hostess that served us gave us race shoes that had come off horses from Churchill Downs that morning, and she told us that there was a scene in the movie Secretariat shot in Wagner’s! There was no doubt we were glad we’d gone! The next day we woke up early, excited for the day ahead. We’d been camping at |
Our first event was reining! It was the only western event at WEG and we were all very excited. It took place in the indoor Alltech Arena, which was built specifically for WEG, and it too was an amazing place. In the end the American’s won the Individual Gold and Silver, and a Canadian won the Individual Bronze. The next day some of our group went to see the Eventing Dressage, and they said it was really cool to see horses that are trained to fly over huge jumps doing such precise movements! The rest of us didn’t have tickets to an event so we spent the day shopping and looking at everything that the horse park had to offer! One of the groups’ favorites was horse trainer Clinton Anderson! We watched his demonstration and then got our pictures taken with him! It was so much fun! |
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On our last day of WEG, we had tickets to the Eventing Cross Country! Overall I think that this was the coolest thing that we saw! The jumps were huge, and they were completely solid, so that if a horse hit it, the jump wouldn’t fall. It was scary when a horse would fall, but none of them were fatally injured. We made our loop around the huge course of jumps and spent most of the day watching different jumps. It was cool because the horses were staggered at 4 minute intervals, so you always had a horse to watch! |
On the way back home, we stopped at Hill’n’Dale Farm. It was a Thoroughbred breeding farm that had an impressive reputation. As we came in we were welcomed by beautiful fields, huge stone barns, and gorgeous fountains. Right in front of the breeding barn, we got to see the memorial statue of Seattle Slew, who had lived at Hill’n’Dale for part of his life! It was a great experience! All in all the trip to the World Equestrian Games was an amazing trip that will live in the minds of our 4-H’ers forever! Thanks to the club, all the volunteers, and the parents that made it possible! |
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Equifest 2010U.P. Equifest was a family friendly equine weekend held on September 25th and 26th, 2010, at the UP State Fairgrounds. There was a myriad of activities including a Stick Pony Rodeo for ages 2-7, a horse show that gathered winners from around the Upper Peninsula, team penning, expert clinicians, and a NAN qualifying Breyer horse show. |
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HAUNTED Hayride!
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There were prizes and candy for almost every activity. It was a great success and a lot of fun! I really hope that they decide to run another hayride next year. The junior and senior horsebowl were very honored that several U.P. Riders not in horsebowl came to help out with the activities. Thank you - we really appreciate you volunteering your time! |
 Can you pin the head on the headless horseman? |
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On Halloween night, Saturday, October 31st, 2009, about 30 people gathered at Marquette Mountain Ski Hill for a mixture of games, dancing, food, and fun. It started at 7:00 p.m. with a couple of rounds of the cakewalk (for cakes, there were plates of Halloween cupcakes). By 9:00, we had started dancing and didn’t stop until 11:00 p.m. Everyone came in costume and, of course, a costume contest was held. The top five were chosen and given a Beanie Baby as a prize! Four of the winners were from the U.P. Riders! (Katy, Ada, Cameryn, and Amelia.) There was pizza for everyone as well as various snacks and goodies. An option for everyone was to bring their I-Pods full of dance music and to be played over the loud speakers. Many requests were made and the music was a mixture of Pop and Country. I would like to give a special thanks to our DJ, Sam C., and of course Jill C. and other members of the 4-H council for helping organize this event. It was awesome! |
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As the Senior horse bowl team were preparing for the National competition in November, the Junior Horse Bowl Team put their heads together and crafted a challenge day for the Senior Team on Halloween, Oct. 31. Clara C and her family graciously offered to host at their home. Their horse Lily stood patiently as the team located muscles on a real horse model. Seniors were tested on pronunciation of terms, parasites, diseases, tack, and equine anatomy. After awesome hot dogs and a bonfire, the group went on a tractor ride around the Sands Plain. The Senior Team and Coach Cathy thank the Junior Team and their families for their enthusiasm, energy and support. We'd also like to thank the Churchills for hosting such a great event! |
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 A completely edible horse cake with cherry Twizzlers made by Cassidy C and her family |
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By RiLee W., U.P. Riders Reporter
In April, a team of four U.P. Riders members swept away all competition in a state competition. So now, 7 months later, Gentian W., Mollyann H., Emily B., and Katy M. were headed to Eastern National 4-H Horse Roundup in Louisville, Kentucky. The team had started studying again for the national competition in August, but still crammed all the information they could on the way down to Kentucky. The team arrived in Kentucky on November 5th and checked into the Crown Plaza, which was also housing many of the other horse bowl teams. On Friday afternoon, most of the team went to the Breeders Cup at Churchill Downs (which was conveniently held the same weekend). |
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Churchill Downs was amazing! This was the first time that I have seen a race live, and it was totally different than on TV. Our seats were in the middle of the backstretch, and sometimes the start was also positioned right in front of us. The races were a mixture of dirt races and Turf (over grass) races. The only problem with the races was that it wasn't exactly warm. Hovering at about 45 degrees with a wind chill, everyone was bundled up and trying very hard to stay warm. It was still amazing to see Churchill Downs - even in the cold! We were just a day too early to see Zenyatta, the famous mare who was undefeated in all of her previous races. We all got together in one of our hotel rooms and watched her race the next day - we were all screaming as she nearly achieved her 20th victory.
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The next day, bright and early, the team headed towards the Kentucky Exposition buildings for the games. At 8:00 a.m. sharp, the teams were separated out and the games began (except, for the next half an hour, there were some technical difficulties so the games didn't actually begin until 8:30). There are actually two National competitions for state finalists to chose from: one in Kentucky and one farther out west in Colorado. Some of the teams had come from places as far as Washington and Oregon!
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The senior team soared through their first game with South Carolina with a score of 22 to 4. This meant that they were in the winners bracket and skipped to Round 3. The next team they faced was from Missouri. The way the competition was set up, if you won a match, you played the winner of another match, so with every match you won, you played harder and harder teams. The senior teams have an amazing amount of information to memorize (books about three inches thick!) and the judges did their best to confuse the contestants. They pulled out the smallest details they could. They even had some questions that required you to solve a math problem! |
Missouri very nice but tough opponents (actually Missouri ended up in 5th). Because of the amount of teams that come to the national competition, they have a double elimination (if you loose two rounds you are out), so the next time the seniors lost (in a close game against Florida) they were eliminated. Even with that, the seniors came in about 13th! Here is another random fact that we didn't know until after the competition was over; this was the first time ever that Marquette was represented at the National competition. Ever. So even thought our team didn't win, we still did amazingly well.
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After all the horsebowl competitions were over, there was a contestant party at the Exposition Center. It was nice to let off some steam, and to see ALL the many participants in this huge national contest! |
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Designer's Note: 
Hi, this is Gentian W. If you have anything you would like to share with the club on this web site, feel free to send me an E-mail. This site will be at its best if as many club members as possible are able to share their experiences. If there is any information or photos that need to be corrected or removed please contact me as soon as possible so I can change it. Thanks!
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