Tennessee State 4-H Horse Championships

Tennessee State 4-H Horse Championships
Head, Hands, Heart, Health
Herald the Horse

Shelbyville, TN - The 2007 Tennessee State 4-H Championships will be held June 20-23, 2007 at the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration grounds in Shelbyville, Tennessee. The event began in 1984 and has grown to one of the largest 4-H Horse Show events in the United States. This year over 500 Tennessee 4-H Youth will exhibit 600 horses
representing more than 2,000 entries. “We not only have one of the largest 4-H Horse Shows, but also one of the very best,” says Dr. Doyle Meadows, Professor of Animal Science, University of Tennessee Extension, who has coordinated the program for the last 20 years.

The Tennessee Walking Horse Breeders’ and Exhibitors’ Association^SM and the Tennessee Farmers Cooperative have been premier sponsors of the event since it began in 1984. The event has been held at the National Celebration grounds in Shelbyville since its inception. Mr. Ron Thomas and the National Celebration were inducted into the Tennessee 4-H Hall of Fame at the recent State 4-H Congress. Today, four breed associations and 20 horse industry sponsors contribute to the event.

In addition to the Horse Show, the State 4-H Judging Contest and 4-H Program awards banquet are also held at the event. There are 160 classes conducted at the show representing five divisions of horses - Western, Hunter, Walking/Racking, Spotted Saddle Horse, and Saddle/English. The Tennessee 4-H youth can virtually show any type of equine at the Show.

The 4-H Horse Championships are just part of the educational programs for Tennessee 4-H Horse Project Youth. The 2007 Tennessee State 4-H Horse Bowl and Hippology Contests were held Saturday, February 17th at the Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville, Tennessee. “This is the 14th year for the event and it has grown annually,” says Dr. Meadows. Dr. Meadows indicates there is a tremendous amount of educational benefits for the Youth as they develop life skills through these two contests and educational programs. Almost 800 4-H Horse Project Youth participated in the Regional 4-H Horse Bowl and Hippology Contests.

The Horse Bowl challenges the youth to learn scientific information about nutrition, reproduction, genetics, behavior, and herd health. The Hippology contest allows 4-H Youth to express skills they learned in scientific horse information, horse judging, and identification of horse-related products, tack, and equipment.