The dairy world and 4-H

I was very lucky when I was growing up to be in a fantastic area for 4-H. In our county of NS we have some of the top breeders of Holstein, Ayrshire and Jersey cattle in the world. With my Dad being the only guy in the area that knew how to do artificial insemination and embryo collection (at the time he was the only one, although its more common now for the farmers to do it themselves.) I grew up visiting farms, and farmers that are famous in the dairy world.

Believe it or not, I am actually a better judge of dairy cattle, than horses. Ive won more awards and trips with cattle judging than horse judging! This all came to a head one winter in 1997 when visiting a farm with a top breeder and judge of Holsteins. He asked me what I thought of one of his bull calves in a pen. I (being the outspoken brat that I was) told him it wasn't good enough. The farmer snorted and walked away. My dad ripped a strip off of me when we got back to the car! He w.as a good guy though and he and dad had a good laugh over it the next time we visited

Two months later its 4-H judging time, we go to a different farm and the judge who will be hearing our results is the same breeder that I ticked off a couple of months earlier! So I place the cows, walk up to the Judge and give my reasons and places. He smirks a bit during my results but no big deal.... Two months after that we receive our placings at the local exhibition.

I won.

Out of all the farm kids, who live on farms I won and had the highest score in the county. Turns out that bull calf wasn't good at all, and I placed the cows exactly the same way he did during the competion. And the farmer got a hoot out of it, he now calls me George, even years later, said I needed a real farmers name!

The real reason I'm writing this is that one of the breeders I showed for recently had some significant success. One of his cows Pine Haven SSM Marmie, is the 2011 World Dairy Expo Grand Champion Jersey cow! She won over 360 other Jersey females to win this honor.




For dairy breeds this is the equivalent to winning the grand champion at the AQHA world show.

Eric still donates calves to all of the 4-H groups, and has had several bulls selected for breeding.

Pictures!

Not the pictures by my friend, but some very nice ones put on facebook by a friend of a friend.

Getting ready for showmanship (I love this photo of him!, And I dont look too huge!)


HUS class, I dont know what I was doing, look at the face on me!

Lucas sticking his toung out at a walk like he likes to do (we have a 3yo gelding who's mother is a 1/2 sibling to Lucas that hangs his out all the time)

Turn in showmanship (and we finaly had a back to the judge and set up for inspection like we've practiced all year!)

Halter set up for the judge

Trot in for showmanship

Waiting for placings

Alot has happened

Well alot has happened since my last post, Ive almost been to busy to write about it. I saw my RA doctor on the 23rd and shes decided to hold off on changing my meds for a bit. She is worried about the level of damange the RA is doing to my hands and my right ankle, but those are the worst, the rest are not as bad. So I have x-rays to be done on hands and ankles and then we go from there.

I ended up taking Lucas to our fun show at the barn (not like we needed to trailer to it!). And he was a super star as usual. We won our Halter and Showmanship classes, blew a lead (surprise) in the stake, and got second in the HUS class. I did well until that last class, and then I cried like a baby the entire second direction. We did ok but my lack of concentration hurt our placings. Thankfully my best friend only brought her barrel racer to the show and had time to get me sorted out before our Trail in hand class. So we ended up getting 5th out of 25 in the in hand trail class which I was impressed with as this was his first trail class. I will have pictures, my best friend took a ton as she knew how special and how hard that day was going to be.

The very next day I received an email from the former boss saying that he has some clients that were interested and asked me to send him up for a couple of weeks. So Lucas left on Thursday night for some time at his place, the old boss is going to ride him some and tune him up and have some of the kids that are looking ride him as well. Hopefully he will find a home up there as I know they will take care of him and show and enjoy him. I thought that I would want to go up with him but decided that I should just let him leave without upsetting us both. I have plans to go up next weekend to see him if hes not sold... Two good friends that have horses in the barn are taking him treats, and sharing some love with him until he gets a new person or comes home.... Im still not sure which would be better.

Riding

Well my feet had finally healed enough that I was able to go and ride last Wednesday night. I had a great ride on Lucas and we even did most of the trail obstacles (including the bridge!!!!). My friend mentioned that I would have had no expectations of him, and maybe that's why we got along better. I had nothing in mind to work on other than getting him moving under saddle. Looks like Im going to be having one last show with him next weekend, I hope I make it though it without crying.

Still waiting for someone to come and buy him, lots of interest but no serious people yet. I went to the local AQHA show on the weekend and the trainer that I took lessons from in 08 (I think I have them listed under Lessons or Bunny) told me that he had a call from the first people who tried him. After she had been out to see Lucas she called the Trainer and asked him if he would go out the next time with them. He's waiting just like I am for them to call back.

Also found out that someone at the APHA show on the 4-5th not only took down all of my posters they also went around and told people he was sold. very weird....

The AQHA show was extremely small (58 stalls in use) and considering that it was split combined (halter and english one day western the next) all of the classes were done at 1pm after starting at 9:30. The Youth classes were the only ones with more than 5 entries, and they combined the jr and sr HUS and had 5 (we had 6-13 in just the Sr last year!).

Lucas is getting his hind shoes off in the next day or two so he can start going out with other horses again for the first time since last winter :) Im off today to clip him and get everything ready for the show next weekend.

progress

I dont know if anyone has been either to a APHA or ApHC show where they have in hand trail, but it is a class where a horse and leader complete a regular trail course (no lope overs though!). Our fun show thats coming up in 2 weeks has this class so Lucas and I have been practicing the obsticals this week in prep for the show. That would give us 3 classes without the riding classes. Im not sure if I want to show him under saddle or not...

The girl that did the video for me a couple of weeks ago, rode him again on Thursday night for me, and had a great ride. Lucas was almost excited to go back to work and he worked well for her.

There is somone coming to look at him 'hopefully' on Monday night so cross your fingers.

Oh and were getting a truck load of weanlings from out west next week (6-7) so it should be an intresting week.

I have no problems with balance

Other than the fact that I keep falling, and tripping. Yesterday my dad scared me (in fun, or at least it was supposed be in fun) and I slipped and fell out of my sandals and cut my feet to pieces on the shells. Mom & Dad were afraid I would bleed out before we got the blood stopped, but it did. No stitches needed, just alot of shallow long cuts. Thankfully my Dr made me get a tetanus shot 2 years ago. So Im ok but very, very, very sore.

I mentioned to my family Dr that I've been having moter issues not exactly related to the RA, he thinks that its physiological stress on my body from the RA and the drugs more than anything is actually wrong with me but this is starting to become an issue. Would it even be safe for me to ride?

So on the Lucas front I still have a couple of people trying to make time to come see/ride him. The kid that did the videos for me is going to ride him some this week while im taking it easy, Im planing on showing him in our fun show at the barn in halter, showmanship, and in hand trail. Im not sure if I want to show him under saddle or not.

Another day, and off to the local ex.

Its been fairly quiet, no new people have been out. Lots of tire kickers but noone biting. Lots of crazy people are into horses too! Some of the emails I have gotten are just strange.