Horse Club—4-H Racers

Buff Bradley and Debbie Ball lead the 4-H Racers which is the 4-H Horse club in Franklin County. It is one of the largest clubs. The Racers meet on the second Tuesday of every month throughout the year. Meetings are held at Indian Ridge Farm from the months of April through November. The months of December through March are held at the Franklin County Extension Office with all meetings beginning at 6 p.m. A benefit of having the meetings on the farm, is all of the club members can experience horse management practices and participate in a “hands on” environment.

The 4-H Racers’ meetings are taken from the Youth Education Equine Awareness Program. Most of the club is representative of kids that have not had the opportunity to own or be around a horse. During the summer months we will have field trips to horse shows and other horse related educational activities. For the regular scheduled meetings we have educators from the different area of the horse industry. In the past we have had veterinarians, blacksmiths, equine therapist, law enforcement mounted patrol, show horse people, and riding instructors. All members are able to speak and work with the educators. Our meetings also consist of playing horse games with the lesson. Some games have been horse bingo and matching horse anatomy on visual aid charts.

At the conclusion of each farm meeting the members are allowed to climb up on a horse and walk around the arena a couple of times. Of course all are required to have boots, long pants, and most importantly a helmet. The horses are led by instructors for those that have not had riding lessons. Safety is taught as number one in working with and around all horses and horse equipment.