Author: Fernanda Camargo
Planning Unit: Animal and Food Sciences
Major Program: Equine
Outcome: Initial Outcome
In 2023 we created the Equine Task Force, a leadership academy, for senior 4-H'ers in the horse program. The mission of the Task Force is to offer an advanced opportunity for senior level 4-H equine youth to further develop leadership and communication skills, and career exploration while representing and promoting the Kentucky 4-H Horse Program at the county, area, state, and regional levels.
The Goals of the Task Force are:
The task force provides the youth with the opportunity to network, to learn about the equine industry through immersive experiences offered in Kentucky, and to make a lasting impact on the Kentucky 4-H Horse Program through passion projects.
This is a 2 year long program, with rotations occurring yearly to have a constant influx of new youth yearly, giving the second-year youth a leadership opportunity to show the 1st years “the ropes”.
For the year 23-24, we had 12 members, and the program was a success. The youth visited multiple organizations and equine businesses, expanding their career exposure, including the Kentucky Horse Park, The KEEP day at the Capitol, the Red Mile and Kesmarc; created and presented educational lessons during the Volunteer Forum, helped during the state horse contests, and developed a fund raising campaign to cover their field trips.
For the future, the youth are interested in visiting other county clubs to recruit more members for the task force and have a bigger presence during the state contests and horse show.
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