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When it comes to horses, many 4-H’ers only think about riding them and forget about good nutrition. On Tuesday, December 11, 4-H youth from throughout Pointe Coupee met at the Multi-Use Center for their monthly 4-H Horse Project Club Meeting. Guest speaker from ADM Alliance Nutrition, Timmy Smith, addressed the 4-H’ers to impress upon them how important good nutrition is for their horses.
He told the club that the most important nutrient is water followed by the second most important nutrient – good quality hay. Mr. Smith also told the members that it is best to use buckets to feed water so that the owners can tell if the horse drank any and how much water the horse drank which would signify if the amount of feed needed to be reduced. He also had visuals of feed ingredients and grain by-products for the 4-H’ers to view. Mr. Smith stressed how important a high quality feed is.
Next, Mr. Smith spoke to the group about a horses’ digestive track and shared with them that their horse should be fed at the same time each day for proper digestion. He then showed the members how to measure heart girth and body length using a tape measure. That information, along with a formula, can be used to determine feeding and medicine amounts.
Mr. Bill Davis, Horse Project Leader, worked with the group next. He demonstrated disengaging his horse’s hind quarters, backing up his horse, and bending and flexing. Mr. Davis offered tips on backing a horse up. He spoke about how a horse carries his head and told the club how important motions and hand signals are to maneuvering a horse. Mr. Davis stressed how important practicing is with a horse. He suggested riding a horse three days in a row in order to teach a horse something new.
He then had the group practice weaving through cones – an exercise the 4-H’ers enjoyed. Mr. Davis then demonstrated how to turn a horse moving its front shoulder and front feet. He also told the group that they could control their horse by how they sat in the saddle.
Those 4-H’ers in attendance included: Kellsie Adams, Katelyn Bellelo, Haley Bergeron, Kaleb Bissett, Kera Bordelon, Krista Bordelon, Chandler Cannon, Hannah Christopher, Trinity Christopher, Stephan Collins, Abram Dickey, David Knapp, Alex Losavio, Adam Losavio, Johnathan Losavio, Kate Short, and Wade Steib.
Special thanks to Weldon Jewell for use of the arena at the Multi-Use Center and to the following Master Horseman: Carl Whittington, Johnny Steib, Sam Losavio, Tom Short, Ted Glaser, and John Cannon.