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Winfield 4H Gait Riders - Year in Review

Staff with information courtesy Ruth Maciborski

Once again another fun-filled, successful year of 4H comes to an end for the Winfield 4H Gait Riders. For the past nine months the members have been working hard for the spring show season, which I am proud to say, was a huge success! Our new members learned what it's all about and had a blast, and our returning members improved tons and gave a helping hand to our new ones.

At our first show everyone who showed up had fun, learned lots, and walked away with memories and ribbons. At our second show everyone came a bit more prepared and cleaned up. They did even better! They met more people and had more fun. They were also more tired by the end of the day. Two weeks after that show, everyone slaved away over saddles and bridles with saddle soaps and toothbrushes when they participated in the most fun task of all – bathing their beloved horses – although we’re not sure who actually got the bath!

When the weekend of May 28 to 31 finally came, belt buckles, saddles, horses and riders all shone like stars. Our members who competed did an awesome job!

A number of our junior members at competed at the Red Deer show with the following results:

Megan Tanasiuk placed fourth in Showmanship, sixth in Trail, second in Command, third in Walk-Trot-Lead, fourth in Dream Weavers and first in Thread the Needle.

Kelsey Beiver placed first in Command, first in Western Pleasure, second in Western Horsemanship, second in Thread the Needle, sixth in English Equitation, fourth in Showmanship, fourth in Trail, fourth in Dream Weavers and third in Walk-Trot-Lead.

Our intermediate members who participated in the Red Deer show included:

Mikayla Maciborski who placed sixth in Western Pleasure, second in Trail, second in Matched Pairs (with Haley Scott), third in Showmanship, fourth in Thread the Needle, second in Dream Weavers, fourth in Walk-Trot-Lead and fifth in Command.

Brittney Ellis placed first in English Pleasure, second in Command, fourth in Dream Weavers, fourth in Thread the Needle, fourth in Walk-Trot-Canter, fifth in Trail, fifth in Showmanship, fifth in Western Pleasure and sixth in Western Horsemanship.

Geneva Rodin placed first in Command, second in Western Horsemanship, second in Showmanship, second in Western Pleasure, second in Trail, third in Dream Weavers and fifth in English Pleasure.

Robin McNeil placed first in Showmanship, second in Command, second in Thread the Needle, second in Walk-Trot-Lead, fourth in Western Horsemanship and fourth in Western Pleasure.

Carmen McNeil placed first in Western Horsemanship, first in Trail, fifth in Showmanship, second in Dream Weavers, first in Thread the Needle and 1st in Walk-Trot-Lead.

One of our senior member also competed in Red Deer.

Jane Maciborski placed fourth in Dressage, fourth in Barrels, fourth in Jr. Horse Reining, fourth in Jr. Horse Trail, third in Keyhole, third in Hunter Hack, second in Showmanship, second in English Pleasure, sixth in Matched Pairs (with Matthew Paton), sixth in Sr. Horse Western Pleasure and sixth in Sr. Horse Reining.

Congratulations to all our junior, intermediate and senior members for your fine showings.

Acknowledgement also goes out to our other members who supported us and prepared with us all year, including: Erin McFadden, Meagan McFadden, Robyn Tanasiuk, Jennifer Thompson, Brady Ellis, Andrea Taks and Kaitlyn Taks.

We can't forget our leaders either! Without them none of this would've been possible. So much appreciation is extended to Connie Kluczny, Ruth Maciborski and Jessica Reeves. Also to our clinicians: Dale Adie (Western) and Ashley Rowland (English).

We hope to see lots of returning faces as well as new ones at our first meeting of 2009-2010 season in September.