TORRINGTON – Describe your year in 4-H. Suggestions to consider: What did you like? What went well? What did you learn? What will you apply to your life? What challenges did you experience? How was your year important to you? What did you like about your 4-H year?

My year started off crazy, and I mean CRAZY. We took two steers to weigh in January, Ford, a big Hereford, and Dodge, a large Black Baldy. We decided to take two and see which one fills out better. Everything was going according to plan, until we started weighing in Dodge. He was fine and pretty calm, but Ford had been in front of him and was already out of the shoot, near the entrance to the trailer. There’s a small gate that is supposed to be just small enough for people to get through but, that big ol’ steer just had to get outta there. He squeezed right through the gate and started walking around the small lot before I noticed him. Then, we continued to chase him along the highway, all the around the fair grounds, and finally, down to the sunshine arena. I was cold, my feet hurt, and had some slight rage towards that little jerk, but hey, we made it, so that’s what counts, right? Anyway, like I said, the year started off crazy. 

So, never mind that whole spiel, I’m Kristina Hall and this is my 7th year in 4-H and boy oh boy was it a long and stressful year. I had four animal projects this year: Dog, Horse, Market Beef, and finally Breeding Beef. Over-all I think I did pretty darn good in most of my projects, other than maybe some events in Horse and Breeding Beef. 

The dog’s started off fair week with agility. The event itself was short and sweet, but it took lots of time, work, and, most importantly, patience to get where I am with my dogs. Jazz, my corgi who I started last year, was an old pro at most things. Of course, we had room for improvement, so we started working on the dog walk. Ozzy, who’s a Mini Aussie and brand new to all of this, had some work to do. He caught on pretty quickly though. I was tempted to enter him in off leash, but considering that I did the same with Jazz last year and regretted it, I decided to take things slow. So, Jazz and Ozzy competed in agility on August 8th, 2019. Jazz had only two deductions and got a time of 37.54 seconds, granting him Grand Champion in Agility Level 2. Ozzy didn’t do so hot; he got third place in agility level 1. He had the points but with the leash slowing us down, we didn’t have the time to win, which is fine by me. It was his first year and I’m good with taking things slow. 

Next up, horses (Oh, boy). I brought two horses with me this year: Miracle, my sad excuse for a horse, and my grandfather’s really sweet horse, Pizanno (aka Pi). Qualifications went fairly smooth this year, as I only had to qualify Pi. He did very well, other than the loose girth that I needed to adjust in the middle of it. He did the gate just fine though, something I don’t get from Miracle. Ever. So, we worked and worked and worked and Pi did awesome in every single event I entered him in; two. Yeah, I wasn’t confident he’d do so good, but he sure proved me wrong. I entered Pi in Trail and Ranch Riding, nothing too hard for his first year. I accidentally touched the reins in Trail with my second hand, so we were disqualified but lie did so well. I’m not sure how he placed in Ranch Riding, but I know he didn’t get last. Instead, Miracle was also entered Ranch Riding and got last for him. Great... Miracle did the rest; Reining, Barrels, Poles, Western Pleasure, Western Horsemanship, Halter, and Showmanship. Reining; he backed up 20 feet in the middle of the pattern, then I touched the reins again, which got us disqualified. Barrels and Poles we do just for fun, and well ... it wasn’t fun. He refused to go around the second barrel, then he broke pattern in poles. Western Pleasure; he was racing the other horses the entire time and wasn’t consistent in his speed. Western Horsemanship; he messed his leads, and he refused to just go past the gate. Halter; he won Grand Champion Appaloosa, in which he was the only one. Finally, we did Showmanship, and well ... We did much better than I thought I would. We placed third behind two really talented girls and I feel we did pretty good there. So, basically what I’m trying to say is that I need a better horse or maybe someone just needs to teach this brat a lesson. My horse project this year was really, just disappointing. We scraped out the stalls, loaded our tack and horses, and then moved on to the next big thing. 

Then comes the cattle. We decided on Ford for the steer we would take to the fair. I would have taken both, but I also had a heifer along for the show that I named Lily (we have a flower trend going with my breeding beef). Lily is a, how to put it. .. difficult heifer. She would run off with us at the ranch while we were halter breaking, or trying to halter her. At the fair she dragged my uncle through the dirt but my cousin led her just fine, so I’m thinking that she’s not a fan of dudes (well, it’s her funeral if she doesn’t like the only people that take care of her}. 

The dog show is always the same time as the Bred & Fed, so I’m rushing back and forth, doing dogs then showing a steer, then back to the dogs. Jazz did great in confirmation, winning Grand Champion in the Herding Group, then Grand Champion Best of Breed. Ozzy, uh, got last in the Herding Group ... Poor guy. Because I had two dogs in the same class I asked Carly Keller to show Jazz for me, and the judge was confused as to why she didn’t show Jazz for Showmanship, but it wasn’t her dog, so ... oops. Carly led Jazz out with the first place prize and me in last with Ozzy (I both won and lost, awesome}. Jazz then won Grand Champion Obedience On Leash B. I have no idea how, but I’m not judging. Ozzy beat Jazz in Rally, winning Grand Champion and Jazz with Reserve (Yay Ozzy!}. I was very surprised that Ozzy won anything, but I’m proud of him nonetheless. Then, came the costume contest. Jazz was a Crazy Barrel Racing Dog and Ozzy was a Rootin’ Tootin’ Dancin’ Cowboy. Jazz won Grand Champion and Ozzy got third but because the placing is judged by the crowd, Ozzy would have gotten Reserve but I felt bad because the other dog was dressed as a cute little Peacock and it was adorable so I let her win. 

Moving back into the cattle; Ford was such a sweet heart and he did so well. He didn’t get complete last in the steer show and by default, being the only Hereford Steer, he won Over-all Grand Champion Hereford Steer. Lily showed pretty well considering that I wasn’t killed. Lily had to go back into the ring, which I was not excited about, but I got shoved in for the over-all heifer. We lost... badly. I honestly didn’t care though because she cooperated through the entire thing and only tried to kill me once (new record}! 

As the week came to a close, the sale wrapped up just about everything. Ford sold for $3,000 with resale and a $200 add-on. Pretty good. We scraped out the tie outs, loaded the equipment, cleaned the stalls and loaded up the cattle and just like that, the fair was over. We packed our things and drove home for a nap and a shower. Then, some record books that won’t actually get done until the night before and thank you notes that will sit on the table for a month before I do them. 

I learned that heifers are just plain evil, my horse is an even bigger jerk than I thought him to be, and teaching a Miniature Aussie is really hard when he acts as if he has brain damage. I will apply the knowledge that the small clippers are not to be used for clipping a heifer head (or you’ll end up with a very chunky haircut, mom}. My year was important to me because I got to experience a lot of projects all in one year, even when some experiences weren’t very positive, I still had so much fun with all of my animals. I think that concludes my very, very, very busy 4-H year (Praise Jesus}.