PANTON, Vt./ESSEX, N.Y. — Lydia Visser of Visser Farm in Panton is a member of the Coyote Ridge Riders 4-H club in Essex County, N.Y. Earlier this year she attended the New York State 4-H Horse Bowl competition.
The primary objective of Horse Bowl contests is to provide an opportunity for youth enrolled in 4-H horse projects to demonstrate their knowledge of equine related subject matter in a competitive setting where attitudes of friendliness and fairness prevail. It is also hoped that these contests will provide educational experiences for both participants and spectators.
The state competition had over 100 4-H youth competing between the Junior and Senior levels. Visser was competing as her first year in the senior division and her first time at a state event for 4-H. She came in 2nd place out of more than 48 seniors competing that day. This placing allowed her to qualify to compete at the Eastern National 4-H Horse Round Up Competition in Kentucky last month.
At this national competition there are over 300 youth participating and over 20 states represented. Nationals is not only a great opportunity for 4-H youth to make new friends from other parts of the country, it is also a place for youth to learn what hard work and dedication will do for you.
Lydia Visser spent seven months studying every packet of horse bowl questions, and every resource that the questions are made from each year. So much studying has been done that even her younger siblings have remembered horse bowl questions and can recite them off the tops of their head. Lydia also has been working hard to help reach her goal to help cover the cost to attend the trip.
There were over 300 youth competing at nationals, these youths were competing in Horse Bowl, Horse Judging, Hippology, and Horse Communications. Out of all the youth competing, Visser came in third overall, and the New York Horse Bowl Team came in third as well.
All those in the Coyote Ridge Riders 4-H club congratulated Lydia Visser on her fantastic results.