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Youth CalendarPlease send us your news, stories, photos, poems and other youth oriented items for inclusion in the AMHA youth newsletter.

Upcoming Medal ClassesUPHA Spring PremiereApril 20, 2011- April 23, 2011West Springfield, MassachusettsContact: William Beckley(860) 663-0283williambeckley@comcast.net

Mason Dixon Arabian and Morgan ClassicApril 29, 2011- May 1, 2011Quentin, Pennsylvania www.pamorgans.com(717) 273-1276

Key Classic Benefit MorganMay 5, 2011- May 8, 2011Monroe, Washington www.mhcws.org(360) 805-6711

Dixie Cup Spring ClassicMay 5, 2011- May 7, 2011Conyers, Georgiawww.thedixiecup.com(770) 602-2510

For more medal class dates, go to www.morganhorse.com/news_events/event_calendar/?cat=medal_youth

March/April 2011

Contact Information4066 Shelburne Road, Suite 5Shelburne, VT 05482-6908

T 802 985 4944F 802 985 8897

www.morganhorse.com

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Connor Chaffin Farley: 2010 Youth Achievement Award

The AMHA Annual Youth Achievement Award is an annual award presented to a deserving youth mem-ber and recognizes those who have demonstrated a commitment to AMHA, AMHA Youth programs, the Morgan horse, and their community. At just barely 12 years old, Connor Chaffin Far-ley has participated and achieved more than some youth double his age! Among the activities Connor took part in last year were volunteering at six Morgan horse shows; attending the USEF and AMHA Youth Conventions; attending the American Horse Youth Leadership Council convention and clinics; volun-teering at Equine Affaire; competing in three Youth of the Year contests; working for Howie at the Grand National; serving as a regional representative for the AMHA Youth Council; attending several horse clin-ics; and working the booth at the Kentucky Youth Horse Festival, passing out 8,000 Morgan horse tat-toos! He even found time to volunteer on Thanksgiv-

ing Day to feed dinner to those less fortunate at his local Salvation Army! Connor says his Morgans have taught him that everyone needs a best friend; to open up and be nice to all; to share your Morgans with everyone; and that Morgans can take you anywhere. Thank you, Connor, for the dedication you have given to the breed in the past year, you certainly have gone everywhere! We look forward to even more achievements as a youth breed representative for many more years to come! Congratulations!

Katherine Thompson: 2010 Youth Person of the Year

Kay Thompson has been involved with Morgan youth for as long as she has been involved with Morgans! Her recent youth history began with the Hooked on Morgans Youth Club, which she helped found in 1993 and which she was the leader of until 2001. In 1998 she helped Selina Cloutier win the national Youth of the Year Contest and in 2001 she coached her granddaughter, Sarah Miner, to the champion title. She also has had Angela Tuttle, Melissa Gagne, Rebecca Cooper, Emma Nobles, Lesley Wendt, and Madison Cromwell ride at her Highover Morgans and compete in the national contest. For many years, Hooked On Morgans has been

Youth Honors at 2011 AMHA Convention

Check out the new and exciting changes to the 2011 Grand National & World Championship Morgan Horse Show® Youth Activities on page 4!

Kay Thompson and Tory Valway.

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a Blue Ribbon Club, winning the Youth Club of the Year Contest and participating many times in the Educational Display Contest as well. In 2010, the club was the Reserve Youth Club of the Year. Kay also has had countless youth complete many of the badges in the Horsemanship program. Selina completed all the way through Black Hawk and Sarah through Justin Morgan. Kay also has encouraged kids to stay active with the AMHA youth council. One youth Kay has influenced through the years is Tory Valway. At last year’s national Youth of the Year Contest, the topic for the speech section of the contest was to select a Morgan person who has had an impact on your experience with the Morgan breed. Tory selected Kay. She said, “Kay helped me develop ‘horse sense’ and I learned many practical skills that carry over into other parts of my

life. She taught me how to work hard, be patient, ride, drive, handle youngsters and stallions, assist in breeding, recognize quality in a horse, enjoy the versatility of the Morgan, hammer a nail, assemble a round pen, compete in a youth contest, garden, catch a chicken, fix a fence, teach others how to groom and ride, and find humor in everyday chores.” Tory concluded her speech by saying, “If it weren’t for Mrs. Thompson, I may never have become so involved in the Morgan breed and gained so many life skills. I hope to give back some of what I’ve received by being a role model to other youth.” Kay is and always has been an active supporter of all things Morgan youth and we know this involvement will continue for many more years. We applaud and thank her for her efforts and are pleased to honor her tonight as the 2010 AMHA Youth Person of the Year.

The AMHA YouthConvention

By Clea Mae CloutierThe AMHA Youth Convention was held February 24-26 at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel in Boston, Massachusetts. This convention was sponsored by the Granite State Morgan Horse Society and The Maine Morgan Horse Club, Inc., and was orga-nized by Selina Cloutier. Youth members from Vermont, Okla-homa, Nebraska, West Virginia, Virginia, New Hampshire, Mas-sachusetts, and North Carolina attended. The convention started on Thursday with a seminar on how to get involved in the different AMHA youth programs. Taylor Royals, AMHA Youth Coordinator, talked about the AMHAY, programs, and the horsemastership programs. Christine Harb, the 2009 AMHA Youth of the Year, talked about the different aspects of the Youth of the Year contest. Christine spent part of her trip in England and did a veterinary internship with her Youth of the Year prize. Sascha Mills, the 2010 Hunter Seat Gold Medal Champion, talked about the AMHA Medal Program. She shared some of her struggles and how she overcame them to become the Gold Medal Champion. Kate

Foy, the outgoing AMHA Youth Council President, talked about the importance of being involved in the AMHA Youth Council. Sarah Harb, member of the Team Morgan Hunter Seat Team, talked about the Team Morgan Program. She shared pictures of her team and the trip to Stephens College where the first hunt seat Team Morgan competition was held.

(Clockwise from top left) Burnham and Dale Thompson; Kara Katona;Lauren Foy; Sara Foy; author Clea Mae Cloutier.

Continued on page 4

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The next seminar held on Thursday was about college and ca-reer planning. The parts about college were a little over my head, because I am eight years old, but the other people seemed to enjoy it. Sarah Hamilton, the equine program director from the University of New Hampshire, had lots of information. She talked about the University of New Hampshire programs and jobs with horses. There are so many different jobs that you can have with horses! The next presentation was “Photos by Dave & Andy.” Andy Illes and Dave Por-ter talked about finding a job you love. They shared a photo presen-tation that was extremely special to me. The presentation included beautiful photos and one of the photos was of the most important horse in my life that is no longer with us. Her name was Outrageous Fortune and she was the black mare next to the beautiful lady in the yellow shirt, Kass Booth. There were also a lot of really fun pictures too. I was the one who couldn’t keep the horse from eating grass. Next we heard from Steve Davis, the Director of the UVM Morgan Horse Farm. He talked about his job at UVM and his role as an “R” Morgan Judge. Josie Davis, a professor at UVM, talked about the equine programs UVM has to offer. I can’t wait to visit UVM this year! Kathryn Quinlan from the Interscholastic Equine spoke about the emerging saddle seat division. Madison Cromwell talked about forming a team in York, Maine. There weren’t any teams near her, so she founded the York Equestrian Team. Madi is the president of my youth club, Hooked on Morgans. Thursday night we got together for pizza and a horse bowl competition. Friday morning two buses left for Chrislar Morgan Horse Farm in Rowley, Massachusetts owned by Mrs. Chris Cassenti and Mr. Lar-ry Cassenti. We had Morgan judging contest with audience members participating as riders. After the judging contest, some of us got to ride the Friesian “Bouke,” and that included me and Hayley Brooks. Mrs. Cassenti also let us ride her western horse, UVM Opportunity. Connor Chaffin Farley and Katie Mayer both did a great job riding Opportunity. I also got to ride one of the donkeys! Thank you to everyone at Chrislar, it was so much fun! The buses left Rowley to go to Hampton Falls, New Hampshire, and Taylor River Farm. There

was a bridling demonstration and a harnessing demonstration. Mr. Steven DeBolt from Kohler explained how his training is based on comfort. He kept things loose when starting a horse. He also start-ed by long lining. Then there was a beautiful stallion presentation that included my favorites: MEM Bailamos, Treble’s Tanqueray, and CMBF Crown Prince. They let Bailamos run around us and he was super fast. They should have let Bailamos and Tanqueray race! Fri-day night we had a seminar with Jenny Susser, PhD. The name of her seminar was “Power Up! Improve Your Ride Now!” The seminar was very interesting and helpful. We all have our goals written down for the coming year. Saturday morning was the AMHA Youth Council meeting. Re-becca Jones is now the new president of the youth council. Topics covered in the meeting included: raising money for “Justin Time for a Cure,” changes to the Grand National Judging Contest, the new leadline helmet rule and getting more people involved with youth council. After the meeting, I had to go home, but my mom gave me the information for the rest of the convention. Selina Cloutier pre-sented mini-clinics on the youth of the year contest and diseases/ailments. The youth were also interested in talking about Ballot Item 3. There was a lengthy discussion among the youth about this topic. Horsemastership testing was also provided for the youth and more than 30 parts were passed. It was really fun to meet other kids involved with Morgans. I got to meet Sascha Mills and she was so nice. I got to hang out with her a lot. If she didn’t live in Oklahoma, I think we could be best friends. It was also great to meet kids closer to my age who have done amazing things. It was fun to meet Connor Chaffin Farley and Haley Brooks. Thanks to everyone who made the convention pos-sible. I hope to see you all in Orlando next year!

Clea Cloutier is eight years old and from Rochester, New Hampshire. She is working on her Woodbury badge and is looking forward to competing in youth of the year contests and the walk/trot division again this year.

(Left to right) Gaetana D’Alesio Spina; Max and George Liberty.

Complete coverage of the 2011 AMHA Convention can be found in the April issue of The Morgan Horse® magazine!

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West Coast Morgans’ Summer Horse Camp

West Coast Morgans’ Summer Horse Camp will be held June 13-Au-gust 19. That’s ten weeks of fun with Morgan horses in Odessa, Florida. West Coast Morgans (WCM) Horse Camp is limited to 25 students, each assigned his or her own personal instructor. Instruc-tion under saddle or driving is tailored to each student’s experience level, and we can teach beginners through advanced students. We even have summer horse camp sessions for adults! WCM Summer Horse Camp offers half days, full days, and weekly options as well as early bird registration specials and group discounts.

A tentative topic schedule includes:June 13-17: Meet the Morgan HorseJune 20-24: So You Want to Own a HorseJune 27-July 1: Medicine & Health

July 5-8-: All About Driving (Tues-Fri only)July 11-15: Focus on Saddle SeatJuly 18-22: Florida Natural AdventuresJuly 25-29: Focus on Hunt Seat

August 1-5: Focus on WesternAugust 8-12: Focus on Riders and JudgingAugust 15-19: Show Prep & WCM Practice Show

Check out the details on the West Coast Morgans’ website, www.westcoastmorgans.com and email Anne Winograd at AHorseor2@mac.com, with any questions or creative ideas. Let us help you live your dream of fun and safe time with some beautiful horses!

Club NewsCentral New York Morgan Youth

Submitted by Anna GallegosHello Morgan horse club lovers and Morgan horses! When school started up, homework often took priority over horses. Crazy... Right? To start I will give a paragraph to each month in Central New York Morgan horse club. Then for a special treat I will share some poems I have been doing for school. It starts all the way back in SEPTEMBER. It was a beautifully warm day and it just happened to be my birthday. The people who showed up for it were Brianna and me. I have to admit it was pret-ty nice to have three people there (Mary Ellen, Brianna, and me). Since very few people showed up and it was my birthday, Mary Ellen decided to take Brianna and me on a trail ride. Mary Ellen would ride Annie, Brianna would ride Midge, and I would ride good old boy Tigger. We tacked up, got on, and we were off! We rode up the country road and onto the path in the woods. The horses were a little jumpier than usual (except for Midge who is always a hotshot) but it was still a really nice trail ride. We had a wonderful time and when, sadly, the trail ride was over and we were back we untacked the horses and put them away. Then we all had carrot cake (including the parents) with cream cheese frosting. I did let Tigger at least try a little bit but he spit it out onto the floor as soon as he had tasted it. I cleaned it up and we all went home. Then in OCTOBER a lot more of us showed up, in fact now that I think about it everyone showed up except for Little Bri. We all were dressed in costumes. A few of us even brought costumes for our

West Coast Morgans’ Summer Horse Camp.

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Central New York Morgan Youth news continued horses. We all brought trick-or-treat bags. Brianna was a Spanish lady and she rode side-saddle on Midge; Emma was a scare crow and she rode Lucy; Allison was a jockey and she rode Annie; Katie was a zombie and she rode Pav; Katie’s little sister was in a cart with Mary Ellen, and Patti was proudly pulling it; I was on Tigger and we were gin-ger bread cookies. We all took off and and made down the road to trick-or-treat. It was freezing cold and the wind was sharp. When we had come back and untacked the horses we counted up our candy. We made out well. Then we all went home. Then NOVEMBER. Allison and I sadly weren’t able to come because of All-County Orchestra and Band. But it was mighty fun. But a little bird told me that the Morgan Horse Club was held at Brianna’s house and they made gifts for each other. DECEMBER came soon and it was very cold. But that didn’t really matter because we were having our annual pool party in-side. We swam in the pool and laughed and played games and Mary Ellen, for a special touch, turned on Christmas music. We all brought cookies, snacks, and a gift each. Af-ter we swam we got out and opened presents for each other. We all got great gifts from each other. When the first parent showed up we were all shocked. We hadn’t realized that it was time to go. We went home very happy and contented. JANUARY was full of fun as well. First we went inside to do game quizzes. We then

went outside in the cold snowy air, tacked up Tigger, hitched up a sled to Tigger, and we took turns riding in the sled as my moth-er or Mary Ellen rode Tigger. It was lots of fun but it soon was time to go again and so we untacked Tigger, put him away, and went home.

Sincerely, Anna

(Some poetry done for homework is on the

left)

Taylor River TadpolesHave been very busy with a number of youth receiving and working on their Bulrush Badge. Now it’s on to Woodbury! They also went to see the movie Secretariat as a youth field trip. In January they had a very fun Winter Festival barn show and did a bake sale at the show. All the proceeds from the bake sale and half from the show went to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. Although being buried in snow up in New Hampshire, the Academy team is traveling all over for the Winter UPHA Tournaments. At their most recent club meeting they learned about judging the Morgan horse and did practice judging. Then they tested their skills at the Winter Festival in between showing. As February set in, the Taylor River Tadpoles looked forward to the AMHA Con-vention and their upcoming show season. They have a farrier coming in to talk to their group and will continue badge work at their next meeting.

Stoneleigh FarmI always like beingat Stoneleigh Farm

the bestin the fall you can smell

crisp leaves fallingpumpkinsfresh hay

ripe apples horses grazingsaddle soaplistening to

horses chewingthe wind blowing

raindrops on the roofwhen it rains

walking through crunchy leaves to gather apples

for the horses to eatfeeling the first chilly wind

crisp airof the wintersoon to come

bringing with itsnow.

Halfway overTwo grey planks like an X.

Coming quickly closer to it.Reins tied up in a knot.

No stirrups.Closer... Closer... Closer...

Wind brushing against my face.Closer... Closer... Closer...

Ears hear the whistle of the wind.Closer... Closer... Closer... Legs move in and out with

my horse’s breaths.Closer... Closer... Closer...

I let go.We fly into the air.

Flying over the jump.

Arm like wings picking up the wind.

Legs free but hold on tightly to the saddle.

Heart beating in perfect rhythm with my horse’s.Together soaring.

Halfway over.

Call for Youth EditorialThe Morgan Horse® magazine wants youth editorial written by youth, for youth! Each issue includes the column, “Youth Scene.” These are 500-800 word articles written by youth (under 21) along with an illustration (often a photo of author and horse). We love to hear about the things you do with your Morgan outside of the show arena or traditional activities, stories of you and your Morgan having adventures, or something new that you learned with your Morgan. Please email your submissions for editorial consideration in an upcoming issue of TMH to Abbie Trexler, abbie@morganhorse.com.

Youth CalendarPlease send us the dates for your 2011 youth events,

meetings, and fun! And don’t forget to send us your news, stories, photos, poems and other youth oriented items

for inclusion in the AMHA youth newsletter.