THIS MONTH’S BEEN busier than a hive full of honeybees — just jam-packed with horse shows in which overall high-point winners go on to compete at statewide, interstate and even national shows.
Jefferson County Fair got the ball rolling with 4-H winners Sasha O’ Meara, Aleigh Allen, Sarah Talley, Ashley Govia, Carley Lundgren, Jenny Lorecki, Anne Meek, Cara Pace and Sarah Marble qualifying to compete at the Western Washington Fair in Puyallup.
Clallam County 4-H members who qualified for the state fair are Marissa Wilson, Olivia Pluard, Suzanne Heistand, Page Witherow, Kynzie Hendricks, Haley Hodgins, Alisa Lee, Katie Babcock, Lexi LaBelle and Darian Rentas.
Peninsula Junior Rodeo Association held a rootin-tootin, two-day rodeo last weekend.
Association secretary Katie Newton said it consisted of 146 contestants.
The Peninsula rodeo is part of the Northwest Junior Rodeo Association show circuit.
Overall high-point winners in the series are invited to attend the annual National Junior Rodeo Association Finals.
The local PJRA has had several of its members going on to compete and win at the Nationals; most recently Nick “Bucky” Dickson and Carl Bissonette.
PSHA
It was hotter than a horseradish Aug. 15-17 when I went in a caravan with several contestants to the Patterned Speed Horse Association State Finals in Wenatchee.
Participants, spectators and horses were all dripping sweat and feeling lethargic as the thermometer swelled up to more than 105 degrees.
The heat didn’t slow down our Olympic Peninsula team of Gun Powder & Lead’s SEmD Christi Postma, Tanya Hull, Ady Crosby and Brooke Stromberg SEmD from getting a sizzling hot start by winning the Grand Championship award for the event’s first competition, Team Baton.
They also placed second in Team Flags and sixth in Team Poles.
The team, wearing white pants and turquoise shirts with pistols outlined in glitter on the back, also won the weekend’s award for Best Dressed Team.
Christi and her horse, Katie’s (who was running faster than a cat on a hot tin roof), individual wins in the Senior A division included first in Cal Stake and Keyhole, plus second in Rescue Race and third in Figure 8.
Best dressed winner Tanya also placed second in Senior A’s Keyrace and seventh in Figure 8.
Intermediate riders Ady and Brooke placed sixth in two-man stake.
In Barrels, Brooke was sixth and Ady eighth.
In Keyrace Ady was seventh, Brooke placed eighth and Clara Duncan placed 10th.
Figure 8, Ady was fifth, Brooke ninth. In Pole Bending, Taylor Lemon placed fifth. Flags, Ady was fifth, Clara placed seventh, Taylor was ninth.
In Keyhole, Ady was third, Clara was seventh.
In Cal Stake, Ady was fourth, Brooke was eighth and Clara placed 12th.
Ady, dressed as Tonto, and Sam Parks, outfitted as the Lone Ranger, won the Best Dressed two-person team award (thanks to Sam’s quick-witted wife and seamstress, Donna Parks), she also placed fourth in Cowhide race.
Sam and his four-person team, Horse’n Around with Taylor Lemon, Clara Duncan and Mishel Arthur, placed seventh in Team Poles.
Sam & His Gals teammates Brooke, Ady and Christi placed sixth in Bareback.
In Super Senior individual events, Sam place fourth in Flags and sixth in Keyrace.
Christi’s niece, Clarrisa Ramos, won the high-point Buckaroo award at the PSHA Eastside Classic show last weekend.
I leave Thursday for Vancouver, Wash., to watch local competitors compete in the invitation only PSHA Interstate finals against Oregon.
Events
âñ Sept. 7 OPZ performance horse shows at Baker Stables, 164 Four Winds Road in Port Angeles. For more information phone 360-457-6039.
âñ Sept. 7, 3 p.m. Jefferson Equestrian Association horse park “Dancing with Horses” benefit.
Regional champions and local stars will enchant you as they perform with their horses to music from classical to country, from swing to Hawaiian, rock to Fred Astaire.
The setting is the perfect green of the lawn at Winterchill Farm. All proceeds go toward the building of a horse park for Jefferson County and beyond SEmD a place where our young people SEmD can train, practice and compete year-round.
Tickets are $10 in advance or $15 on the day. Children younger than 10 enter free.
Tickets are available from Quimper Sound and the P.T. Shirt. Co. in Port Townsend or by mail.
For directions and mail order ticket information, go to www.jeffersonequestrian.org or contact Linda Mattos at 360-385-5837.
âñ âñªSept. 13 Sequim Ride & Tie event at Lost Mountain Ranch. Includes a 15-mile short course and a 25-mile long course.
There is no cutoff time in ride & tie.
Camping available.
The entry fee is $75.
If you mail your entry in by Monday, deduct $15. All finishers will get a great T-shirt.
All entrants will get pizza and soft drinks.
We will be bringing our amps and microphones and playing tunes during and after pizza feed.
Come play, dance, sing or just be part of the fun. Contact Don Betts at 360-681-5218, rideandtiedon@aol.com or http://www.rideandtie.org/lostmountain_flyer_08.pdf_.
âñ Sept. 19, 20 BCH Peninsula Chapter campout andVIP ride at Mount Muller/Littleton Loop. E-mail bchw_peninsula@yahoo.com for further information.
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Karen Griffiths’ column, Peninsula Horse Play, appears every other Wednesday.
If you have a horse event, clinic or seminar you would like listed, please e-mail Griffiths at ¬Âhorseplay.kbg@olympus.net at least two weeks in advance. You can also write Griffiths at PDN, P.O. Box 1330, Port Angeles, WA 98362.
