By Melissa Kayko
Special to The State News
Horses neighed sporadically and hooves clomped against the hard cement floor as Jodi Pepper gave her horse a quick pat at the MSU Pavilion for Agriculture and Livestock Education on Saturday afternoon.
While closing up the pen for her horse, Camera Loves You, which already displayed a first-place ribbon won in an earlier competition, Pepper relaxed and waited for the competition to wrap up and for the results to be announced.
"I put in a lot of hard work," the high school senior said, adding she took care of the horse for a year for the annual competition at MSU.
After raising them for a year, teenagers from Michigan gathered to present their horses, with names such as Benns Navigator and Northern Moon, at Saturday's 4th Annual Michigan 4-H Standardbred Show and Sunday's Great Lakes 2005 Yearling Sale.
Pepper was one of 12 students who competed in the Michigan 4-H Standardbred Program, which offers an opportunity for Michigan 4-H members to look inside the harness racing industry and work with Standardbred race horse breeders while they complete tasks in taking responsibility for a horse that could later be sold at the Yearling Sale.
The program is organized by the Michigan Harness Horsemen's Association, the Michigan Standardbred Breeders Association and the MSU Extension. Students are supposed to learn the responsibilities that go into caring for a horse, such as nutrition, health care requirements and general management.
On Saturday, members exhibited their Standardbreds in two different categories - confirmation, which concentrated on the build of the horse, and showmanship, which looked at how the horse was handled.
Judges look at how high the horses lift their feet, bone structure, how they move and overall appearance. One flaw could determine the winner.
Pepper said she had done everything to prepare for the competition, including buying top-of-the-line feed and studying different strategies used in selling horses. But that is the hard part of the project, Pepper said.
"I really did end up getting attached to my horse, but I knew coming into the program I would have to sell it," Pepper said.
This program is a learning experience for the students and uses MSU research to apply to their community, said Karen Waite, the equine MSU Extension youth specialist.
The 4-H members attended several workshops throughout the past year on Standardbred care, and participants kept detailed journals documenting the expenses of their horse-rearing. If kept accurately, this documentation gives all of them reimbursement of up to $1,100 for total care, including veterinarian costs.
Horses were to be sold Sunday for prices between $1,000 to $15,000.
The money from the horses is put into a pool to fund next year's program, so they are responsible for keeping the project alive, said June Parmeter, co-director of the 4-H Standardbred Program.
"They learn responsibility and how to work as a team," Parmeter said. "We visit each kid once a year to see how they are doing, and then I don't see them until they arrive for the show. You can really see the difference in their confidence."
With a grin, David Chamberlin pointed out his horse, Rompaway Zoom, a dark brown Standardbred.
"I really enjoyed the chance to take a horse from start to sell, and to be able to train it," Chamberlin said. "It'll be sad to see it go, but when it's ready to race, I'll definitely be in the stands."
