Hosted the First Equine Agility Clinic and Competition
Youth Members of the Missouri Fox Trotting Horse Association took home $1,000 in prize money at the MFTHBYA annual Youth Seminar. The association hosted the first Equine Agility clinic and competition on June 5th at the Missouri Fox Trotting show grounds in Ava, MO.
Prize money was donated by Friends of Sound Horses (FOSH www.FOSH.info) for Agility which emphasizes “sound” methods that incorporates on-the-ground skills and obstacles. One of the goals of the clinic was to encourage youngsters to use ground exercises to strengthen the bond of cooperation between horse and human.
The Equine Agility team gave a demonstration and clinic for the Youth members followed by an open practice on the colorful agility course. Suzanne De Laurentis of Equine Agility said “it was great to see how excited the kids were as we coached them on ways to present obstacles to their horses. Two of the younger boys told us that they couldn’t wait to get home to build some agility obstacles. The obstacles, especially the pedestals and bridges made the ground work fun for both kids and horses.”
The evening Fun Show culminated in 16 youth association members competing on the Equine Agility course. The two major prizes of $500 and $200 went respectively to Anne Wright of Ava, Mo and Madison Mc Cracken of Pomona, Mo. Ashley Howard of Owensville, Mo took home $100. All other entries went home with smaller cash prizes. De Laurentis says “these youngsters really worked diligently with their horses during the earlier clinics and we wanted to send them all home with a little cash! The Fox Trotting Horses are generally friendly and cooperative and easy for the kids to handle.”
Youth members of the Missouri Fox Trotting Horse Youth Association receive complimentaryon-line training videos as well as personal mentoring from Equine Agility.
Wayne Williams, host of “Speaking of Horses” (www.SpeakingofHorses.com) filmed the clinics and the Fun Show Agility competition for an upcoming multi-segment program on Equine Agility. Speaking of Horses can be seen on Pegasus in Houston, Los Angeles, Bakersfield and Fresno and coming this fall to Sacramento, Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, Chicago and New York. Speaking of Horses can also be viewed on demand at www.speakingofhorses.com and in Australia on “Horse Talk TV”.
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Equine Agility is a non-mounted timed sport that is a complimentary training style to any mounted discipline. In Equine Agility, the horse and handler work through a course for a score based on time and accurate completion. Agility training utilizes the strong associations that horses make between objects and actions and makes learning fun which can mean that they maintain a high level of interest.
Equine Agility is the most fun you can have with your saddle off!
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For more information on Equine Agility please visit www.EquineAgility.com