4-Her from Orleans competes at Eastern National 4-H Horse Roundup in Kentucky

Photos and information courtesy of Orleans County 4-H program

Grace Goodrick, front right, poses with her Horse Judging teammates and coach after placing 6th at the Eastern National 4-H Horse Roundup in Louisville, KY.

KNOWLESVILLE – For the first time in recent memory, Orleans County 4-H was represented at a recent national-level 4-H horse knowledge competition.

Grace Goodrich, 17, of Medina, was in Louisville, Kentucky from Nov. 5-8 for the Eastern National 4-H Horse Roundup. Grace was a member of the four-person Horse Judging Team which placed 6th overall.

New York was also represented by four-person teams in Horse Knowledge Bowl, Horse Hippology and Horse Communications. All NYS 4-H teams placed within the top 10.  Twenty-seven states were represented in the competition.

“We are so proud of Grace,” said Kristina Gabalski, CCE Orleans 4-H Program Coordinator. “This is a great honor for Grace and for our county.  Opportunities like this offered through 4-H help youth to grow in knowledge, confidence, and leadership. Grace is always ready to take on a challenge and succeed.”

Grace’s journey to the national-level competition began here at Orleans County 4-H where leader and volunteer Jann Davis spearheaded coaching Horse Bowl and Horse Hippology teams for the Region 1 level. Her team then moved on to the state level competition.

“I cannot tell you how proud I am of Grace Goodrich, Aubree McAdoo, and Morgan Aina (Grace’s Orleans County teammates), who stepped out of their comfort zone in June at the NYS Horse Judging and Hippology Contest,” Davis said.  “Learning to write reasons for Horse Judging and delivering those reasons to four judges without notes is a huge accomplishment.”

Davis explained that Grace qualified individually for the national-level competition. “She made new friends and memories that will last a lifetime,” Davis said.

Davis also acknowledged the Region 1 Horse Bowl team which consisted of Grace, Christina Zaidel, Morgan Aina and Keira Sidari. Grace and Christina went on to the NYS 4-H Horse Bowl at Cornell in May.

“It has been a pleasure coaching these girls and I look forward to working with any Orleans County youth who would like to try their hand at these contests,” Davis added.

Grace Goodrich is shown with 4-Hers from New York State who competed with her at the Eastern National 4-H Horse Roundup.

For the past several weeks Grace has been practicing with her state-level coach via Zoom on Friday evenings.

“Our coach organized different judges each week so that we could learn what you should look for in each class. We watched videos on each Zoom, judging the horses and then wrote a set of reasons on those videos to practice our format,” Grace said.

She added that she watched You Tube videos of horse judging to get even more practice.  “I had to study my horse judging vocabulary and practice giving my reasons for placing classes a certain way,” she said.

Grace said she was nervous during the competition, but she had been very well prepared with so much practice.  “The competition itself was fun for me,” Grace explained.  “I got to put all the skills my coaches taught me into practice to judge nine classes and then give reasons to four judges I’ve never met before about four classes.”

“Two of the classes were Tennessee Walking Horse – one was halter class and one was a country pleasure class,” she continued. “I have only learned about Tennessee Walking Horses through my judging practice. It was fun getting to judge breeds I wasn’t comfortable with and hadn’t seen often. I was so happy with how I did and how my team did, as well.  We all had so much fun getting to know each other over the course of the four days in Kentucky and the bus rides to and from the competition.”

Members of the NYS 4-H team visited Churchill Downs while in Louisville. Grace Goodrich is in the center of the back row.

In addition to the competition, participants visited local equine landmarks including Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Horse Park.  Grace said she especially enjoyed these excursions.

“We saw some horses practicing for races at Churchill Downs.  At the Kentucky Horse Park, we got to see standardbred horses that were cart horses and got to see a show of the different breeds they had there including a miniature horse, a mustang, an Andalusian, and a Gypsy Vanner,” she said. “We saw mounted police horses, and the museum they had there that talked about different breeds of horses, but mainly Arabians.”

She also enjoyed a trip to the Haygard Vet Clinic and was surprised by, “how many horses they treat each day and how many vets they have working there and all throughout the world helping with transferring horses for races, and the vet travels with the horse for the races.”

“Throughout this trip, I have made many memories that will last a lifetime,” Grace said.  “Making tons of new friends from all over the state and even from around the country trading NYS 4-H pins with other states.”

Grace is the daughter of Nicole and Terry Goodrich of Medina. They say they are thankful for everyone who supported Grace in this effort and made this trip possible for her.