Projects and Activities

Horse Project

Minnesota 4-H Horse Project is the largest of all the animal science projects in Minnesota. Members have a variety of activities including participating in shows, trail rides, endurance riding, quiz bowls, judging teams, hippology teams or western heritage. Members are asked to use the 4-H Horse Achievement Program to guide their project activities. If you are interested in joining the 4-H Horse Project, contact your local County Extension Office.

Training Project

The Minnesota 4-H Horse Training Program has been designed to challenge and help you train your untrained horse using a step-by-step process. You will notice that each step builds on the previous one. As you work through the steps to become more proficient at training horses, you will develop skills that will be of use to you later in your life. When you pass STEP 6, you will have proved to yourself and others that you have the patience, ambition, and persistence to follow through a challenging task.

Horseless Horse Project

Horseless Horse is a project involving those members whose family does not have a horse. It is a good introduction to horses and provides the opportunity for those who will never have a horse. Each county offers different activities in their Horseless Horse Project. When registering the Horseless Horse Project, look under Exploring Animals.

Achievement program

When you enroll in the horse training program, the Horse Member Achievement Program will be part of your project records. It has five levels to help you learn horse-related skills. As with the Horse Training Program, you have two years to complete each level.

Hippology

Hippology is an activity that can make learning fun for 4-H members by letting them exhibit their knowledge and understanding of equine science and husbandry in a friendly but competitive setting.

Horse Judging

Horse judging consists of making a careful study of animals, measuring them individually against a commonly accepted ideal. Horse judging is an art where an authoritative person expresses his or her opinion of a class, by his or her order of placement. A educated judge should be able to express his or her opinion orally to reinforce the order of placement.

Western Heritage

Minnesota 4-H Western Heritage is not a project, but an activity to help youth explore and preserve our Western Heritage. As youth move through the program, they will explore our Western Heritage and develop an appreciation for it; learn to balance competition and education; learn safety skills; develop tools of sportsmanship and realistic goal setting; and develop leisure opportunities.

Speech and Demonstration

It is never too early to think about doing a presentation for the 4-H Horse Speech and Demonstration Contest that is held in conjunction with the State 4-H Horse Show in September. As you prepare for a presentation for a local 4-H project meeting or monthly club meeting, give some consideration to further developing your idea into a demonstration or project talk that you can give at the State Show.

Horse Related

Horse Related is part of the Horse Project. You create a project that does not use a horse. It can be equipment that you will use, a report or display on research you have done, or anything else you can think of. It just needs to be 'horse related'. The same type of projects that members of the Horseless Project do.

Paint Horse Contest

Eagles Ridge Ranch, River Falls, WI, in cooperation with the Minnesota 4-H Horse Association announce the eighth WIN A PAINT HORSE competition, open to all Minnesota 4-H members actively involved in or planning to be involved in the 4-H horse project.