JULY 1995 BACK ISSUE

Part of Horse Previews Magazine website. Posted on 7/1/95; 10:00:00 AM.

The Evergreen Morgan Youth Club

The Evergreen Morgan Youth Club, consisting of 10 members, is one of three Morgan Youth Clubs in the state of Washington. It meets twice a month in Monroe, Washington.

At the meetings members work on horsemastership badges. There are five levels of competition and after completing each level they earn a badge. The first badge is the Bulrush, which is on basic horsemastership and Morgan history. The highest level, the Justin Morgan badge, is a lot more difficult, taking quite a while to complete. Some of the requirements are: demonstrating proficiency in seven areas of horsemastership, adopting a horse minded person for three months, and developing concepts of desirable and practical stable construction. One of the former members of the Evergreen Morgan Youth Club, Jennie Meyer, just recently completed this badge.

Every year at the Morgan Grand Nationals there is a Youth Club of the Year contest. The Evergreen Morgan Youth Club is competing this year. This contest includes a notebook telling what the club has done in the past year including field trips, community service activities, fund raisers and autobiographies of the club members. An educational display and slide presentation are also required.

Some club members compete at the local shows in the Youth Club of the Year Award. This event has four sections: a written test, a riding pattern, judging and a speech. There are two divisions: the Junior 13 & under and the Senior 14-21. At the Grand Nationals, if one wins the Senior Division, one wins a trip anywhere in the world for a month to promote the Morgan breed. Jennie Meyer also won a few years ago and went to Spain. The Evergreen Morgan Youth Club also goes to the Heritage Festival and promotes the Morgan there. They met Geir Petter Petterson when he finished a trip across the United States on a Morgan, ending in Seattle, where there was a parade in his honor. They also carry the flag and sell horse treats as a fund raiser at some of the local shows.

The main activities of the club are learning about the Morgan and having fun! The last club show attended was the Morgan Region 8 Championship in late June. Best of luck to the Evergreen Morgan Youth Club competing for the Youth of the Year Award!

Evergreen Morgan Youth Club, President, Jennifer Brunner, 22016 Highbridge Road, Monroe, WA 98272