Questiong about 4 H for horses?

Question

ok so I just asked a question about english classes but..I haven't joined a 4 H class yet..soo my question is.. how long until I can join a group and going into horse classes at my fair?

a friend said I only had till may and may is over so i thought I could join and go to the fair :( whats your thoughts?

Answer 1

You can join 4-H anytime you want around here. There's no dead-line to become a 4-H member. As far as joining in time to be in a show you would need to talk to an extension agent. But don't join just to be in a show. You can have a lot of fun, learn a lot and make a bunch of new friends.

Answer 2

I'm sorry the deadline to join a club was April 10th and you have to be in a club to do fair, and the deadline to sign up for fair was last week, sorry, you can join a group in October though : )

Answer 3

Sorry, I know I'm supposed to be answering the question; but what does 4-H mean?

Answer 4

Our deadline is in May.

Jo- do you know what a 4-H club is? well i think its like Head, Hands, Heart, and Health. And those are the 4 "H"s. Sorry thats confusing. There is this whole pledge in 4H.

Answer 5

I was in 4-H for 9 years before I came of age limit (adult). (California: Kern River for 3 and Calloway for 6 years).

How it works is you join a 4-H and get established in shows once you get an okay from the Horse Leader that you and your horse is safe to ride etc. I had to do 3 "field days" at my horse leader's house with other members before I was allowed to show.  That is where she was able to watch our riding, give me some help and let my horse be "used to" riding with other people for a show ring. Really learned what to expect by doing these "field days"!

Once you go to a few shows and get the hang of how some shows are done (not every show will run the same or be the same), you can begin to get ready for the fair.

The fair always ran the third week of September to the first week of October (3 weeks).  ALWAYS either started the day before my birthday or on my birthday lol (21st of September).  Back then, we used to be able to keep them in the barns (isles of them) til fair ended. Even got to stay over night in the tackrooms as some horses freaked out if first time there. Since 2 years ago that they tore down those barns and re built the arena, they don't allow over night stayers anymore. (which makes it more of a pain as they don't show the horses during the actual fair anymore!!!!).

The fair does have a deadline for enteries.  It normaly cuts off enteries August 20th-25th for horses.  Normally, the fair book doesn't come out til June/July for people to begin to enter.

YOU DON'T ALWAYS have to be in a club to show in the fair!

My last year, I was not in the 4-H club. There is an age group called "Independent" riders  who don't have an established club or sponser etc.  You can even call the Kern County Fair in Bakersfield, CA to let you know in the past, that is how it was (since 2003, they have remodeled the fair grounds with new rules I don't know about. You can call local 4-H offices to declare it used to be that way too).

So, I would have from January shows up to the July shows to get ready.  My Horse leader would decide of individuals will attend the fair that year (if our record book wasn't up to date, didn't attend a lot of shows or monthly 4-H and Horse Meetings: remember, there is two to attend, and didn't do so well at horse shows, the Horse leader has the right to not allow you to show as they have to sign the "waiver okay form").

BUT you have to check with your local 4-H for the dates and how they run things specifically.

Out of the January through July shows (sometimes we might have an August show), there is some that is called "double points" or "qualifying".

Double points:  At the end of the year, there is an award banquet that awards goes out to high point of the year etc.  There is also points added up for high point and reserve high point for the day too.  Can win saddles, bridles, certificates, supplies etc.

How you get those points is based on age catagory entered (all 13 & younger group, all 14& over group consist of western/english, trail and speed event etc).  

Not sure if the point system changed, but here it was 1st pace: 6 points. 2nd place: 5 points and so forth to 6th place of 1 point.  

Qualifying shows:  Those are shows you can qualify for State shows, that can qualify for National etc.  I qualified my gelding in Western Trail for State Championship by placing 3rd in our local 4-H show. I didn't take him to Sacramento to show because I had horse judging AND speech/demo competitions to do. Not enough time to show my horse.

Need any info. I can sure try to help.

Answer 6

depends on your age, if you are 19 you are to late, if you are 18 your barely to late. In 4-h you would already be 1/2 way in the middle of the season this year, so you would be to late joining because you would have had to be signed up months ago to be able to join this year. If you are 17 or younger you can join next year. Sorry to say but you can not go to the 4-H fair unless you are a member, Next year though.

       4-H is a blast and you should take that oppurtunity to join next year. I'm sorry that you could not join this year. GOOD LUCK NEXT YEAR!

Answer 7

our deadline is May 15th and after that no one can enter into the fair.

so your going to have to wait untill next year to join 4-H and show at the fair. But until then you can do open shows.

Answer 8

Im pretty sure, for our county anyways, that you have to join by the end of june. Call your local extension office and ask them.