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Horse course lassoes crowd
By SEAN BARRON
news@vindy.com
CANFIELD
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William D. Lewis|The Vindicator Attending the Mahoning Valley Horsemen's Symposium Saturday at MCTC in Canfield are l-r Kasey Moucha, 13, Olivia Jarvis, 16. Sarah Montgomery, 17, and Corrine Hammerle, 15. All are involved in rodeo events.
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Monica McKnight, a YSU student and member of the YSU Equestrian Club was on hand for the Mahoning County Horsemen's Symposium Saturday at MCTC in Canfield.
Anyone interested in riding or caring for a horse should first know all of the ropes.
Thanks in part to Bryan Montgomery, that task is a bit easier.
“You should learn everything on the ground before you get on a horse,” Montgomery said during Saturday’s 2010 Mahoning County Saddle Horse Symposium.
He was one of about 40 speakers for the eight-hour annual event at the Mahoning County Career & Technical Center, 7300 N. Palmyra Road. The show featured veterinarians, blacksmiths, trainers and others who represented all disciplines and competitions related to horsemanship, such as barrels, reining, polo and showmanship.
Numerous seminars were conducted on topics that included handling emergencies, safety, nutrition and digestion, basic care, keeping a horse calm and equine dental health.
Also discussed was Cushing’s syndrome, a dysfunction of the pituitary gland most common in horses age 18 to 23. Symptoms include unexplained weight loss, lethargy, poor performance and increased drinking and urination.
Montgomery, director of the Ohio High School State Rodeo’s Northeast Ohio District, taught ground roping. He used a dummy steer and a nylon rope to demonstrate proper techniques, such as where to stand relative to the animal, how to make a loop and how to twirl the rope. A left-handed person should stand to the right of the steer, a right-hander to the left, and aim for the head, he noted.
Also on hand was Montgomery’s 17-year-old daughter, Sarah, a New Springfield High School student and member of the Mahoning Valley Horsemen 4-H Club.
Other important aspects of competitions youngsters need to learn and appreciate are ethics and showmanship, noted Janice Hanna, a Mahoning County 4-H educator.
All first-year 4-H horse members have to take a class in ethics to learn, for example, about being fair and honest in competitions. The class also stresses teamwork, discipline, cooperation and other character traits, Hanna continued.
“Kids should [first] compete against themselves to develop better skills,” she added.
Performance horses, like athletes, are prone to muscle tightness as well as sore backs and joints, so they may require certain adjustments, noted Natalie Beight, a chiropractor with Prima Health Care Inc. of Columbiana.
Beight’s technique is to work on one bone or joint at a time, she said, adding that most such injuries are the result of falls and accidents in the pasture.
Knowing basic equine safety and what to expect while around horses will make any such experience more pleasant, explained Mary Montgomery, owner and manager of Sugar Maple Farm, a horse-training facility in New Springfield.
Youngsters in their first year as 4-H members must view a video on helmets, which are required in Ohio, she noted.
Montgomery’s seminar also was on accident prevention, which includes refraining from feeding the animal hand treats (encourages biting), knowing how to properly tie a horse and avoiding sudden movements.
It’s also important for handlers and riders to recognize a horse’s body language. For example, if the animal’s ears are flapped behind, that usually means it’s unhappy or agitated, explained Kim Moff, who runs a Junior Fair program at the Canfield Fairgrounds. Moff also assisted with Montgomery’s presentation.
Many of the 25 vendors sold items that included supplies, tack, apparel, boots, T-shirts, spur straps and dog collars. Others, such as the Ravenna-based Happy Trails Farm Animal Sanctuary, serve an entirely different purpose.
The 10-year-old nonprofit organization’s primary aim is to rescue, rehabilitate and house horses, pigs, cows, turkeys, ducks, geese and other animals that have been subjected to abuse, neglect or abandonment, noted Sue Buttermore, volunteer coordinator.
The animals are kept there until and if they can be adopted, she said.
The sanctuary has about 10 acres, along with roughly 50 regular volunteers who help animals brought in mainly by law-enforcement personnel or humane officers from all over Ohio and parts of Pennsylvania, Buttermore explained.
Also running a booth were Kate Baun, Monica McKnight and Amanda Eisenbraun, all Youngstown State University students and members of the six-month-old YSU Equestrian Club.
“I graduated from 4-H but didn’t want to be finished, so we made our own club,” said McKnight, of Canfield, a sophomore majoring in nursing.
The three were selling horseback hooks for $5 apiece as well as horse-shaped car fresheners.
The group is trying to collect donations and hopes to start competing next fall, said Baun, a freshman whose major is undecided.