Kinsman teen rides highs, lows of horse showmanship

By ED RUNYAN

runyan@vindy.com

BAZETTA

Kiersten Tricker of Kinsman was only 3 when her family met a man with a terminal illness who needed to get rid of eight mini-horses.

They took all eight to add to the one Kiersten’s mother, Tanya, already owned — and Kiersten’s love of horses was born.

“They were my pasture pets,” said Kiersten, now 15.

When she was about 10, she got a horse named Chase to show at the Trumbull County Fair. But after 18 months, Chase developed severe colic, a digestive condition, and suddenly died just days before the deadline to register to show him at that summer’s fair.

The family found a horse named Atticus on the internet and quickly bought him. Kiersten showed him at the fair a month later.

“I was planning to have a good fair with him,” Kiersten said of Chase. “It was an emotional time. He was my best friend.”

Making it easier when she received Atticus was his distinctive flaming blue and black halter — nearly identical to the one she used on Chase.

Tanya remembers Kiersten saying that halter made it seem as if getting Atticus was “meant to be.”

Buying Atticus also started a friendship with the young woman who sold Atticus to her. They talk on the phone, and this year they will participate in a competition at the fair in which a 4-H member and an adult ride the same horse separately.

The years Kiersten has had Atticus have been good as they have qualified the last three years for the state fair in Columbus. Last year, Kiersten and Atticus won the 9-to-13 age group perpetual showmanship trophy and the revolving horsemanship trophy at the Trumbull County Fair, and Kiersten showed Atticus in three classes at the state fair.

Despite the success Kiersten and Atticus have had, Atticus has a weakness that one of those mini-horses from 12 years ago is able to solve — Atticus hates to be alone in his stall at the fair. He’s fine when he’s in the ring competing but not when he’s alone.

So the fair has allowed Penny – half as tall as Atticus – to occupy the stall next to Atticus even though Penny doesn’t compete in any events. “Penny has been the baby sitter for Atticus,” Kiersten says.

And it has made all the difference.

When Tanya put the two horses together for a photo this week at the fair, it was apparent how attached they are to each other. But when Tanya took Penny away afterward for a short walk, Atticus showed his frustration, circling and snorting in his pen, obviously unhappy until Tanya brought Penny back.

Kiersten, who will be a sophomore at Joseph F. Badger High School this fall, has a number of interests besides Atticus, including playing several sports. She values the friends she’s made while showing horses and likes taking Atticus to the state fair because of the greater variety of competitions there.

Darla Garlock of Johnson, adviser for Kiersten’s 4-H club, A Touch of Class, says members frequently develop lifelong friendships. They also learn leadership skills from mentoring the younger children as they come along, learn the responsibility of caring for their animals, and they learn to be gracious, because “they’re not always going to win.”