Reader Story: New on The Cyber Saddle Fridays!

Now that Karyn "K.C." Cowdrey has moved on to other things, we're looking to fill our Friday blog postings with something a little more horsey than a desk jockey like myself can come up with. For the moment, we're open to reader-submitted content. Have a horsey story? Send it to editor@nwhorsesource.com. We can't guarantee it will be posted, but as the stories come in, we'll try to share as many as possible. Feel free to comment on other people's stories and start up a discussion--make it a true community!

Stories will be posted as submitted, so please keep them all-ages-appropriate and relevant to the Northwest horse community, or we'll be unable to share them.

Here is our first, from Doris J. Keith-Hoitt:

My Testament on 4-H

Waaaaay back in the 60’s when my children were small we used to go to a friend’s Chinese restaurant over on the U of O campus. There were many Vietnamese students who frequented her place and one in particular liked to play with my little daughter. He missed his family and my friend told me to allow it so I did. He was a very nice young fellow and he asked if he could ‘tell my future’. I told him I didn’t believe in such things but he insisted on reading my palm. “You raise maaany children!” he told me with a big grin. I laughed and told him I had two children and wouldn’t be having any more. “I not say you ‘have’ many children – I say you ‘raise’ many children!! 

 

Over the years I didn’t give this much thought but lately I have re-thought the young foreigner's odd prediction. Whey my daughter was young I inherited a 4-H club. At one time there were 19 in that group. Later while I lived in Iowa I had another club. There were 6 in that one. Now I have a third group and there are 6 young women in the “Horizon Riders.”

“I raise many children--.”I don’t flatter myself that I am raising these young people but I do get to have a hand in it. For that I am grateful. I even have a girl in my club whose mother was in my first group. These young people are wonderful. They make me laugh - - They make me cry. We learn, we live and we play together. In the past two years these people have become a real team. One girl lost her wonderful gelding. The club went through this loss with her and they mourned together. One girl fell off her horse and had to go to the hospital in an ambulance. Her favorite team-mate rode with her – holding her hand and keeping her calm. These people have real problems like everyone else but they face them together. They know there is always a gang of real friends standing at their back.

I’d advise you to have a 4-H club for the kids - - but actually it’s for you. Having this club gives me a reason to get up on Saturday mornings. Dragging them and their parents to an auction gives us all something to look forward to. Attending clinics, meetings, shows and Expo is fun, exciting and educational. These young people ‘will’ find a place to fit in. My hope is that place be hopeful, safe and positive.

Sharing in the lives of these young people is wonderful. They are beautiful inside and out. I encourage you to consider becoming a 4-H leader. Everyone has ‘A’ talent they can share and teach. Our group has many interests. First is horsewomanship, then there is cooking, and there are sewing and photography. Now we have become the first ever in our county to take up guns. Even my husband became a leader so that he could lead the trap-shooting with the girls and their families.

Think it over!! I bet you have at least one talent you could teach or help teach. The young people today need the positive confidence building experiences they receive in 4-H. We all have talents. We just need to take the action to share ourselves. That’s all the youngsters really want. They want you to share yourself.   -   -   -   Just do it!