The Grant County 4-H Horse Program has grown tremendously this year thanks to a local who is also a former agricultural education teacher with a passion for both "all things equine" and youth. Katee McSpadden taught high school agricultural education in Duncan, Arizona prior to moving to New Mexico twelve years ago with her family to expand on the family business of ford dealerships – she and her husband own and operate Smith Ford in Lordsburg with an anticipated expansion of their Ford dealership to Silver City.
With expansion comes change and that led the McSpadden family to move to the White Signal area, leading them to join Grant County 4-H, which is where this great story begins.
A passion for teaching youth and providing hands on learning applications led Katee to organize and manage a local 4-H horse show series, held at the Southwest Horseman's Arena, where the board welcomed her program with open arms, as they strive to help facilitate the location for youth equine events. This series was a collaborative effort, being sponsored by the Hidalgo 4-H program but held in Silver City and brought in youth from Grant, Sierra and Socorro counties ranging in age from 9-16. Many local businesses and individuals generously sponsored the series to provide great awards for the competitors.
Starting in February, the shows were held once a month, on Saturdays beginning at 10 am for a schooling show, where the youth learned and practiced patterns, proper showmanship techniques and even learning to change leads correctly; lunch was provided and the official show held from 1-4pm, judged by local AQHA professionals who volunteered their time, expertise and kindly offered advice to the youth each month. Events included showmanship at halter, western equitation, working western rail, horse judging and ranch riding. The last show was June 14, with the awards dinner and fundraiser dance to be held on July 19 at the Luna County Fairgrounds. The Luna County Fairgrounds location was chosen to allow the participants from other counties a shorter drive.
To continue the enthusiasm for showing horses in Grant County, there will be an open Equine Expo Clinic provided by Grant County Extension and taught by Katee McSpadden and local equine professionals on July 29 at the Southwest Horseman's Arena. Contact the extension office at 575-388-1559 for more details.
Adults and youth alike are encouraged to participate in an open 4-H horse show at the Grant County Fair on September 18, with buckles for the hi-point winners in each division donated by Smith Ford, Roy Harris and Family and Jeanette Hamilton-Muise.
In addition to providing the opportunity to 4-H youth to learn to show and develop their passions in correct horsemanship, they were given the chance to perfect their horse judging skills which really helped the junior horse teams for Grant County 4-H, who respectively won 1st (Olivia McDonald, Tobe McSpadden, Aydin Frost, Kaci Joe Frost) and 2nd (Makayla Villegas, Reece McSpadden and Rowan McSpadden) horse judging teams, as well as 1st and 2nd hippology teams (same youth) at the Southwest 4-H District Competition on June 18 in Socorro.
To encourage growth for the Grant County 4-H Horse Program and future 4-H horse shows, all are invited to attend a fundraiser dance at the Luna County Fairgrounds on July 19, tickets are $10 when purchased in advance, or $15 at the door. The Gila River Band will be providing family-friendly entertainment and there will also be a silent auction. Tickets for the dance will be available at the Grant County Extension Office, Circle Heart and Country Girls Nursery beginning June 23.
