TROY, N.Y. — 2020 has resulted in a lot of “firsts” for many of our standard equine educational events, most of which ended up going virtual. Public speaking is a cornerstone project of the Rensselaer County 4-H Program. Rensselaer County 4-H had 20 youth who participated in our local virtual Horse Communications event.
Exceptional presenters were Kaylie Millar of West Sand Lake, Lily Czub, Ava Severance and Paige Spiess all of Schaghticoke, Our four Exceptional Presenters went on to compete in the NYS Virtual Horse Communications contest which resulted in Paige placing 4th, Kaylie 2nd and Lily 1st for Senior Horse Communications and Ava Severance 7th for Junior Presenters. This was no easy task. Our members this year not only had to develop and deliver a stellar presentation, they also had to become videographers and master sharing their large video files!
Our annual Regional Hippology Contest, hosted by Rensselaer County CCE also was held virtually. Members Lindsey Oswald and Nicole Tilley placed 1st respectively for the Junior and Senior Divisions and went on to participate in the NYS Virtual Hippology Contest where Lindsey placed 12th .
We thank everyone who played a role in supporting our members through these local, regional and state journeys – Sarah Bagley NYS Horse Communications Chair and Team, Donna Walker NYS Hippology Chair and Team, Barbara Jones Cornell University, County Coaches Laura Schreiner, Rebekah Colarossi and Amber Oswald, our county evaluators Regina Cristo, Justin Russell, Katie Navara, Amber Oswald, Shari Mantini, Kelli Grab and teen evaluators Amanda Thrasher and Lindsey Oswald.
Unfortunately, we had teams preparing for Horse Bowl but there were no Horse Bowl opportunities in 2020.
If you are interested in this or other 4-H Youth Development programs, contact your local Extension office. Cornell Cooperative Extension is an Equal Opportunity Programmer and Employer.
–Cornell Cooperative Extension
Rensselaer County
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