Carroll Whiteside 4-H’ers place in state Horse Bowl competition

URBANA — Carroll and Whiteside county youths with a passion for horses participated in recent statewide educational contests related to the equine industry, with several earning awards.

University of Illinois Extension’s 4-H educational programs enhance members’ knowledge of horse health, breed characteristics, management, and feeding. That knowledge and skills were tested during the State 4-H Horse Bowl, Hippology and Horse speaking contests April 12 and 13 on the University of Illinois campus. Horse ownership is not a pre-requisite in either the educational programs or contests.

Horse Bowl functions much like a scholastic bowl in a school setting, with an emphasis on equine knowledge with youths competing both individually and on teams.

Local top finishers in the Junior Division include Devin Burrs, Carroll Whiteside County, second place; and McKenzie Merboth, Carroll Whiteside County, 10th place.

In Junior Division Horse Bowl Teams, Carroll Whiteside placed third overall. Members of the team included Devin Burrs, McKenzie Merboth, Quinn Temple, Paisley Hardt and Katie Merboth.

In Hippology, youths field a wide range of questions, ranging from breed identification, anatomy, tack identification, and feed samples to disease management, parasite identification, and quality assessment. They also are given a timed problem-solving challenge they must solve on the spot in front of a panel of judges.

Top local finishers in the Hippology contest include Abigail Schmidt from Carroll County, seventh place senior division; Devin Burrs from Carroll County, first place intermediate division; and McKenzie Merboth, seventh place junior division.

The Illinois 4-H Horse Speaking contest helps youths gain self-confidence, courage and persuasiveness; share ideas with others; and develop the ability to speak in public to inform others about horse-related subjects and the 4-H Horse project.

Youths compete in one of five divisions, and all presentation subjects must pertain to the horse industry, or be horse related, and be original and factual. Presentations cannot involve the use of live animals; however, model animals may be used.

In Senior Individual Presentation, Allison Burrs of Carroll County took first place. She will have the opportunity to give her presentation again at the national competition in Louisville, Kentucky this November. Allison also received second place in Senior Interpretive Reading and third place in Senior Extemporaneous.

In the Team Presentation Senior Division, Allison Burrs of Carroll County and Hannah Wenzel of Saline County took first place. This team presentation also qualified to compete at the national contest. In the Junior Division, McKenzie Merboth of Carroll County placed fifth in Interpretive Reading and seventh in Individual Presentation.