Butler County 4-H members place at state horse show
Hours and hours spent in the riding arena with her horse could be tiring for Brianna Gillis, who began training with her horse, Simon, in 2019.
All that riding paid off, however, when Brianna and Simon, known under the ring name Tycoone Harry, traveled Sept. 23 to Grange Fair Park in Centre County for the state 4-H Horse Show.
Brianna, 16, won first place in the state for hunt seat equitation on the flat for ages 15 to 18, and ninth place in classic hunter under saddle horses for ages 14 to 18.
Brianna said she has been riding since she was 10 years old, but this was her first year competing at states, so the final results surprised her.
“My horse and I had always done pretty good, but I didn't expect to win first,” Brianna said.
In Pennsylvania, the state competition is the highest level a rider can reach in horse competitions through 4-H, making Brianna the top competitor in hunt seat equitation on the flat this year.
Amy Metrick, Butler County 4-H educator, said multiple local 4-H members made the top 10 at states in several categories, and they all got there by competing in a statewide circuit.
“The kids that have horse projects participate in the local horse roundup,” Metrick said. “They place in top to move on to district show, which was in at the Crawford County Fairgrounds, and if they win there they go on to states.”
Brianna was the only Butler County 4-H member who won first place in a category at states, but six other local members placed in the top 10 in different events.They included Jennifer Cichra, Jessica Cornell, Maura Maloney, Charlotte Miller, Laine Palmer and Hayley Stein.Maura, 13, a member of the Lucky 7 4-H club from Chicora, won second in ranch riding for ages 8 to 13, and sixth place in open trail horses in the same age group.She said training with her horse, Sweets, was difficult, but the bond that develops between a horse and rider can bring them through obstacles together.“Whenever I started working with him, he was not very good at poles and it took us a long time to be able to execute the things we can do now,” Maura said. “The horse has to learn to trust his rider to be able to do everything.”Ranch riding, according to Maura, has competitors memorize a specific pattern that a rider has to take their horse through. Maura said trainers participating in ranch riding are supposed to mimic how a rider maneuvers a horse around an actual ranch.Hunt seat equitation on the flat is similar in that a rider has to take his horse through a course, but Brianna said it is mainly about the showmanship the duos are able to perform.“You basically do a pattern and they judge how smooth the ride is,” Brianna said. “It has a lot of work that goes into it.”This being the state first competition for Maura and Brianna, they both said they were nervous, but felt excited to compete. Ranking highly in their classes was not their only mission.“I don't really care what place I get, what ribbon. Just being here is enough,” Maura said of her thoughts at states. “I'm just going to do my best and whatever the outcome is what it is.”After spending so much time training with their horses, the bonds Brianna and Maura developed with their steeds were some of the best rewards. Maura said all that training would have been worth it, even if she didn't take a high honor.“We are like best friends,” Maura said of Sweets. “We completely understand each other, work together so hard and having that bond is so special because that makes us do better.”
