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Copyright 2008 World Publishing Company. All rights reserved. |
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Horse People: Updates from folks down the road
Courtesy of Roberta Anderson
Fourteen-year-old Kayce Chlarson, the 2009 Junior Miss Rodeo Washington, will make appearances across the state next year.
Your horse friends and neighbors are riding to interesting places and doing interesting things — and we love hearing all about them.
Drop us a note via this Web site and let us know what’s going on. Pictures are always welcome, too.
•• Ephrata’s KAYCE CHLARSON is packing up for some road trips — she’s been crowned 2009 Junior Miss Rodeo Washington.
Kayce, the 14-year-old daughter of Roberta Anderson and Travis Chlarson, will be expected to serve as a role model and promote rodeo at events across the state in the coming year.
A member of the Moses Lake and Eastern Washington Junior Rodeo Associations — as well as the Columbia Basin Barrel Racing Club for two years — Kayce has been riding competitively for seven years.
During the past four years, she’s won numerous Grant/Adams County 4-H awards for performance and gaming.
In addition to being named queen at the October pageant, which was held in Toppenish, she won the horsemanship, volunteerism, and sportsmanship awards.
•• JAMIE JUDD, the newly crowned Appleatchee Riders Queen for 2009, didn't waste any time in assuming her new royalty role.
The 21-year-old Judd saddled up for her first official duty Tuesday, Nov. 11, when she joined dignitaries and marching bands in Wenatchee’s annual Veterans Day parade. The parade preceded a ceremony at downtown's Memorial Park.
Judd, a student at Wenatchee Valley College, earned her crown Nov. 2 after a day-long pageant that included competitions in horsemanship, public speaking, and slide presentation.
The new queen won her title on the back of Nikki, her 10-year-old American Paint mare, a favorite horse that’s expected to foal in April.
•• NOMI STUTZMAN, 11, of Wenatchee and STEPHANIE STIBAL of Orondo were named Volunteers of the Year for Trusting Spirit Horse Rescue at the organization's annual fundraising event Oct. 18. Stutzman received the 2008 Junior Volunteer award, and Stibal earned Volunteer of the Year. Trusting Spirit's founder, Claudia Trapp, presented the honors during the dinner and auction, which raised over $5,000.
•• Back in October, down-on-their-luck horses got a birthday present — a surprise gift all wrapped up in a 10-year-old girl’s love for animals.
CARYNIA SMITH, daughter of Brett and Anna Smith of Seattle, presented checks totaling $220 to Trusting Spirit Horse Rescue in Orondo after asking friends and family to skip giving her birthday gifts and instead give to the horses. The money kicked off fundraising efforts that culminated Oct. 18 at the rescue operation’s Third Annual Fundraising Dinner in Wenatchee.
“I’ve always loved horses,” said Carynia. “And I knew these horses needed help.”
“For an individual donation, this is large amount of money,” said Claudia Trapp, founder of Trusting Spirit. “But for a young person’s donation, this is absolutely huge.”
This is the second year in a row that Smith, whose birthday was Sept. 2, donated money to an animal cause. Last year, she sent checks to the Progressive Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) in Lynwood, Wash.
•• LEIA WATKINS is a horse champ in more ways than one. Five ways to be exact.
The 18-year-old East Wenatchee equestrian took Grand Champion in the top five FFA horse classes at this year's Chelan County Fair. She also nabbed ribbons in three other classes.
Guiding her 4-year-old Missouri foxtrotter, Loddy, Watkins rode to top honors in horse halter, western pleasure, western equitation, English equitation and English pleasure. She gathered additional ribbons in showmanship, bareback, and trail riding classes. She earned the ribbons by meeting or surpassing horsemanship standards used nationally for FFA horse competitions.
The wins follow nearly six years of immersion in the horse world, says Watkins. She got her first horse at age 13 and rode it on her paper route to deliver the Wenatchee World. She later bought Loddy as a foal and has trained her across several disciplines. At the time of this interview, Watkins was about to dash off to her part-time job at a foxtrotter stable.
"I have the distinction," she says, " of having a job shoveling horse manure."
Watkins graduated last year from Eastmont High School in East Wenatchee. She started at Wenatchee Valley College this fall and intends to pursue a degree in animal sciences at Washington State University.
•• Appleatchee Riders office manager TERRI LANDES has become the new poster girl for Wenatchee Valley Humane Society. Well, sort of — no real posters are actually involved. But, in a Page 2 story in the Wenatchee World on Sept. 28, Landes discusses her rescue of and attempts to revive a mother cat and six kittens.
"It's definitely something you have to be passionate about," she said in an interview with reporter Rick Steigmeyer. "But I can't tell you how rewarding it's been. It's so wonderful to nurture."
You can read the World story here.
•• STEPHANIE ROETER, 20, of Cashmere was crowned as the 2009 Lake Chelan Rustler’s Rodeo Queen following competitions Friday, Sept. 5, in Chelan. Roeter topped a field of four candidates from Chelan and Douglas counties in horsemanship, public speaking, and portfolio preparation to earn the honor.
Roeter, the daughter of Steve and Sandy Roeter of Cashmere, is a junior at Washington State University majoring in human development. After graduation, she hopes to focus on a career in physical therapy and developing therapeutic riding programs for special needs children. Roeter was a member of the Ponderosa 4-H Club, WAHSET, and carried flags in the Lake Chelan Rodeo for four years.
Roeter was welcomed as rodeo royalty by former queen AMBER MOORE, 21, of Chelan, who had served as rodeo queen in 2007 and 2008. Also competing for this year’s honors were MICHELLE SCAMAN of Entiat, KRISTEN MATTSON of Cashmere, and JAMIE JUDD of East Wenatchee.
•• DEVAN PFITZER, a senior at Omak High School, was named 2008 Okanogan County Fair Queen during ceremonies on Sunday, Sept. 7. Pfitzer, the daughter of Dan and Becky Pfitzer of Omak, is an active member of the Omak FFA and a life-long exhibitor — finger paintings to market lambs — at the county fair.
After high school graduation in 2009, Pfitzer plans to attend cosmetology school in Spokane to earn a business degree and professional license.
•• Back in July, JACOB BARTH of Quincy fast-talked his way to a first-place win at the second annual International Junior Auctioneer Championship in Nashville, Tenn. The young professional auctioneer, 14, out-yibbida-yibbida’d nine other competitors in the age 12-18 division. Contestants were judged on the clarity of their chant, how well they interacted with the audience, stage presence, and appearance.
This was Barth’s second year at the competition. His first-place award came with $1,000.
For Barth, this auctioneering talent is in the genes. His grandfather, Chuck Yarbro Sr., and uncle, Chuck Yarbro Jr., are auction agents at Chuck Yarbro Auctioneers in Moses Lake. His mom also works at the business. (This report is condensed from a Wenatchee World story by Dee Riggs that ran Aug. 20, 2008.)
