Posted: December 10, 2025
A Pennsylvania 4-H horse judging team — Richelle Jones, of Greene County, Madilyn Burket, of Lawrence County, Annabelle Ewing, of Huntington County, and Sydney Arean, of Cumberland County — recently competed in the Eastern National 4-H Horse Roundup.
Held at the Kentucky Fair and Expo Center in Louisville, Kentucky, the event saw 270 4-H'ers from 26 states participate. During the event, 4-H members compete in several contests, including public speaking, presentations, hippology, horse bowl, and horse judging.
The Pennsylvania horse judging team placed sixth in the team overall performance category, seventh in the team halter category, and eighth in the team performance category.
Ewing placed ninth in the overall individual category and 10th in the individual performance category. In the public speaking competition, Adrian Davis, of Franklin County, placed fifth.
Kirsten Dubbs, Penn State Extension 4-H animal science specialist, explained that horse judging involves evaluating and ranking horse classes and providing oral justifications for the rankings.
"Participating in animal science knowledge contests teaches youth about their 4-H animal science projects and increases their knowledge level about those projects," Dubbs said. "In addition, these contests provide opportunities to learn and practice a host of other life skills, such as decision-making, teamwork, evaluating on the fly, memorization, and recall."
Support for the horse judging team was provided by the Pennsylvania Livestock Association, the Pennsylvania 4-H Horse Program development committee, and the Pennsylvania 4-H Livestock Judging Endowment.
Administered in Pennsylvania by Penn State Extension, 4-H is a nonformal educational youth-development program of the United States Department of Agriculture that helps young people develop knowledge and skills to become capable, caring, and contributing citizens. To find your local program, visit the Pennsylvania 4-H website.
