Welcome to WSPHC's Junior Paint Horse Club...

The event was held February 13 at Sherman Oaks Arabians in Yelm, home of Pitt Performance Horse. Gladys Doidge collected all of the kids’ Valentines for judging, and had a warm-up judging process to get them thinking about how to evaluate and score a class. She thanked the group for coming and introduced our guest speaker and judge, trainer Wess Pitt. Wess did a fabulous job – he was very interactive with the crowd and elicited a great deal of participation.

The clinic started with a Showmanship lecture by Wess. He talked about what will help win a class, as well as things that could cause you to lose a class. Next, he gave a live demonstration with Socks On Special. It was funny when he tried to demonstrate things NOT to do, and “Kira”, who knows better than to do things incorrectly, did everything she could not to make the mistakes that Wess was TRYING to get her to do. We ended the Showmanship section with a mock class, which Wess judged and placed and then discussed his reasons for his placings with the crowd.

The next demonstration was a Halter class. Wess explained how a halter class was run, had one horse go through the presentation process, and then placed the horses. He brought each horse, one at a time, up to the front so the crowd could get a good view of them, and then talked about the pros and cons of each horse. There were some great questions asked by the kids and parents alike, such as, “My horse has a long back. Will he still be able to be a good performance horse?” And, “That horse seems really straight in the hocks. Is that a good thing?” Wess explained differences in conformation in specialty halter and performance horses.

While the group saddled and warmed up for the Western Pleasure class, Gladys presented the awards for the Valentines the kids had made for their horses. There were many cute and creative Valentines, and one of them looked good enough for people to eat! That Valentine was going to one very lucky horse!

Our last class was Western Pleasure. Wess asked the crowd how they would place the class, and then explained how he placed them and why. He fielded questions from the crowd as to why he placed them that way. He prompted discussion about which horse they thought was the steadiest, and which horse was the best loper. The crowd participation was very good.
Participants in the clinic included WSPHC club members Cheryl Corrigan and her horse, Chance’s Majesty; Donna Edwards and her new horse, Ready To Ante Up; future Junior members Kat Leavitt with Socks On Special and Miranda Morse with Along Came A Zippo. Deb Cablao of Hillsboro, OR, also participated with her young horse, BR Gallant Scribbles. Club member Marylee Peters and Holly White were unable to attend, but volunteered their horses, Justa Lil Hot Flash and I’m Double Zippe, d for the demonstrations.
The clinic was a great success. Everyone had a good time – and learned a lot! A special “Thank You” to Gladys Doidge for coordinating the event and also to Wess and Tara Pitt of Pitt Performance Horse and Gwen and Jim Sherman of Sherman Oaks Arabians, for hosting the event.

Whether you show in the paint shows, trail ride, or do 4-H with a paint horse. WSPHC's youth club is a great experience for one and all.

Report from Amanda Doidge WSJPHC;

October 1st I traveled with Jeri Stone and Gladys Doidge to Colorado Springs to attend the AJPHA Youth Leadership Conference.

Oct. 2, Our speaker was; Phaelen French; she is an Air force Cadet,

She talked about making good choices in our lives. She showed photo’s of herself riding as a young girl and gave a very upbeat talk.

We than traveled by bus to La Forest Center, out in the woods, operated by Adventure Guild. It was a low level rope course, teaching team work. We had a very good group, that at first was out for themselves, well after a while we got the idea if we worked together we could do the challenge of the ropes. I came up with the idea if we all hug & love, we could work together, it became the saying of the day. Just Hug & Love, to get the job done. We had such fun and a ton of laugh’s

That evening we had a nice dinner. The next day we had another speaker, Cindy Schonholtz, talking on the problem’s of unwanted horses and Animal right activists. Rodeo & horse show’s having to be very careful on how the animals are cared for.

We had groups work together on getting more youth’s involved in our Paint clubs. A lot of brain storming and a lot of good idea’s came out of that.

Our Youth Actitive director is Shelly Switzer-deBaranson, from the APHA.

Amanda Doidge

Congratulations to club member, Lynsey Peebles and her gelding, A Subtle Impulse on their successful AJPHA World Championship show. They picked up two new Reserve World Championship titles and several top ten and finalist awards!!!

This year, with the supervision of club member, Donna Edwards, the Washington State Junior Paint Horse Club is running the Star Spangled Classic's Silent Auction and Exhibitor BBQ. They need items donated for the auction. We've already had some great things donated like several equine massages, tack, and other items...

The WSJPHC is looking for a logo. All junior members are invited to design a club logo and submit it to the club.

On Valentine's Day, February 14, 2009 the WSJPHC held a judging clinic at Slater Stables in Olympia, WA.