Free Livestock Showmanship Clinic Set for Saturday

By Joel Frady

The North Carolina Cooperative Extension and Ashe Friend of Agriculture will be hosting a livestock and horse

showmanship clinic on Saturday, May 16, beginning at 9 a.m. The clinic will be held at the Ag Expo Site, located on Highway 163 in West Jefferson, and is free and open to youth of all ages.

Charles Young, area agent for North Carolina Cooperative Extension, said that the goal is to teach children how to properly show animals.

"To me, the neat thing about it is you don't necessarily have to have a critter to come," he said, adding that they will provide sheep, goats, horses and possibly cattle for the event.

The morning will start with goats and sheep before instructors illustrate how to properly show a horse in the afternoon.

"What they will learn is everything from how to sheer a lamb, trim the feet, put the halter on or how to lead without a halter," Young said. "They'll learn how to set up in the show ring, how to present the animal properly" and other showmanship techniques so that the judge can see the animal.

Young said that the clinic is geared for children ages six and up, for the smaller animals, but they typically want the children to be ages nine and up for the larger animals. Although some animals will be supplied, Young said they encourage participants to bring their own animals because "we would love to have as many halter-broke animals as we can."

Young said that the goal of the clinic is two-fold. The first goal is "to introduce a lot of kids to livestock that they probably haven't been around before," but also to help the children prepare for the Fourth of July livestock show.

"The way we look at it, any time we can get a kid attached to a halter on an animal, we generally think good things are going to happen," said Young. He noted that it will also teach the children about responsibility and discipline.

Concessions will be available at the clinic, which is scheduled to end at approximately 2 p.m. Young noted that the end time is flexible, however, depending on how the turnout is.

All participants must wear hard shoes, not sandals, and prior experience with animals is not required.

To find out more about the Livestock and Horse Showmanship Clinic, call Young at (336) 846-5850 or click to ashe.ces.ncsu.edu.