Boulder County 4-H Hippology Team Wins National Championship

2021 Arabian Horse Association Youth Contest
October 28-29, 2021
Tulsa, Oklahoma

The Boulder County 4-H Hippology Team competed in the 2021 U.S. National Arabian Horse Youth Association Hippology Contest held at the Tulsa Expo Square in Tulsa, Oklahoma. They were the Champion team in this contest.

The Hippology contest consists of four phases:

  • Examination: members complete an 80 question written exam, and then are shown 20 slide pictures that they must correctly identify
  • Station: members complete a series of 10 stations. They are given two minutes to correctly identity the 10 elements on each station (such as farrier tools, fencing, tack, parasites, poisonous plants, color genetics, etc.)
  • Team Problem: members are presented with a problem and given 15 minutes to prepare their solution and 8 minutes to present to a judge
  • Judging: members must place in four horse show classes (2 performance classes and 2 halter, or “conformation” classes)

The team performed exceptionally strong across the board. As a team, they placed:

  • first in the examination phase
  • first in the station phase
  • first in the team problem
  • high overall team

The Boulder County 4-H Hippology Team consisted of Team Captain Sequoia Stark, Mackenzie Weber, Joseph Schmid and Jessie Jacobucci, and their team coach is Donna Pattee. Individually, Mackenzie Weber placed first in the examination phase, first in stations and was the high overall individual. Sequoia Stark tied for second in the examination phase. She placed third based on the station tie-breaker, and was the fifth place overall individual. Joseph Schmid placed fifth in the station phase and was the eleventh place individual. Jessica Jacobucci placed sixth in judging and was the twelfth place individual.

The U.S. National Arabian Horse Youth Association Hippology Contest requires a broad knowledge of all elements of horse knowledge. All team members studied very hard to prepare for this contest, which is reflected in their results. Participating on a hippology team offers members an opportunity to study all horse-related topics in-depth and to participate in contests to display their knowledge. 4-H youth members may participate in the hippology team whether they are enrolled in the horse project or not.