810-Lancaster Farming,
Miniature Horse Racing is Growing Attraction
BETH MILLER
Cumberland Correspondent
NEW BLOOMFIELD (Perry
Co.) Mister Lee may be small,
but he certainly is fast.
Mister Lee, a miniature horse
owned by Rosalie Boyer of New
Bloomfield, is so fast, in fact, that
he may end up being one of the
stars in the growing sport of
miniature horse racing.
“The more people clap, the fas
ter he runs,” said Ed Fach, Mister
Lee’s driver.
Boyer, who also breeds minia
ture horses, said Mister Lee really
showed his potential on Aug. 8,
1993, at Falabella Downs in Get
tysburg.
He ran the fastest time ever for
a miniature horse under 34 inches
by trotting over the quarter-mile
track in 1 minute, 21.39 seconds
while pulling Fach behind him in a
small two-wheeled cart.
Boyer said she hopes Mister
Lee sets some more records this
year. She also hopes her horse will
help build more interest in the
sport of miniature horse racing.
That interest slowly has been
Mister Lee practicing for the first time this year at the Newport track.
I, Saturday, <luly 2, 1994
growing since the International
Miniature Trotting and Pacing As
sociation was begun in October
1992, Boyer said. She said one of
her main goals right now is to
form a chapter of that association
in Pennsylvania.
Other states that already have
miniature horse racing clubs are
Florida, North Carolina, Texas,
and Virginia, Boyer said.
To build interest in the sport in
Pennsylvania, Boyer is trying to
gel more tracks in the state and
this area sanctioned for miniature
horse racing.
Boyer said her interest in minia
ture horses came years after she
already had been interested in full
size horses.
“I’ve been around horses since I
was 17, riding just for fun,” she
said. “My husband and 1 would
buy quarter horses, keep them for
a while, then sell them.”
Today, Boyer has seven regis
tered miniature horses. They in
clude Mister Lee’s mother, tow of
his full sisters, and a half-sister.
She said she started dealing
with miniature horses in 1987,
when she bought her first pair.
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Boyer said she bought them just
because she liked them.
Mister Lee is the only one of
her miniature horses that she has
raced. She had decided to race the
four-year-old stallion because she
didn’t need him for breeding.
Her first year of racing last year
was a real trial and error experi
ence, Boyer said, but she and Fach
had a lot of fun learning the ba
sics, including the best system of
harnesses to use.
All that improvising paid off,
however, she said. She hopes the
experience she gained last year
will pay off some more this year
since she has Mister Lee entered
in a stakes race in Florida.
The racing season, which be
gins in May, could be pretty busy
this year, if she is able to gel more
area tracks sanctioned for races.
In any case, Boyer said she
plans to enjoy Mister Lee, even if
it’s just by practicing at tracks like
the one at the Newport Fair
grounds or by showing him in lo
cal parades, where she plans to
have him pull a miniature stage
coach.
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w«rner,. yer at ;iver, Ed Fach get Mister Lee
hitched up for the first time this season.
Farm Safety 4 Just Kids
LANCASTER (Lancaster Co.)
Parents are you concerned that
8,000 kids under age 14 die each
year from preventable accidents?
Instead of saying, “Isn’t that a
shame,” which doesn’t remedy the
situation, learn ways to prevent
accidents.
Farm Safety 4 Just Kids in Lan
caster County is holding a safety
session at the Farm and Home
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IRON
iIN ZINC
PROTEIN
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Center on July 11, from 7to 8:30
p.m.
Sherry Burgers, program direc
tor for the national Farm Safety 4
Just Kids, will be the speaker.
Dr. Albert Price, who heads the
Lancaster Chapter, said, “If a dis
ease came along that affected one
in four children, we would spare
no expense to find a cure and be
quick about it.”
Price is disfressed that so few
parents attend these type of meet
ings. which are held to raise safety
awareness and educate parents
about safety precautions. Discus
sion is also being held about deve
loping a safety camp for children.
This meeting is for any adult
who cares about kids. There are no
fees to join and you do not need to
be a health professional.
For more information on Farm
Safety 4 Just Kids, write or call Dr.
Price, Roseville Pediatrics, Lan
caster (717) 569-6481.
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