Gentle Giants
Pull Together
4-H Youth
KAREN BUTLER
Maryland Correspondent
WESTMINSTER, Md.
Some of the members of this 4-H
club don’t say much at the meet
ings. They don’t participate at all
when it comes to bringing a snack
or voting for officers. They would
rather stay in the pasture. But no
one could ever accuse these mem
bers of not pulling their own
weight in the club, they do that,
and then some!
They are the gentle giants, the
draft horses and mules that a
group of Carroll County 4-H
equine enthusiasts meet each
month to learn about.
Seventeen Carroll County
young people are drawn together
the first Wednesday of each
month by their love of draft ani
mals. The Gentle Giants 4-H club,
the only draft horse and mule club
m the state, often meets at the
home of Terri Penick, one of the
club leaders, a Percheron breeder
who also has mules. The other
club leader is Heather Bankard.
The two leaders started the club
last year. “A lot of the kids that
show in the group we show in are
getting older. Some of them are in
college now. We wanted to get
some of the younger kids into it,”
explained Penick. “We do more
with Percherons, but that’s just be
cause we have them here. It’s not
just Percherons,” she said of the
club’s focus.
Some of the club members al
ready participate in other light
horse activities, like dressage and
cross country. They are learning
more about the unique characteris-
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tics of the draft breeds. “Most
members have horses that they
show in equestrian classes,” ex
plained club member Bart Poole.
Then there are other members
who do not own horses, but are
“horse crazy,” and are taking ad
vantage of the club’s hands-on
learning activities.
One member of the Gentle Gi
ants, Lamar Johnson, lives in Elli
cott City in Howard County, but
makes the drive each weekend to
the Penick’s farm, where he works
with a registered Percheron mare,
Director Babe. A member since
the club started last year, Lamar is
the only club member who will
show western at the Carroll Coun
ty fair with a draft horse this year.
He showed Babe last year in the
Western Showmanship class at the
county fair, and brought home a
third place ribbon.
Each month the leaders plan a
different hands-on learning activi
ty for the club members. Topics
center around draft animals and all
the activities that go along with
caring for, showing, and working
with them. Last month, Bob Shir
ley, a very well respected horse
man who recently retired from the
cooperative extension service,
held a judging and conformation
class with the animals at the
Penick’s farm. One month a har
nessmaker came and gave the
young people a lesson on the fine
points of the harness. Another
time they had a farrier talk on the
differences between Scotch-bot
tom show shoes, farm shoes, and
logging shoes. They have had ses
sions on mane rolling and putting
(Turn to Page B 9)
Members of the ntle Giants 4-H club gathered recently at the home of leader Ter
ri Penick. The club, now In Its second year, Is restoring this farm wagon that will be
hitched to a mother-daughter team of Percheron mares at the Carroll County fair. The
mare In the picture will be ridden alongside the wagon.
From left, back row, are Terri Penlck, club leader; Toni Stambaugh; Sarah Back
haus, Jenny Kreslna, Bart Poole, lan Stambaugh, Kristin Engel, Kelly Shuster, and
Lamar Johnson. Heather Bankard, club leader, is at the halter of Fox Brooke. In the
front row are Sarah Frledel on the left, and Jacque Arnold on the right.
Lamar Johnson Is the only member of the club who will show a draft animal In a
western class at the Carroll County fair this year. Lamar, who lives in Howard County,
drives to the Penlck’s farm each weekend to work with Director Babe. He will exhibit
Babe In the Western Showmanship class. The two foals, one Babe’s, and the other a
foal the mare adopted as her own, insisted on being In the picture, too.
Members of the Gentle Giants Club are drawn together by a love of draft horses ai
mules.
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Lancaster Farming, Saturday, August 15, 1998-B7