The Edison High School FFA Equine Team is riding high as it heads to a national competition in June.
Members Maddie Granatir, Ellie Richards, Mimi Ault, and Leila Sudvary attended the Edison Local Board of Education meeting on May 21 in Richmond, where they outlined plans for the American Horse Paint Association (AHPA) World Championship Show in Fort Worth, Texas, on June 18-21. The event is the world’s premier Paint Horse competition and takes place annually at the Will Rogers Memorial Center. It has attracted more than 5,000 people from around the globe and celebrates open, amateur, and youth competitors, while it includes such events as reining, roping, hunt-seat, and Western all-around events, as well as exhibits and entertainment.
Granatir, a junior at EHS, explained that they participate in the Equine Management career-tech education pathway through the FFA organization and have competed at state and national events, most notably the National Arabian Judging Contest in Oklahoma last fall. She has competed for the past three years at the state level while Richards, who is a freshman, has participated for a year and advanced to states; Ault and Sudvary, who are both sophomores, are both in their second year with the FFA and have attended both state and national events.
“The Equine Management CTE is a compilation of judging different animal classes. We will judge horses on confirmation and in performance classes,” Granatir explained. “So, that’s in hand with work with horses as well as riding.”
She added that it also includes tests and public speaking while utilizing all of their knowledge about the horses and related fields.
“It just it sets us up for a good future because we learn all of these different skills through this one competition,” Granatir said.
Ault added that they had also surpassed other teams to attend the national contest after placing second at the state level.
“We have gone through a lot to get here and beat out 106 teams from throughout the state of Ohio,” she continued, saying the EHS team earned its first banner since 1993.
Richards interjected that expenses included flights, lodging, food, and competition fees while Cori Griffith, who co-advises FFA with Kelli Pridemore, said the organization has raised funds throughout the year from fruit sales and other moneymakers that would help offset some of the costs.
Sudvary said the board’s support would help the team represent Edison at a national level and bolster the members themselves in the future.
“We can ensure equal opportunity for all of our team members, highlight the strength of our agricultural program, bring recognition and pride to the school and community, and help offset the costs for students and the chapter. We’re all planning to do something agricultural in the future and it would look good on the resume that we’ve gone to a couple national contests now.”
Ault noted that equine was also one of the largest and most difficult competitions to place in and it takes a lot of hard work to make it happen. Members continued that there were tough teams from Texas, Florida, and North Carolina in attendance and having Edison represented also shined a spotlight on the district.
Following more discussion, board members complimented the group on their presentation and agreed to help support their endeavor.