Hays County 4-H Horse Club

10/12/2026

Important reminder: NO Monday Night Ride tonight - 10/12. DSRP is closed for the holiday. Our next Monday Night Ride on 10/19 is our favorite Halloween Tricks for Treats! Come in a costume and even dress up your horse or mule if they are good with it! We'll be doing obstacles (like you might see in trail, horsemanship or equitation classes) for some "treats" at the end of the ride night!

Last Monday night was fantastic and this video shows all the wonderful riders, horses & mules participating! Thanks again to all the parents and trainers for bringing these kids and their mounts to our Monday Night Rides!

10/04/2026

Reminder about our Monday Night Ride tomorrow 10/5 at DSRP! We are doing TWO events:
- Hunter Hack (2 low jumps in the main indoor arena) with Sage Keith and Megan Hall instructing.
- Trail obstacles (side pass, backing, gate, bridge, walk & trot poles in the warm up arena) with Penny and Ellie Warner.

Instruction from 6:30 to 7:30. Plan to be there as early as 6 PM to warm up. Riders may go back and forth from main arena to warm up arena in order to practice both jumps & obstacles.

Send a message to learn more

09/27/2026

We had a terrific first Monday Night Ride last week! Thanks to all the parents and kids who came, rode, learned and had FUN!

Tomorrow night (9/28) our Monday Night Ride instruction covers our Horsemanship (for western) and Equitation (for English) classes! We'll have patterns to hand out and give the kids and their mounts a chance to practice these quick pattern classes. Plus, you'll learn what a judge is looking for when judging your rides in these classes.

Parents are encouraged to come, watch and learn too! You can either watch from the stands or come into the arena to watch. There is so much learning that goes on when you watch pattern work with riders / horses!

09/10/2026

Hello to my 4-H kids and parents! I'm looking for horse youth - 8th grade and up - who could scribe for our dressage judges at the upcoming DSRP Dressage Schooling Show on Sat., September 19 & Sun., Sept. 20 at DSRP.

I know many high school kids are required to get "community volunteer hours" for their schools or organizations. This is a terrific opportunity to get those hours in a horsey environment and maybe learn some great stuff at the same time!

I can give you complete details via an email or phone call. Different time slots available both days between 8 AM and 5 PM. Email me and I'll give you the scoop as well as answer any questions. Penny Reeves - [email protected]. Thanks so much!

09/01/2026

Our first unmounted meeting welcomed lots of new youth and their parents to our 4-H Horse Club! If you missed this first meeting and need more information before we start our first Monday Night Rides please message us! All youth must be Hays County 4-H members in order to participate in our ride nights, educational meetings and shows. We are looking forward to seeing so many of our "regulars" and all our new kids in September at DSRP!

08/28/2026

Our first UNMOUNTED meeting of our 2026/'27 school year is this Monday night, August 31st, from 6:30 to 7:30 PM in the small special events room at Dripping Springs Ranch Park!

For any parents & youth interested in our fantastic 4-H Horse Club and for all past and current Hays County 4-H Horse Program members & parents, plan to join us as we review our upcoming year of horse fun, education, and LOTS of opportunities to RIDE and even SHOW!

We'll cover the schedule for Monday Night Rides, Point Shows starting in January 2027, show rules and MORE! Our 8/31 unmounted meeting is a MUST ATTEND if you are new to our horse program and would like to ride with us this year. Official ride nights don't start until Monday, Sept. 21st and all youth must be a member of Hays County 4-H in order to attend the Monday night rides and educational meetings.

Questions? PM us here! Hope to see everyone on Monday night at DSRP!

06/08/2026

The Hays County 4-H Horse Program held its Awards Party tonight at DSRP and what a fantastic turnout of kids and parents!

We kicked off the party with scholarship presentations. Chad Young and Joe Hunt, representing the Gunner Thames Memorial Foundation, presented seniors Kendall Crow and Ellie Warner with their checks. We are so grateful for everyone in the Gunner Thames Memorial Foundation for their ongoing support of our 4-H youth! We also awarded scholarships to Kendall and Ellie from the Bruce Mayes Memorial Scholarship Program. THANK YOU to these amazing non-profits and their continued support of our horse kids!

Our Point Show awards were plentiful as each 4-H'er was introduced and received their awards to the applause and cheers of parents and friends. To be eligible for awards each youth was require to show in 2 of our 3 Point Shows held in January, February and March this year. Big thanks to parent volunteer Carie Kahanek for finding and organizing the awesome awards and buckles!

Senior Division (High School): Audrey Avery, Braelyn Avery, Kendall Crow, Selena Dillon, Ava Eiland, Lucy Evans, Lola McDougall, Caitlin Paier, Tatum Smith, Ellie Warner and Audrey Wilks.

Junior Division (3rd thru 8th Grade): Holly Dame, Madison Force, Madeline McDonald, Astrid Schlomer, Lorelie Schlomer, Olivia Schlomer, Tilden Shives, Cheyene Sims, Emma Wean and Madi Wean.

We also celebrated our wonderful parent volunteers – Dottie Brown-Crow, Mindy Warner, and Weslea Wilks - who have worked tirelessly in helping us with our 3 Point Shows this year. Extra thanks tonight go to Amanda Shives who was a one-woman superhero in creating the backdrop, table decorations and 4-H Horse Program banners for our party.

Dottie led the lively auction with the help of our president, Brian Wilks, and brought the evening to a financially successful conclusion raising $1,750 for our Bruce Mayes Scholarship Program. This laugh-filled auction of horse related mystery items is always a favorite. Literally no one knows what they are bidding on in those gift packages, but everyone is 100% for supporting scholarships.

What a blessing it is to work with these youth and their marvelous parents! We can’t wait to see y’all in the fall!

01/29/2026

Reminder of our upcoming Monday Night Ride 2/2 from 6:30 to 7:30 PM. The topic? YOU pick!

After our first two shows, what do you need help with?

Here is what I've received so far:
- Backing your horse
- Group rail classes - spacing between horses, passing, timing of transitions to different gaits, etc.
- Good ideas for warm up riding prior to going into the show arena.

Any other ideas? Need help with specific trail obstacles? Need help with patterns? Showmanship? Let me know in the comments!

Our last scheduled Monday night ride is 2/9. Our ride night instruction will focus on jumping and our Hunter Hack class with Sage Keith leading the group.

Looking forward to seeing everyone on Monday night.

01/19/2026

The Hays County Livestock Horse Show youth received their checks at the HCLE Buyers Gala on Saturday night! We had the chance to thank many of our Patrons whose generous contributions to our Horse Patronage Program enabled us to award over $13,000 in checks. Here are some fun photos from the awards ceremony and the introduction of our horse kids at the gala. THANK YOU to each individual and business who supported our horse program! With over 25 youth in the Junior and Senior divisions, our HCLE Horse Show on January 10th was a resounding success!! Thank you to EVERYONE who donated, volunteered and supported our Hays County Horse kids!

01/11/2026

At the conclusion of a long, chilly (but the horses loved it!) day, our Hays County Livestock Horse Show awarded buckles and the two saddles to our Show Champions in the Junior and Senior Divisions. Congratulations to these outstanding youth!

SENIOR DIVISION (High School youth)
Sr. Overall Champion - Ellie Warner (saddle)
Sr. Reserve Overall Champion (Tie!!) - Kendall Crow and Audrey Avery (buckles)
Sr. Champion Judged Events - Ellie Warner (buckle)
Sr. Champion Speed Events – Kendall Crow (buckle)

JUNIOR DIVISION (Youth from 3rd grade through Middle School)
Jr. Overall Champion – Caroline McDonald (saddle)
Jr. Reserve Overall Champion – Madison Force (buckle)
Jr. Champion Judged Events – Riley Cook (buckle)
Jr. Champion Speed Events – Tilden Shives (buckle)

Huge thanks to our show judge, Vicki Munie for her expertise and stamina along with our scribe, Carie Kahanek, for their 12-hour day! Thanks to our saddle sponsors, Caresse Troppy with Capital Ranch Sales and Cypress Creek Animal Hospital, for their generosity and support of these horse kids each year. We love y’all! Gratitude and appreciation to our parent and HCLE volunteers, many of whom also braved the long, chilly day in support of our Hays County horse youth. We couldn’t do these shows without you!