The last few weeks have been perfect, weatherwise, and today was no exception. My favorite part of Charm Days are the equestrian events. Early this morning, I headed down to Charm, at about 7am, so I wouldn’t miss anything.
About six weeks ago I discovered that the horse events were cancelled for this year. Fortunately, a couple of weeks ago I learned, thanks to Mr. Eli Miller of the Maysville area, who offered to take the leadership role, they were back on the schedule. This year’s events included the water relay race, scoop shovel race, a children’s stick horse race, the 100 and 200 yard dash, an obstacle course, and, new this year, a girl’s drill team. I must say the girl’s drill team looked splendid, mounted on their steeds, with their blue and pink colored dresses. Their horses even had matching leggings.
I took a whole bunch of pictures and was fortunate to get the scoop on the drill team. The Saddle-Up Cowgirls consist of eight girls, plus one backup. I was surprised to learn that the girls are only ages 13-15. Many of them have been riding since they were quite young. They all love to ride so a couple of years ago they started their own private riding club. They decided it would be a good idea to have somebody a little older lead them, so they asked Emily Yoder, who consented to do so. They are from the Mt. Hope, Ohio area and usually meet every Thursday to practice. They do it mostly for the fun of it, but this year they got to show some of their horsemanship skills to the crowd at Charm Days.
Their last names are what one might expect for a group of Amish girls. They are Elaine Weaver, Mary Yoder, Mary Troyer, Kayla Troyer, Kaitlyn Hershberger, Marie Yoder, Lisa Hershberger, Emily Miller, and Lisa Hershberger is the backup person in case someone is absent.
During the exercises I noticed that, while performing their routines, Kayla Troyer kept the team in sync by using a whistle to keep things on track. In addition to their drills, some of the girls participated in the pole events, and the dashes. I heard the announcer say that Elaine Weaver took first place in one of her events and Kaitlyn Hershberger took second in one of her events.
My wife owned a horse when she was younger and we love to ride horses. As a teenager, she would have loved participating in a group like this. I’m sure these Amish girls know how to work hard, but they also know how to have fun. I could see that they were in their element today; and having a ball. Today all the horse events were just plain fun to watch! Thank you Eli Miller for stepping up to the plate so that hundreds of people were able to have a great time this morning.
For more information about Charm Days visit the website at CHARM DAYS.
