Rehoboth City Slickers 4-H Club at the Big E

Members of the City Slickers 4-H Club of Rehoboth traveled to The Eastern States Fairgrounds in Springfield, Ma on September 18th – 22nd to participate in the regional 4-H Horse Show. Clubs from the six New England states send representatives and their horses to compete in traditional horse show classes as well as games of skill and horse knowledge. Representing City Slickers Club were Taylor Mayer of Rehoboth, Brady Rose of North Dighton, Zach Pora of Seekonk and Hannah Hillman of South Attleboro. They all had a successful show, getting ribbons in their classes and making new friends from other clubs across New England. Traveling with them were chaperones Sherry Mayer of Rehoboth, Krystal Pora of Seekonk and Jessica Maskell of Rehoboth who also served as Barn Manager for the Massachusetts horses.

The festivities of the weekend were interrupted late Friday night by a fire that broke out in Barn C at 11:30 PM, the next barn over from the 4-H barn. Fire crews were on site and despite the fact that the sprinkler system had extinguished the small fire confined to one stall and a section of the roof, they made the decision to evacuate the barn because of the heavy smoke lingering and the possibility of additional fire breaking out. All 161 horses were turned loose and ran in a panic around the fairgrounds. Chaperones assisted safety personal and other volunteers in rounding up the horses and getting them into empty stalls in the barn area, including the 4-H barn. The 4-H members all pitched in to make sure each horse in their barn had water, hay and bedding. When the concerned owners and trainers arrived, stressed and frantic to try and find their horses, the 4-H kids assisted in the search, stall by stall, until all the horses had been identified and claimed.

The other 4-H members in the Massachusetts aisle, Morgan Morris and Jacob Maloney with the Mane-I-Acs 4-H Club and Mia Nagel of the 4-H Cavalry Club, both in the Springfield area, became friends with the City Slicker’s members and joined them to make a formidable team caring for the horses until they were claimed by their owners.

All of the owners and trainers expressed their gratitude, both in person and in posts on Facebook, to all the care the kids gave their horses, staying with some who were traumatized by the disaster.

Christina Fuller in regards to her horse, Flynn, a rescued Amish carthorse turned show horse wrote:

“You were all incredible . . . I was a distraught mess and seeing your kindness towards my horse and how much you all cared for him gave me a sense of relief. I didn’t even move him from you aisle (Massachusetts aisle) to be with our other horses in another aisle because I knew you had him, you loved on him and gave him treats. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking such amazing care of my heart horse.”

George Liberty, a trainer on the grounds for the weekend Open Saddle Seat Show, posted:

‘I can’t help but think of the unsung heroes last night – the equine 4-H groups from all 6 New England states. All of those young people and their families were just unbelievable. I can’t even explain the organization and compassion they had.”

The 4-H program was cut short because of the disruption but the riders were just glad they could help.