(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic FFA Chapter competed in the Iowa FFA Horse Career Development Event held at Kirkwood College on June 14, 2022. The Atlantic FFA Chapter team included: Callee Pellett, Colton Rudy and Joaquin Wailes. Their agriculture education instructor and FFA advisor is Mr. Eric Miller. Callee Pellett said, “I really enjoyed the contest. It was a lot of fun to judge horses for the first time. I also had fun meeting lots of new people.”

FFA teams from 38 chapters participated in this year’s Career Development Event designed to provide the student an opportunity to display their agricultural knowledge and skills in the area of Equine Science. The 121 individual contestants evaluated halter and performance classes. They also answered questions over the classes and gave oral reasons to explain their placings. A written examination was included along with a team problem solving competition. Joaquin Wails said, “I had a lot of fun. This was a good experience and hopefully will help us build a better team in the future.”

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Colton Rudy, Callee Pellett, Joaquin Wailes (photo & story submitted by FFA Advisor Eric Miller)

The team placed 26th in the Halter Classes, 25th in Performance Classes, 19th in the Reasons & Questions class and 9th in Problem Solving and Team Test. Atlantic FFA member Colton Rudy said, “This year’s contest was an interesting experience to say the least. My favorite part was the team test and tac ID.”

The Iowa FFA Horse Career Development Event was made possible with support through the Iowa FFA Foundation Gold Standard Donors. The Horse Career Development Event was coordinated and held at the Iowa Equestrian Center in Cedar Rapids. The official judge was Nikki Ferwerda, Associate Professor of Teaching at Iowa State University.