4-H member Charlotte Couchman wins at the 2024 Eastern National 4-H Horse Roundup
A Chautauqua County teenager is a winner at the 2024 Eastern National 4-H Horse Roundup
Cornell Cooperative Extension of Chautauqua County’s 4-H Program announced that 4-H member Charlotte Couchman competed in the Public Speaking division of the Communications competition with a speech titled “Do You Have a License For That?”. Her ten-minute speech discussed finding the middle ground in keeping, riding, and working with horses.
The 2024 Eastern National Horse Roundup was held November 4, 2024 at the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center in Louisville, Kentucky. The competition hosted participants from 20 states, including 16 New York State 4-H members.
Youth competed in a variety of competitions including Communications, Horse Judging, Hippology (the study of horses), and Horse Bowl. They also had the opportunity to learn about Kentucky’s equine culture with tours of Churchill Downs, Spycoast Farm, and the Kentucky Horse Park.
Couchman had to compete and qualify to move on at the County, Regional, and State competitions to make it to the National competition.
This is not Couchman’s first national win. She won the Individual Presentation division of the Communications competition at the 2023 Nationals with her PowerPoint Presentation on Equine Protozoal Myeloencephalitis, better known as EPM in the equine world. It is a disease that affects the brain and spinal cord of horses that is caused by a parasite spread in the feces of opossums.
Couchman is a 10-year member of the Chautauqua County Junior Trail Riders 4-H Club and is active in the 4-H Horse Project with her horses Ren and Goose. She competes in dressage and hunt seat with them and also enjoys working them at liberty or just spending time with them. She also competes in Horse Bowl and Hippology in 4-H and is active outside the 4-H realm in the Dressage4Kids program. She is a senior at Cassadaga Valley and after graduation is planning on going into the medical field.
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