Genoa equestrian travels to Ohio State Fair

GENOA – A local young equestrian took her horsemanship skills to the Ohio State Fair last week. Amanda Meng and her quarter horse mare, Fergie, also won multiple awards at the Ottawa County Fair.

Fifteen-year-old Amanda, who will be a sophomore at Genoa High School this year, has owned horses all her life. Currently, her family owns Cowboy, a quarter horse paint; Rodeo, a rescue pony; and 12-year-old Fergie.

“Her show name is Good Time Snippy, but her barn name is Fergie. I named him after the tractor, Matthew Ferguson. We live on a farm, and our first tractors were Matthew Fergusons,” she said.

At the Ottawa County Fair, Amanda’s performance — and Fergie’s — earned them sixth place in Versatility, fifth place in Hunter Under Saddle, fifth place in Western Pleasure, fourth place in Trail in-Hand, third place in Team Tournament; second place in a Horse Nutrition 4-H poster project, and first place in Beginner Pattern Class.

Prior to the fair, Amanda competed in a PAS (Performance Against the Standard) show, which is an equestrian qualifying event for the Ohio State Fair.

“I had to pick four classes, and I qualified in two — Western Pleasure and Trail In-Hand,” Amanda said.

At the state fair, Amanda performed well enough to be called back for a second attempt in Western Pleasure. She placed ninth in the state in Trail In-Hand. That was an especially exceptional achievement, because it was a new skill for Fergie.

“My horse had never trained to trail. I pretty much had to train her,” Amanda said.

This year marked Amanda’s first competing at the state fair.

“I thought it was really fun. There’s always something to do down there,” she said.

Amanda is a member of the Genoa Equestrian Team, which is led by her mother, Susan Meng. Last year, the team did very well.

“We have meetings on three weekends, and then we do the state show. There are three divisions, and you get placed in a division depending on the number of people on your team,” Amanda said.

In 2014, the team consisted of four competitors.

“Last year, we won state,” Amanda said.

Winning is a great achievement, but it is not the only benefit of equestrian competitions.

“I had horses, too, when I was a kid. It makes you focus on something. It makes you take care of something,” Susan said. “It teaches responsibility. If you don’t take care of your animal, at least in our home, it’s not going to be around.”

Part of Amanda’s responsibilities is to help care for Rodeo, which Susan adopted before Amanda was born.

“We rescued him from the Toledo Area Humane Society probably 16 years ago. I think they got him from the Swanton area. The family quit taking care of him. We saw him on the news,” Susan said.

A barn full of horses takes a huge time commitment. Susan said that is good for kids, because the busyness of horse care does not give kids the time to do things they shouldn’t do.

“It helps keep them out of trouble. You have to get up early to take care of your horse, and the night before a show, you have to wash your horse and get everything ready,” Susan said.