The Clark County Executive Horse Council raised more than $11,000 last year for its Adopt-A-Horse program. The effort takes horses from Clark County Animal Control, rehabilitates them and then offers them for adoption. The organization has found homes for 70 horses in the past four years, said Lori Harris. This year’s fundraiser is May 21 at Camas Meadows Golf Course. Tickets, available in March, are $25. For more information, contact Harris at harris2885@yahoo.com.
On the Web:
Clark County Executive horse council:
http://www.ccehc.org
On any given weekend, there’s a good chance Joseph Driver will be competing on his horse, Buzz, a paint pinto.
“I think it was 40 of 52 weekends last year,” said Joseph, 14, of Camas.
It’s paid off.
Joseph is No. 1 in the nation for the paint alternative competition program.
And he was atop Buzz on Sunday, as 150 riders, from 7-year-olds to adults, competed in the Winter Woolies event at the Dr. Jack Giesy Arena at the Clark County Event Center at the Fairgrounds.
Joseph was wearing a belt buckle that proclaimed him as a champion, but it wasn’t so long ago that he was finishing out of the money.
The Clark County Executive Horse Council raised more than $11,000 last year for its Adopt-A-Horse program. The effort takes horses from Clark County Animal Control, rehabilitates them and then offers them for adoption. The organization has found homes for 70 horses in the past four years, said Lori Harris. This year's fundraiser is May 21 at Camas Meadows Golf Course. Tickets, available in March, are $25. For more information, contact Harris at harris2885@yahoo.com.
On the Web:
Clark County Executive horse council:
http://www.ccehc.org
His mother and coach, Roxanne Driver, said when her son was 9, he came up after a competition and asked, “Mom, am I ever going to get a ribbon?”
“She told me to stick in,” Joseph said. “Last year was my golden year, getting No. 1 in the nation. … We traveled all over Washington and all over Oregon.”
So how did he become No. 1?
“Most of the shows I went to I won high points,” meaning he was the best rider in the show. The American Paint Horse Association says the paint alternative competition lets riders’ accomplishments be recorded on registered horses’ official lifetime performance record.
The Driver family live on 5 acres near Camas High School. Joseph’s other paint pinto is Percy; Roxanne’s horse is Versary. Dad, Rodney, and brother, Jason, 11, are all involved with horses.
“Every day, I go down to the barn and check on my horses,” Joseph said. “Horse riding helps your personality and teaches you all these life traits, like responsibility.
“I’ve had my highest moments on horses and my lowest moments on horses.”
But not so many of his peers ride, and Joseph has been teased for his passion. “Because I’m different, because nobody else does horses,” he said.
But he’s hardly a one-trick pony. The Skyridge Middle School student also plays football and is on the wrestling and track teams. He won the 136-pound division for both the Greater St. Helens League district championship for middle-schoolers and at the recent Clark County Invitational.
Joseph competes in the equitation and pleasure divisions. That means he is judged on his posture and form on the horse and on how the horse is performing. During competition, horses walk, trot and lope.
“My mom’s the one who gives me pointers,” Joseph said. And, sure enough, Roxanne on Sunday was ringside, offering advice, including, “Work on consistency.”
Roxanne said the family spends an easy $5,000 a year on horses. Joseph takes lessons from Teresa Pelton at the Mountain View Stables in Ridgefield.
Roxanne grew up near Evergreen High School and remembers open spaces to ride.
“We’d ride to the Columbia River and take the horses swimming and we’d ride back,” she said.
And it’s great being on a horse, Joseph said. “Have fun. That’s my main goal,” he said.
Alice Heller echoed Joseph. “This is just a fun schooling show,” she said of Sunday’s Winter Woolies, so named because horses get woolly in the winter.
Heller is active with the Clark County Executive Horse Council and said there are more horses per capita in Clark County than anywhere west of the Mississippi River.
A former Lincoln Elementary School first-grade teacher, Heller has been riding most of her life and loves to welcome new riders.
As for Joseph, Sunday was another winning day. He won first place in the Western equitation competition.
“Today was awesome,” Joseph said at the end of competition, “because me and my horse got along, we didn’t have any bad classes … and we just did good the entire day.”
