From the April/May 2012 Miniature Horse World magazine
Quite by accident, a group of children who wanted to learn more about Miniature horses became Lauren’s Thursday Kids at Little America Miniature Horses.
In 2005 as a sophomore in high school, I showed one of my horses in an FFA/4-H county open-breed horse show. When I went into my two halter classes, I would keep an eye on the judge to make sure my horse was showing if she was looking. Both classes came and went, and the judge never so much as glanced in my direction. It was as if I wasn’t even in her class! I was frustrated, so I decided that I would work to get more Miniatures in the show the next year so she would HAVE to look at me.
So I spread the word that FFA and 4-H members were welcome to come to our ranch on Thursday afternoons an I would teach them to show the horses. I had a few members respond, but was surprised to have many outside of those groups who wanted to participate. We called the group Thursday Kids while I tried to come up with a better name, but I never did, so it stuck. Over time it really transformed more into a service event than teaching FFA/4-H students to show. The Leo Club (youth version of the Lion’s Club) would offer it as a way to gain community service hours, and students would come out and I would teach them about the horses as they would help halter break foals and clean stalls. I would work with the ones who wanted to show on Thursdays and extra days as needed, teaching them to show and about horses in general. I had a quiz I had put together of random horse facts that I would talk to them about/ask to test them while they cleaned their horses up for practice. I documented hours logged in from 2005-2007 and I worked with 49 students from the age of 3-18 who participated in the program for a total of over 400 hours. I guess the real reward was during my senior year of high school, my mare won Reserve Grand at the Hays County Youth Horse Show. My good idea finally paid off!
When I left for school, my dad kept Thursday Kids going and in 2009 he began taking them to AMHA shows. I worked with them on showing on Thursdays and extra days whenever I was home from college. We have a few really great kids with equally great parents in our group right now which makes it fun to work with them on Thursdays.
Little America Miniatures had a great time with the horses at the 2012 Fort Worth Livestock Show. My dad (Tony) myself and five Thursday Kids had over 80 entries and came home with over 50 first place ribbons from the two judges at the show. Add to that the five grands, three reserves and a surpreme, totaling 146 points total!