End of Year Banquet

On Wednesday, May 27th, the Woodland Pioneer FFA Chapter held their end of the year awards banquet. The team was recognized as state champions and Briana delivered a wonderful speech about our year. It was a great evening and ceremony!

The team even gave Briana a customized blanket with team pictures!

Brookside Equestrian Park Visit

Today we went to Elk Grove to visit an AQHA Show at Brookside Equestrian Park. We practiced different performance classes, including trail and Hunter Under Saddle. We also worked on tack identification, and Briana taught us about different parts of the saddles and bridles.
It was a fun filled day! We can't wait to visit more barns and shows this summer.

Team Pictures!

From Left to Right: Harper Gray, Lauren Millang, Elsa Naranjo, Trish Tran and Coach Briana Hamamoto. Featuring Harper's horse, Tazz!

We had a fun evening taking team pictures at the arboretum and Willow Creek Horse Park!

May 21

It has been an exciting week! The moment we have all been waiting for...

The Arrival of Our State Championship Bowl!

It was a wonderful day for our team, and memory we will cherish forever!

We received our first major sponsorship from TS&L Seed Company today as well. We would like to thank them for their support and generous donation! 

Thank you to all who have donated on the Go Fund Me Account. The team truly appreciates all of the love and support we receive from our community, friends and family! 

The team will be meeting with the Daily Democrat tomorrow for an interview. Stay tuned for an article! 

Welcome to Our Blog!

Our story begins in 2013, when four girls at Pioneer High School FFA Chapter were first introduced to the horse judging world. We started off with what we like to call "beginners luck"...  placing first at the Chico State Field Day, and placing in the top five of every other contest in the season. With a newfound passion for judging and the creation of a new "FFAmily", we could not wait to see what the future held at the 2014 Cal Poly San Luis Obispo State Finals. Unfortunately, this is where our luck ended. We were disappointed to find that we had not placed at all. With a burst of motivation and determination to bring home more blue ribbons next season, we agreed that this was not the end of Pioneer's Horse Judging Team. We soon began practicing again, in preparation for the next judging season.

We practiced close to 8 hours a week, judged over 150 classes of horses, gave close to 100 sets of reasons, and travelled over 800 miles throughout this season. With hard work, determination, compassion, hours of practice, and the support from our coach, we triumphed as State Champions. 

From Left to Right: Coach Briana, Elsa, Lauren, Harper and Trish

Despite some of the harder times we encountered, we found peace in mind knowing that we were blessed with a guardian angel by our side. Briana Hamamoto, our mentor, best friend and coach, from the Atwater FFA Chapter, was a state champion horse judger in her high school career. She was coached by Beth Knapp Williams, an advisor from Atwater FFA. Beth lead many teams to victories and state titles, but most importantly, left a lasting impact on her students, the FFA chapter, and community. She was an inspiration to many, including Briana and the Pioneer Horse Judging Team. Cancer took Knapp's life at age 31, but her passion and strength will live forever. Our team had discovered a new goal, to win State Finals for our angel Knapp. 

While sitting in the Awards Ceremony at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, we felt confident that we had a chance to place in the top five. We had a solid day of judging, winning the sub categories of Halter Judging and Reasons. The anticipation kept us on the edge of our seats, as we listened to hear the results in the loud auditorium. "And the second place high team goes to....Woodland-Pioneer!" We were proud of our accomplishments, and decided we were ready to come back next year and take home a silver bowl and state championship title. After awards ended and we received our tabulations packet, we had noticed there was a missing score card for one of Harper's classes. Being only 14 points behind the first place team, we knew that if we could find this card, we had a chance of winning it all. We journeyed to the tabulations office and spent hours waiting, as the State Staff searched for the missing score card. The card was soon discovered, with a score of 49 points, allowing us to win the competition by 35 points. It was as if Coach Knapp was watching over us the entire time. 

As this situation was less than ideal, we are very grateful that our team was able to receive a State Championship title. We truly learned the valuable lesson of patience and maturity, and we are thankful for the honor to represent California FFA. As we are now the top horse judging team in the state of California, we qualify for greater opportunities. We plan to travel to Oklahoma City to compete in the American Quarter Horse Youth Association World Show in August. We also plan to complete at the the National FFA Contest in Louisville, Kentucky in October. We will be dedicating our summer to fundraising in hopes to cover the expenses. 

We have created memories that will last a life time, and we are looking forward to what the future holds, with our angel Knapp watching proudly from above.