Horse Park Announces Holiday Activities

The Fort Armstrong Horseman’s Association is proud to announce the selection of their 2009 Fort Armstrong Championship Rodeo Queen.   Miss Tess Hempel will be representing the association this year.  Hempel is the daughter of Eleanor Hempel of Apollo.  She attends Kiski Area High School and will be Junior this fall. She actively competes in barrel racing. Watch for her tonight at the Ford City Heritage Days Parade along with the FAHA Rodeo float and horses.

This holiday weekend begins a week of community events at the Crooked Creek Horse Park.  It begins with a two-day “Team Penning” event on July 4-5 from noon until late evening each day. Team Penning is a fast paced cattle event in which three riders team up against a herd of numbered cattle. They must cut three designated cattle from the herd and move them down the arena to a stock pen. The team that can successfully get their cattle in the pen in the fastest time wins.  This event is free of charge for spectators and the community is welcome to attend.

This Sunday, July 5^th, the association is sponsoring a charity poker ride. This year, they are assisting Operation Return Home. ORH provides care packages to troops deployed overseas. They have been assigned to the 14th Quartermaster division. There are 120 soldiers on active duty in Iraq from that division. The group hopes to raise funds to provide care packages for each soldier. The poker ride is open to both horseback riders and non-riders.  The cost is $20 per poker hand.  Complete rules and additional information can be found on their web-site at www.crookedcreekhorsepark-faha.com