Laura knows the difference between a snaffle bit, which is a direct action bit, and a curb which is a lever action bit. Because she knows that, she also knew that a “Tom Thumb Snaffle” is incorrectly named, and she said so at the FFA National Career Show in Louisville, KY.

Her understanding of bits won her a $200 Professional Designation course from www.horsecoursesonline.com. Laura, who lives in LeRoy, IL, will get her course, How to Feed for Maximum Performance, online by e-mail. She’ll get any special help or assistance by e-mail from her instructor, nutrition specialist Eleanor Richards, who lives in Ohio. Each time Laura completes a lesson, she’ll submit a quiz which will be graded and returned with comments and suggestions.

When she completes her course, she’ll receive a Certificate of Recognition from Austin Education Center. The certificate will be Laura’s first step toward a Professional Designation in Horse Training.

Winning the prize is just final chapter of an amazing story about Laura and her horse, Roxy. Last year Laura didn’t have a horse, but was chosen to get a free horse to be used as her FFA project. Her luck got better when she was offered free board and pasture for Roxy by a former FFA member who said he had been granted the same favor years ago. Good fortune didn’t end there. Laura’s best friend gave her a saddle and bridle.

Laura says her dreams of having a horse have come true. Now she dreams of taking equestrian classes in college and “maybe becoming a mounted policeman.”

“I’d like to have a ranch of my own, someday,” she says. “I think I’d like to train and board horses and give riding lessons.”

Laura’s winning entry was chosen from 32 per cent of the entries which had a correct answer. FFA members scored way above the national average of 19 per cent knowing the correct answer.

Read, Ride, Reason--visit www.donblazer.com often for answers to your questions about horses.

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