Hobby horse project aims at bringing community together
Hobby horse project aims at bringing community together
Johanna Stone of Rutland earns Girl Scout Gold Award with project
October 23, 2024
WEST RUTLAND, VT – Giving children a way to experience horse care and enjoyment even when they don’t have access to a real horse was important to Johanna Stone, a Girl Scout who also participated in her local 4-H club. She decided to do that through the sport of hobby horses.
Stone, 18, earned Girl Scouting’s highest honor, the Girl Scout Gold Award, with her project, Hobby Horse and Stalls, spending more than 90 hours building “stalls” for hobby horses and educating her 4-H community on the benefits of the hobby, primarily that it allows children who don’t have access to real horses to participate in 4-H’s equine programs.
Her work aimed to “give people a task/activity that they can feel in control of with hobby horses just like those that bring horse animals,” Stone said in her report to Girl Scouts on her project. “This aligns with 4H and Girl Scout goals - we all as a community (are) striving for better sense of equality and belonging.”
She added that it benefitted those youth with disabilities; whether physical, emotional, or developmental.
“Horse-related activities are typically an expensive and historically exclusive activity to those with the means and ability to care for such a large animal,” she said. “leaving (behind) others who may be Interested in learning but lack means, need accommodations, and exposure. Our community lacks safe, healthy opportunities for especially our youth who can be impressionable. We need more fun activities that can bring the larger community together and have more inclusive activities for those with disabilities.”
These 4-H participants often build their own stick horses. Stone’s stalls allow for two hobby horses to be stored along with their tack, like custom bridles and ear bonnets. They are kept at the 4-H facility in Rutland.
Stone had to explain the hobby horse concept to many people as she worked on the stalls and asked for donations, gaining valuable communication and leadership skills. She exhibited her work at the local state fair and said it was well received by the public, youth, and 4-H community. 4-H plans to continue her work.
“I learned a lot about myself,” she said. “I now feel I can face challenges with more confidence and ease than I previously thought. I realized how resilient I was and despite any challenge can overcome it with still a positive attitude and let things come together. I feel I was able to grow my time management, organizational, and ability to problem-solve to a much greater degree. More confidence in my abilities now. I feel I've become more at ease with presenting and public speaking now through this experience. Feel I can overcome anything.”
Stone has been a Girl Scout for 13 years, where she enjoyed taking trips, participating in the Girl Scout Cookie program, and working on the highest awards for community service. She’s also an accomplished horsewoman who worked on her own to buy and care for her own horse and entering competitions.
Having graduated from West Rutland High School last spring, Stone is now a freshman at the State University of New York at Morrisville to study equine rehabilitation. She hopes to make a career of helping horses that need therapy.
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Gold Award Girl Scouts don’t just change the world for the better, they change it for good. The Gold Award is earned by girls in grades 9–12 who demonstrate extraordinary leadership in developing sustainable solutions to local, national, and global challenges. Since 1912, Girl Scouts have answered the call to drive lasting, impactful change. They earn college scholarships, demonstrate high educational and career outcomes, and are active in their communities.
Johanna Stone has answered the call to drive lasting, impactful change, and her Gold Award is a testament to her remarkable dedication to improving her community and the world.
About the Girl Scout Gold Award
- Gold Award Girl Scouts on average spend one to two years on their project.
- A Gold Award project must be sustainable after the girl’s involvement ends.
- The average age of Gold Award Girl Scouts is 17.
- Since 1916, more than 1 million girls have earned the Gold Award or its equivalent.
- Gold Award Girl Scouts are entitled to enlist at a higher pay grade when they join the military.
- University research indicates that noting you are a Gold Award Girl Scout on a college application is influential in the admissions decision-making process.
- Eighteen young women from New Hampshire and Vermont earned their Gold Award in the 2022-2023 membership year as part of Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains.
- The Girl Scout Gold Award is the mark of the truly remarkable.
We Are Girl Scouts
Girl Scouts bring their dreams to life and work together to build a better world. Through programs from coast to coast, Girl Scouts of all backgrounds and abilities can be unapologetically themselves as they discover their strengths and rise to meet new challenges—whether they want to climb to the top of a tree or the top of their class, lace up their boots for a hike or advocate for climate justice, or make their first best friends. Backed by trusted adult volunteers, mentors, and millions of alums, Girl Scouts lead the way as they find their voices and make changes that affect the issues most important to them. To join us, volunteer, reconnect, or donate, visit girlscouts.org.
Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains serves girls throughout New Hampshire and Vermont through volunteer-run troops, events, and virtual programs. Visit www.girlscoutsgwm.org to learn more.
