Officials with the Atlantic FFA Chapter report the Iowa winner in the area of Equine Science Entrepreneurship for 2020, is Taylor McCreedy with the Atlantic FFA. McCreedy’s SAE Project is her horse training business. Taylor has been showing horses competitively at a high level for many years, and began to train her own horses independently two years ago after working with different trainers. She has developed her own methods of teaching both people and horses, and wants to continue to focus on mastering her training methods for future career development. Taylors goals are to raise and train quality show horses in multiple disciplines and work with people to improve their success with their horses in the show pen.

Taylor plans to focus on working with her horses to better improve their performance, and has advanced to working with young horses to learn to break and train them from the ground up. McCreedy said, “I prioritize the importance of nutrition, different dietary needs for different stages of training, supplements, and general health as the horses age.” Taylor plans to continue to work with a training barn to further develop her skills, while helping riders by assisting with a youth camp over the summer. Taylor plans on continuing to develop her business, “This year I have expanded to include boarding, and I am responsible for the daily care of all the animals in my barn. I have really enjoyed the opportunity to work with young people, to work with younger horses, to provide board and care for horses, and to continue learning by riding other horses”. McCreedy said.

100% of FFA members have proficiencies as part of the agricultural program and the FFA. The proficiencies range in the areas of Agricultural Communications to Home and/or Community Development and from Diversified Agricultural Production to Swine Production. Proficiency Award winners have excelled in their Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) Programs. These awards encourage members to develop specialized skills that will apply toward a future career. State winners will advance to the National FFA competition where they will compete against winners from the other State FFA Associations. The Iowa FFA Proficiency Awards program is possible with support from the many partners of the Iowa FFA Foundation. The specific partner for each area is identified in our summary of results.

(Story and photo’s submitted by the Atlantic FFA Chapter)