DATE: Sunday, May 4, 1997                   TAG: 9705030154

SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN             PAGE: 06   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: COVER STORY 

SOURCE: BY JOHN-HENRY DOUCETTE, CORRESPONDENT 

                                            LENGTH:   81 lines

NOT JUST HORSE PLAY CHESAPEAKE-BASED SUFFOLK REINERS LEARN TO RIDE - AND TO CARE FOR HORSES.

The Suffolk Reiners 4-H Club has a Chesapeake home.

The club, boasting members from Suffolk, Chesapeake, Portsmouth and Norfolk, meets each Wednesday at the Western Branch Stables to ride, care for and learn about horses.

``It gives kids a chance to find out about farm life and these animals, and it gets them outside to do things,'' said Sharyn C. Hughes, who was a 4-H member when she was a teen growing up in Churchland. ``It's a lot of hard work, but the kids seem to like it.''

The young members come out at 2 p.m. each week by school bus or mom and dad, and take care of the horses. They clean stalls, scrub buckets, clean saddles, fix harnesses, wash the animals and learn to ride safely. The club also hosts guest speakers, such as a recent visit by an equestrian dentist.

But riding is the main event.

Hughes, 48, and her husband Larry A. Hughes, 50, keep the club afloat through private donations and their own money. They also own the five horses that the children ride. The Chesapeake couple became involved in 4-H about five years ago, when their youngest daughter grew big enough to ride. All three of their daughters are involved.

The youngest is 13-year-old Jennifer Hughes.

Sporting a broken arm earned during a barrel racing mishap, she recently shared a saddle with 8-year-old Jennifer Parmley for a ride on Stormy, a mustang rescued from a horse farm in Nevada.

Parmley, a new member of the 4-H club, and Hughes were assisted by Kelly Warren, 15, a youth leader for the club. She walked along side, helping Parmley get accustomed to riding.

Among the things the young people have learned about the horses is what they crave in refreshment.

Warren poured Coca-Cola into her hand and gave the horse a drink.

``See,'' said Warren as the horse lapped at the Coke, ``we share everything.''

Snacking aside, the young 4-Hers learn a lot about animals.

Ashley Law, 11, had only been in the club a week when she learned about caring for a horse's feet. The week before, she cleaned stalls.

Hard work?

``Well,'' admitted Law. ``Kinda.''

Warren added, ``It's easier than cleaning your room.''

Some of the Suffolk Reiners have been so smitten with horses that they've purchased their own. Ryan Rapier, 17, is a leader in the club. Sharyn Hughes got him into ``the horse thing'' two years ago, and he has since gotten a horse, as has his sister.

``Now,'' said Rapier, ``if I don't get a chance to ride, I come out here and clean the horses.''

Not to imply that 4-H is all horses, of course.

Area clubs learn about topics as diverse as public speaking, marketing agriculture products over the internet, and environmental science. The 4-H program in Chesapeake is managed by the Virginia Cooperative Extension Program, located in the same building as the Chesapeake Planetarium near City Hall on Cedar Road.

Though the goals of 4-H have traditionally related to agriculture and rural communities, the program has evolved since the early 1900s. At that time, children canned food and raised crops and livestock. The programs were sponsored by the Department of Agriculture in conjunction with local land-grant colleges, such as Virginia Tech.

Along the way, 4-H added programs that attracted young people from cities and rural but non-farming areas, and now those members outnumber folks with a farming background.

There are more than 130,000 youth and volunteers in the program in Virginia.

And 4-H is still growing - as are the Suffolk Reiners, a club that is open to all young people. MEMO: For more information on the Suffolk Reiners contact the Hughes at

397-8332. To contact Chesapeake 4-H, call the local Extension Service at

382-6444. ILLUSTRATION: Photos by GARY KNAPP

Lori Hughes adjusts the helmet of Audra Parmley as Ashley Cook looks

on. The Suffolk Reiners 4-H Club teaches children...[sic]

Peter Williams, 10, cleans the hoofs of Sonny. Suffolk Reiners

members care for the horses on Wednesday afternoons at...[sic]

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