Tag: Rachel Bandy

Botetourt teen to compete with state 4-H Hippology team

Rachel Buchanan

A Botetourt County teen has made the Virginia State Hippology Team and will travel with her teammates from across the commonwealth to Perry, Georgia, to compete at the Southern Regionals.

Rachel Buchanan, a rising sophomore at James River High School, qualified in her first year of eligibility at the senior level — despite having no coaches or a local Hippology team to help her prepare.

Buchanan has been a 4-H member since kindergarten. She competed for several years with former Botetourt County Hippology and Horse Judging coaches Cindy Bandy, Rachel Witt and Dr. Charlotte Dietz before that team dissolved.

Outside of 4-H, Rachel shows in hunter/jumper competitions and volunteers at Botetourt County Horseman’s Association events along with her family.

Travel costs for each team is steep, and 4-H has launched a crowdfunding campaign to help offset costs of the state team’s travel. Going to the Georgia event will cost about $660. If the team wins, they will compete at the All-American Quarter Horse Congress in October in preparation for the Eastern Nationals in Kentucky later in the fall. The Virginia team was reserve champions at last year’s Nationals.

The crowdfunding campaign ends June 16. Please click here to contribute.

 

Minimum Costs for Teams

Southern Regionals – Perry, Georgia

  • $160/team – Entry Fees
  • $100/hotel room – minimum 3 nights = $300
  • $200 travel/meals = $200

Total = $660/team

All American Quarter Horse Congress – Columbus, Ohio

  • $200/team – Entry Fees
  • $150/hotel room – minimum 3 nights = $450
  • $500 – travel/meals = $500

Total = $1,150/team

Eastern National 4-H Horse Round Up – Louisville, Kentucky

  • $300/team – Entry Fees
  • $175/hotel room – minimum 2 nights = $350
  • $300 – misc fees (food, travel, supplies) = $300

Total = $950/team

Total MINIMUM cost to send all educational teams to regional and national contests = $20,520

*does not include practice sessions throughout the year or coaches travel

Local Arabian breeder nominated for 2018 Breeder of the Year award

A Fincastle-based farm’s breeding program has been in the national spotlight. Wiloma Plantation  was nominated for the 2018 Breeder of the Year award by the Arabian Professional and Amateur Horseman’s Association.

“We think we have a breeding program that will keep getting better,” David Bandy told the Fincastle Herald recently.

The Bandys have been breeding horses for more than 40 years. The farm normally has three stallions and about 15 to 20 mares. Each year, they raise between five to eight foals. Besides Arabians, the farm also breeds Hackneys and Saddlebreds and outcrosses.

Recently, several of the Bandys’ horses have seen success at shows. The horses include: WP Corporate Image, WP Imperator Furiosa, WP Gold Boom, WP Corporate America, and WP Fashionista.

 

According to the Wiloma Plantation website, their breeding program “is based on a careful blending of Crabbet and Polish Arabians to produce maximum motion at the trot along with extreme length of neck combined with flexion at the poll. In addition, Hackney horse bloodlines through the Halstead and King horses, Hackney Pony blood through Heartland and Dun Haven lines, Dutch Harness Horses from the Ritsma Breeding Program, and Saddlebred horses whose bloodlines trace back to Wing Commander, Sultan’s Santana, and Oman’s Desdemona Denmark are being bred as purebreds, as well as being outcrossed on the Arabian horses. Utilizing these three programs will produce a blend of the best attributes of each breed resulting in the ultimate Half Arabian, as well as great purebred individuals in each breed.”

 

 

David and Cindy Bandy bought Wiloma Plantation in 1987. The farm of 130 acres features an 1842 house that is on both the Virginia and National Historic Registry.

David Bandy, a graduate of Virginia Tech, is president of Spectrum Designs,  which offers offering full-service architecture and engineering and is based in Roanoke. He previously served as the president of the Roanoke Valley Horse Show.

Their daughter Rachel, who graduated from Hollins University, has followed in her parents footsteps and is a horse show judge and exhibitor.