Thomas County Middle School FFA members recently competed in the FFA Horse Evaluation Career Development Event at the area and state level. The first round of competition was on January 9th, and students placed second, missing first place by just one point. This qualified the team for the state competition at Fort Valley State University, where they placed 8th overall.

Students had to evaluate two classes of horses based on conformation and two classes of performance in western pleasure and reining. In addition, they had to provide two sets of oral reasons from the classes and complete a knowledge exam over horse breeds and tack.

Students competing on this team pictured from left to right are Alicia Sholar, Cody Johnson, Gracelynn Lima, Taylor Stegall, and Ashley Brannen. Taylor was the highest scoring individual at the area level competition.