Stars 'N' Steeds Color Guard
MISSION
The Stars n Steeds is no ordinary youth equestrian club. The mission of the team is to provide quality entertainment for a variety of audiences, while teaching and fostering high moral values. Each child that rides on this team must be between the ages of 10 and 19. They must be responsible for the care and upkeep of their own horse, and be committed to living a life that is exemplary in every way.
Each young rider signs a statement that states they will abstain from drugs, alcohol, and tobacco. They also agree and commit to doing their best in school and being role models for other young people.
HISTORY
After years of giving riding lessons, training horses and being heavily involved in a local southwest Missouri 4-H club. LouAnn Biggers wanted to do more to become a role model for local youth!
Being extremely patriotic and deeply committed to living a life committed to God, she had the desire to give kids a chance to learn excellent citizenship skills, provide a place that fostered a sense of community and offer positive activities. She however, had no idea how she would achieve those ideals-nor did she know what was to happen in her life.
At a horse show, in 1999 Lou Ann had the opportunity to watch a young rider, bear the American flag, for the ceremonial colors. It was not a pleasant or safe experience, for the horse or the rider. She asked the horse show commission if next year she could take over that portion of the show. She wanted to make sure our beloved flag was carried safely with honor!
She taught her riding students how to properly carry the American flag while on horseback, how to properly execute the movements while carrying the flag-and “breaking” the horses to be comfortable and therefore safe to ride with a flag waving in their face!
When those kids rode the next year-there was not a dry eye in the house! Several people came up to her afterward and were amazed that Springfield had a “mounted drill team”! She knew she was on to something.
Although, she had little experience in leading a drill team, she had the passion, horse skills and enthusiasm to begin what we now know as the Stars n Steeds!
That same year, she took 6 kids who had ridden for fun and in local 4-H horse shows and began teaching them to ride intricate and complicated patterns to music. That first group performed at a few events like rodeos and horse expos and before they knew it they were being invited to ride at the State 4-H fair.
The group grew from the original 6 to 8, then to 15! It has become the premier youth equestrian drill team in the Southwest Missouri area as is evidenced by its now 17 members and the list of accomplishments that this team has earned.
Fast forward to the summer of 2004, the team traveled to Canton, TX, to compete in the National United States Equestrian Drill Team Competition. There were teams from all over the country-and although it was the Stars n Steeds first competition, they won the right to bear the title National Champions in 3 Divisions, including the Color Guard and Rodeo Divisions.
In November of 2004, the team applied for and was selected to ride in the Presidential Inauguration Parade in Washington D.C. They are one of only a handful of equestrian drill team from across the country that has been offered this highly coveted opportunity!