Region 15 proudly announces that Laura Killian is the new Regional Youth Director. Laura lives in Lancaster, PA, and is a seventeen-year-old senior at Hempfield High School. This year, in addition to her high school work, she is taking seven courses at Penn State York through dual-enrollment to get a head start at receiving college credits. Laura hopes to study marketing and equine science at Penn State University and works hard to maintain all A’s and B’s in her honors and advance placement courses.

Outside of school Laura keeps extremely busy. She has been dancing and twirling baton since she was five years old and still has a strong passion for those two sports. In addition, she could not imagine life without her horses and showing. Laura has a welsh pony, Cocoa Puff, who was her first 4-H project horse. While she was a part of the York County “Horse ‘n Around” 4-H club, she served as the Historian and documented the group’s charity activities throughout the community. She’s spent many years showing her Arabian, Kirashana, in hunter pleasure, equitation and showmanship classes. Laura now also does dressage, sport horse in-hand, sport-horse under saddle, halter, trail, and jumping classes. She is now the proud owner of a palomino Arabian/Andalusian filly, MS Spanish Legacy, who has been doing exceptionally well in sport horse in-hand, halter, and showmanship. Laura intends on showing her in pleasure driving, dressage and sport horse under saddle classes this upcoming show season.

Laura is a very active member of the Arabian Horse Association. She has attended the Pennsylvania Arabian Horse Association Youth meetings since she began showing on the Circuit. In 2007 and 2008 she attended the Region 15 Championships as a volunteer and helped by scribing for the trail judges, organizing the hunter/jumper awards and setting up the jumping and trail courses. Laura also supports the Youth fundraisers through sales and volunteering her time at the youth table during the East Coast Horse Show.

As the Region 15 Youth Director, Laura intends to build closer bonds between the competitors in the Region. She proposes that every Region 15 show have a small Youth meeting and activities should be planned to allow for more interaction between young exhibitors and competitors from different stables. She will work to promote the Arabian breed at dressage and eventing shows and share her passion for Arabians with people who own other breeds of horses at events such as the Pennsylvania and Maryland Horse Expo and the Pennsylvania Farm Show.

If you would like to contact Laura, her email address is Twirler10@comcast.net.