Title: Local Horse Enthusiast Awarded $2,500 Scholarship for Equine Excellence

A Mount Crawford horse lover has been recognized for her hard work with a $2,500 scholarship.

Carrie Miller will be starting her sophomore year at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College in Miami, Okla., in the fall.

Carrie Miller, 18, was awarded the scholarship for an essay she wrote about her experiences with horse judging, horse shows, and serving the community by the Arabian Horse Foundation. "I was able to apply because I’ve had a couple of Arabian horses," Carrie said. "My mom had an Arabian, and my grandma had an Arabian."

Carrie has been surrounded by horses her entire life, and her mother, Yvonne Miller, raised them at their barn. "It makes me very proud that she has earned this award," Yvonne said. "I had Arabians growing up and have shown Arabians, and for Carrie to follow in my footsteps with both horse judging and showing Arabians."

The money from the 2025 Arabian Horse Foundation Memorial scholarship will go to her upcoming sophomore year at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College in Miami, Okla., where she will be getting her degree in animal science and agricultural business. "I went out there because I could do horse judging," Carrie said about attending Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College. "And when I actually got out there, not only did I get recruited to be on the horse judging team, but I ended up on the livestock judging team as well, and I have done both of these in 4-H for about 10 years."

Carrie is a member of 4-H, a positive youth development group that focuses on community engagement and hands-on learning. She is also part of the National Future Farmers of America Organization, which focuses on agriculture.

"I think the pinnacle for me of her riding career was when she became skilled enough in her riding to show my horse," Yvonne said. "He’s a lot of horse under the saddle; he’s not a beginner horse. And when she reached that level where she felt she could show him successfully, she went out and went to our District 4-H show and qualified my horse. He’s not an easy horse to ride, and then she advanced to the State 4-H show and showed him two years there."

The scholarship is given to those who show leadership, academic ability, and equine involvement. "The other year, when I was on the state 4-H judging team, we did go to Quarter Horse Congress and Eastern Nationals and Southern regionals," Carrie said. "My team’s best placing contest was at Arabian Nationals, where we won the contest, and because of winning the contest, we got smaller scholarships."

Carrie said she visited 17 states last semester to judge more contests. She said that she has learned patience and consistency through all the contests and experiences. "You can’t just say, ‘Oh, I’m going to take a day for myself,’" she said. "No, you can go out and do at least something to improve, whether it’s just the smallest, 1% change. Everything helps."

Yvonne said it has been an incredible experience watching her daughter grow up and reach the level that she’s at now. "It makes me proud of her, knowing that her skills will take her on through life, and I see her going on to school in animal science and ag business," Yvonne said. "She’s got some things that she’s working towards as far as her dreams, but I know that she’s always going to ride and always going to take these lessons that she learned at home, in both riding instructors and her experiences in the show ring, and build upon them. I can’t wait to see where she goes with all this."