Jan 17 2006 Sport Pony Canada Presidents message

I would like to welcome all of our members, both new and past, to join us with the progression of Sport Pony Canada . We held our inaugural meeting on Jan 13 2006 in Red Deer AB. There was a wonderful group of enthusiastic people at the meeting and our new board consists of :

 

President:

Alana Longman

Box 36 Harris , SK S0L 1K0

306-656-2051

president@...

 

First Vice-President:

Sue Higgs

338 Bow River Drive , Harvie Heights , AB   T1W 2W2

403-678-4127

suehiggs@...

 

Second Vice-President:

Lorna Lancaster

2752 - 176th Street , Surrey BC V3S 9W5

604-542-6510

lorna3@...

 

Treasurer:

Dawn Davey

Box 44A RR#3 Saskatoon , SK S7K 3J6

306-931-2530

treasurer@...

 

Secretary:  

Christy Weese

2421 Kelvin Ave , Saskatoon SK S7J 0T4

306-931-7187

secretary@...

 

Director:

Brian Donegan

Site 14 RR#1 Strathmore , AB T1P 1J6

403-934-9661

irishpon@...

 

Director:

Shirley Brand

RR 1 Box 8 Innisfail , AB T4G 1T6

403-227-4341

brandes@...

 

Director:

Katrina Schumacher

62 Castle Cresent, Red Deer , AB T4P 2E9

403-309-9265

triple_three_stables@...

 

 

 

Board of Directors (3)

Brian Donegan

Shirley Brand

Katrina Schumacher

 

Executive Committee

Alana Longman, Dawn Davey, Shirley Brand, Brian Donegan

 

Law Review Committee

Lorna Lancaster , Katrina Schumacher, Colleen Belsey, Vanessa Quartly 

 

A huge thank you to Bill Des Barres for helping at the meeting with procedures and chairing the elections.Bill has been a wonderful resource and has offered to continue.

Also a huge thank you to Dianne Winkelman-Sim for educating us on the importance of genetic testing.   Dianne was a wealth of information.

Now the real work begins. I suggest that we need to set some timeline goals and meeting schedule. I am proposing monthly board meetings and committee meetings (either by web meetings or teleconferencing - anyone with experience in web meetings?)  every 2 weeks. We have lots of work to do and the sooner we get going the better. We also need volunteers for the following:

studbook/inspections - sub committee of law review

programs (shows, education, awards)-

publicity and marketing -

and we need to set up regions and have regional representation.

 As Christy Weese is going to be extremely busy keeping the Sport Pony Canada Magazine running, as well as her own graphic design business, and coaching/training, she would love it if someone would volunteer to take over the position of Secretary or at least help out.  The position would basically be handling the mailing list, memberships (be proficient with email).  Christy would be able to set up any forms.

Please remember that we are run completely by volunteers and these people do have a life outside of Sport Pony Canada . We welcome constructive criticisms, helpful ideas, appreciation and the occasional winning lottery ticket!  It is my sincere hope that we can keep focused on the greater good of the sport pony industry.

For those of you who attended the JW Equine "Improving Your Eye For Conformation" presentation, I am sure you learned a whole new way of looking at your horses/ponies! It is my recommendation that we require our inspectors to attend at least two clinics with Judy Wardrope. I also think that hosting a series of clinics would not only be very educational and place Sport Pony Canada on the cutting edge of this new method, and could be a very good fundraising activity.