Dear USPC Leaders:

I take this opportunity to update y'all about some of the programs,
projects, and initiatives coming out of Instruction Council. Many of these
topics pre-date Annual Meeting; some topics emerged after our meetings
with
various leader groups in South Carolina. So here goes:

· Visiting Instructor (VI) Program. Theresa Meyer has started a "group" on
the uspcriders.ning.com for ongoing discussion about the VI program. She
also made sure the USPC website has all the correct forms. Don't
hesitate to
contact her as you develop your clinic and camp programs.

· Upcoming Leader Camps. Keep sending to us your ideas of what topics
should
be covered at future leader camps. The latest great idea I have is: how to
set up and empower your member-instructors.

· Horse Management. This committee and eager volunteers took off out the
gate! Ongoing revision of HM Handbook work; and already a very robust
proposal for the *conceptual* Horse Management Specialty rating track.

· Standards of Proficiency. As discussed above, we are carefully
working on
a proposed HM Specialty track as well as several other *conceptual*
Standards of Proficiency. I highlight the adjective *conceptual* because
that is what they are! Nothing is decided or final. I do not have the
authority to make USPC go in any particular direction or in any special
venue. Those decisions will be ultimately to the Board of Governors, with
input from YOU! However, based on several years or months of queries or
recommendations from the membership our brilliant volunteers are
working on
the proposals.

The work on the *conceptual* Eventing track is going well. We also
have the
draft of the Dressage Specialty at the C1 and C2 levels. Still waiting the
SJ Specialty draft for C-levels, but I do not expect to be waiting
long. As
I outlined before, we are simultaneously reviewing how RS and DC's will
implement of C-level Specialty ratings. We appreciate your comments to the
process.

In other Standards initiatives, "Team Western" is moving apace to develop
its Standards of Proficiency track—again, *conceptual* only! I have some
volunteer offers to help me with a "virtual badging" track as well, but no
one offering to be in charge. By the end of this week, I will declare
myself
in charge just to get this group going, because they are very
knowledgeable
and eager.

· On-line "Manual of Horsemanship." Again, I have some interested folks
willing to help with this project, but no one "in charge" yet. I expect we
will see something within the month on this one.

· Accreditation of USPC Curriculum. This is likely a multi-year project. I
will have my first call on this topic next week. Let me know if you are
interested in helping.

· Instruction Manual (on-line). We found the "old" USPC Instruction manual
and realized it was not as helpful as a starting point as we had hoped.
So—the RIC Committee is back to the drawing board on this one!

· Guide for Ratings. D1-C2 Committee is "this-close" to getting a draft to
me for review. I will send it to VP, Regional Administration, and then
present at the spring PAC meeting. After that, we will publish on-line
(like
we did with the 2009 SOPs) and solicit comments from the field.

· Future for Festival 2011. I have our first committee call this week.
Wish
us luck!

· Reach me through Lynn or my email derloreley@....

Many thanks for all you do,

Lorelei Wilson Coplen
VP, Instruction