January 20, 2007
FEI Jr. /Yr. Educational Session/Meeting Minutes
Sarah Patrick, USDF Region 4 Director called meeting to order at
approximately 6:02 pm, January 20, 2007, from Pine Hill Farm located
in the Kansas City area. Those in attendance from this location
were Sarah Patrick, Nancy, Mike and Lauren Gorton, Becky, Jena and
Tessa Dick, and Lauren Bagget and her parents. The meeting was also
opened up on as conference call in and the following individuals
called in and participated in the meeting as well; Jami Kment, Carla
and Mimi Stanley, Mackenzie Rath, Linda Landers, Maryanne Mahwald and
Tracie Wang.
Sarah started off thanking the Gorton's for hosting the meeting place
this evening and thanked all those that came out in the weather to
the barn for this meeting as well as those that called in to
participate. Introductions from all in attendance were made. Sarah
turned the meeting over to Maryanne Mahwald, the regions past and
current JR/YR Coordinator to point out areas of interest concerning
FEI JR/YR. Not many changes have occurred pointing out for those
interested in doing the JR/YR competition to complete all
documents/forms well in advance of deadlines. A question was asked
about the order of riding which tests on what days. She said that it
has always been to ride the Team Test on the first day of the show
and then the Individual Test on the second day. and stressed that
the rider always needs to ride at least the Team test. Riding the
freestyle can be done on the first or second day, depending on the
show management and that only one qualifying score of 60% or better
is need for qualifying purposes and is not computed into the overall
qualifying scoring for that person. It was suggested to go to the
USDF and/or the USEF website for understanding all the criteria and
rules for the Jr/YR and where approved FEI qualifying competitions
are for our region and other regions as well. The yahoo group
website (www.yahoogroups.com/group/usdfregion4) will also have this
information and other helpful information available. Sarah pointed
out the March 1 Declaration deadline so make sure you fill out all
appropriate paperwork and submit it before the deadline. There were
some questions about obtaining a horse passport and Nancy Gorton said
she would be happy to help and answer any questions since they had
experience with doing this.
Next on the agenda was discussion and deciding on whether to hold the
upcoming USDF REGION 4 JR/YR Clinic with Kathy Connelly which will be
held April 14 and 15, 2007 and has a deadline of April 1, 2007 for
applying to ride in the clinic. A polling was done on the Yahoo
Group website and Sarah reviewed the results but after discussion
with all in attendance there were several individuals that did not
know about the polling and/or did not know how to vote so it was
then decided to discuss the individual barns that had agreed to host
the clinic, talking about their location in regards to all members
voicing their desire and intentions on participating in the clinic,
the facilities itself, traveling distance from various locations that
riders might be traveling from (these included ND,MO, KS, IA and NE
from the representation this evening), hotels, restaurants, hook up
facilities, airport locations, housing for the clinician and lunch
for riders and auditors. Then a voting took place with majority
going to Providence Farm in Palmyra, NE and then having the Kansas
City area as a backup facility.
Budget was next on the list. Sarah mentioned that on the Yahoo
website she posted a hypothetical detailed budget to give individuals
an idea of what is entailed on becoming a JR/YR and all the costs
associated. This also served as a way to be able to tell folks about
the expenses needed to support funding two teams of four this year,
one for the YR and one for JR's. It is estimated that it will cost
approximately 38,000 – 40,000 for each team, making it about 76,000 –
80,000 total. Nancy thought this was good information to know and
also encouraged individuals to look to corporations that had employee
matching programs for contributions. Linda Landers pointed out that
all money collected should be put in one account to avoid
confusion. In the past, money has been put into the Region 4
Advanced Young Rider account and the Youth account used primarily for
scholarships. Money collected this year will be evenly divided
amongst those riders that make the team for our Region. Nancy Gorton
recommended making reservations now to hold a block of rooms at the
Sleep Inn in Virginia for the Championships for our Region and agreed
to be in charge of this.
Jena Dick talked about what she and Ellie did last year as Young
Riders for our Region for fundraising. They had informative groups
talking about the JR/YR program, did braiding at shows, night checks,
designed a T-shirt, and held a gala that featured musical freestyles
which raised over $3,000 and held an auction. Other fundraising
ideas came from Jami Kment, telling the group that the NDA was
supporting having a non-braiding donation at their upcoming May show,
where a contribution is made and in return the person receives a
colored ribbon to braid the forelock of their horse with and all the
judges would know ahead of time about this and were supportive of
this. She said Lloyd has seen this done at many shows and it was
quite successful. Another idea came from Sarah that suggested going
in with other fundraising groups and splitting the profits. She used
the Go Red Campaign as an example. Lauren Bagget suggested helping
the shows put their bags together and inserting a donation envelope
into each bag as another way to raise funds. Sarah emphasized we
need to plan and build now for next year but that we are off to a
good start for this year.
Linda Landers voiced her excitement on the number of individuals that
are interested in representing our region as Jr/YR and said she will
continue to do all she can to help our region. She was thanked for
her many years of support and contributions she has made.
Tracie Wang mentioned that Heidi Basler, who was a YR for our Region
in the past, was willing to share ideas they used for fundraising and
also said that our region has a logo for its JR/YR that they used on
caps, shirts and saddle pads. She will get together with Tracie
when she returns from training in Florida.
Jena Dick recommended having all the riders stay in contact with each
other, do things together at shows and support each other. She said
that while she was in California she was impressed by how their
Jr/Yr's helped and supported each other. She agreed to be the
contact person for the Young Riders and Lauren Gorton agreed to be
the contact person for the Juniors. Sarah thanked all that
participated in the meeting this evening and if any one has any
questions or suggestions to feel free to contact her. Meeting was
adjourned at approximately 8:08 pm.
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