Board of Directors Meeting
Northfield, MN
January 20, 2006
Attending Officers and Board Members
Brian Feuling, Laura Mickelson, Jane Boots, Roberta Lembke, Sandy
Feuling, Jill Freiders, Kevin Price, Shirley Theede, Hillary
Hoffman, Tom Fisher
Attending Delegates and Committee Chairpersons: Toni Mari O’Daniel, Anita Grant, Irene Simonson, Emily Simonson,
Members and Guests: Kara Amundson, Mike Theede, Dean Lembke, Kim Anderson, Julie Hendrickson
Absent: Diana Pierce
Unexcused Absence: Lori Conway, Larry Hoffman
President Brian Feuling called the meeting to order at 1:15 PM.
Presidents Report
Brian welcomed everyone to the first 2007 MAHA Board Meeting.
Secretary Report
The minutes of the August 8, 2006 were presented. Jill Frieders moved to approve the minutes with a correction to a name. Tom Fisher seconded. Motion passed. The minutes of the December 2, 2006 meeting were presented. Two corrections were noted—a name change and a change in a date. Sandy Feuling moved to approve the minutes with the noted corrections. Laura Mickelson seconded. Motion passed.
Treasurer Report
Jane Boots presented the Profit Loss statement, the Balance Sheet, and Trial Balance. The club has assets of $61,006.03. Actual cash on hand was $58,729.36. The club had a negative income of -$203.49. Laura Mickelson moved to approve the Treasurer’s Report. Tom Fisher seconded. Motion passed.
Insurance
The club insurance expires in April. Jill Freiders noted that she has been told that in 2008 USEF will be contracting for the insurance for the shows and will bill the club. This has not been formerly announced by AHA to member clubs. Jill will research this.
MN Horse Council
MAHA needs to find someone to serve as a liaison to the MN Horse Council. Roberta Lembke has been in correspondence with a club member who expressed some interest in serving in this role. Roberta will contact this member to see if they are willing to serve in this capacity.
Spring Show
Brian Feuling reported on behalf of Teresa LeFever. Teresa reported that things are running smoothly and that the premium book is at the printers. Teresa needs assistance the gate for Friday and Saturday evening. She also needs ribbon help. She has three patronships so far. Teresa noted that she also needs additional items for the silent auction.
Toni Mari O’Daniel is the barn manager for the show. She noted some concern with how the stalls are being assigned to patrons. The board agreed that the ideal way to assign stalls is by the closing date and then by seniority. The board also agreed that the stalls must be assigned as they are noted to be in the premium book.
The board also discussed a possible conflict with the judge’s school training. We need to contact USEF about future dates for the judge’s school so that our Spring Show doesn’t conflict. This type of conflict could place us at financial risk as many of the bigger barn trainers are judges and every other year would be required to attend the training.
WSCA
Laura noted that we need to find someone to serve as a delegate to WSCA. Anita Grant volunteered to serve. We also need to find someone to serve as the Safety Person. The Board agreed to advertise in the Express and tell interested parties to contact Laura Mickelson.
Open Shows Championship
The Open Shows Championship committee chairperson Laura Mickelson reported that they want to once again hold the show. Last year we had 82 entries with 28 horses. The show will not be associated with the Owatonna Steele County Free Fair. The MI club has offered to hold our championship show at their show in Albert Lea on August 25-26. The MI representatives would ideally like us to take their second day of the show but the committee doesn’t feel they have enough people to put on a full day show. Instead, they would like to have the championship classes interspersed throughout the second day of the MI show. Two representatives from the MI Club, Kim Anderson and Julie Hendrickson, attended the meeting. Kim and Julie will return to the MI Board to discuss and review MAHA’s proposal to hold our Championship Classes during their show.
MAHA Youth Show
Emily Simonson, Youth President, reported that the Youth do not want to put on a Youth Open Show. Instead, the Youth would like to put on some sort of celebration or event that would highlight the Arabian horse. Hillary Hoffman recommended that the Youth might want to have a trail ride for all Youth. The Board encouraged Emily to pursue the concept of a celebration.
Brian noted that Teresa LeFever had indicated that they need more Youth to serve on the Board. Cassie Jo LeFever will serve as vice President, with the remaining two youth positions filled by Matthew Hoffman and Jordan LeFever. Some of the events planned for this year include a clinic, jackpot classes at the spring show, pizza party at Region 10, and scavenger hunt.
AHA Public Relations Network
Kara LaVenture is the Assistant Principal for a St. Paul School. She is interested in pursuing the Black Stallion Literacy Program and is asking for MAHA’s support. The programs goal is to encourage children to read. The program is a 501c3 non-profit.
The program is normally geared toward 1st and 4th graders but Kara would like to adapt the program for 7th through 8th grade students from schools who have children reading below their grade level. Kara has talked with Larry Bramllett, director of the project and found him receptive to the change. The program requires 2000 to 5000 students to enroll in the program. MAHA would have to identify 10 to 15 farm sponsors that would be willing to host student tours so the children can see vet work, see a farrier trim or shoe a horse, be able to touch a horse, etc. As a highlight to the program AHA brings in the Arabian Nights show for the children to attend. The Black Stallion program costs an estimated $15 per student.
MAHA would be responsible for finding the 10 to 15 barns. The funds for the program would also be run through our club. The club discussed the various issues relating to the event such as insurance. Tom Fisher recommended that we contact the clubs who are already enrolled in the program to find out the true extent of the club work. Jill Frieders moved that we look into the details regarding MAHA sponsoring the BH Literacy program. Hillary Hoffman seconded the motion. The board voted –motion approved Brian recommend that Hillary serve as the liaison to the program and she agreed.
Fall Show
Jane Boots noted that Kim Shackelford is the judge for the Fall Show, September 15-16. The premium book is once again included with the Spring Fling. There will be the new AOTS classes at the show.
Youth High Point Award
Irene Simonson reported that the number of youth entered in the High Point Program had doubled from the year before. Irene will do a lot of promotion with the adults and that has been a good way to get students entered.
Welcome Committee
Sandy reported that Teresa LeFever is working to get the coffee and donuts sponsorships for the Spring Show.
Volunteer Committee
Sandy will be contacting Teresa LeFever to try to help get volunteers for the show.
Membership
Shirley Theede reported that we have 262 members, 6 life, and 68 Youth.
Gamaar’s Finyl Edition Traveling Trophy
Jill Freiders reminded the Board about Betty Pollitt’s requirements for the Gamaar’s Finyl Edition Traveling Trophy. It requires that a horse be shown in Show Hack, Country Pleasure, Native Costume classes and the owner must be a MAHA member. Jill is developing the guidelines for the program. Jill expects that she will require individuals to sign up for the program to reduce the time it would take to go through show results.
MAHA Express
Roberta Lembke noted that the feedback from the Express has been overwhelming positive. Because of the Express, Diana Pierce has more volunteers at this time than ever before. Roberta volunteered to continue in this role for one year and then will re-evaluate. Roberta is getting prices on printing copies of the Express for the members who don’t have e-mail.
MN Horse Expo
Diana Pierce could not attend the meeting but provided information for the Board. A grand finale parade is planned for Sunday April 29th at 3:30pm. The number of horses (mare and geldings only) is limited to 50. Diana will sign up MAHA as a participant.
Diana requested that the club issue a check to the Expo for $807.50 for stall 316-324. There is some discrepancy regarding MAHA and another Arabian owner each paying for the same stall. This issue needs to be addressed. Diana contacted MAHAHA a month ago to let them know that we are not going to share a booth in the Coliseum.
Diana will be working to develop an ad for the Expo. Roberta Lembke will send her the MAHA website banner to use. Diana also reported that the notice in the MAHA Express has generated a great response. She already has two riders/two horses and one volunteer as a result. MAHA still needs 5 more rider/horse volunteers, as well as others who can help set up and tear down, and serve as MAHA Ambassadors for the breed. She also noted that we can’t use Christmas lights on the stalls so we need to think of something else creative to make our stalls attractive. Brian has ordered the AHA backdrop for the stalls.
2007 Meeting Dates
The Board agreed to hold
our meetings on the first Monday of the month. The meetings
will most likely be at the House of Coates. The dates set so
far are:
March 5
April 2
June 4
August 6
Spring General Membership Meeting
The Board agreed that we will hold a General Membership meeting in April – the exact date to be determined. Brian Feuling will contact the Sylla’s to see if they would be interested in hosting the meeting at their farm. Laura Mickelson asked to have a few moments at the General Membership meeting to talk about AHA’s new PR program.
Annual Banquet
The Board agreed to a tentative date of December 1, 2007 for the Annual Meeting and Awards Meeting. Hillary Hoffman offered to chair the banquet.
Sandy Feuling motioned to adjourn the meeting. Jane Boots seconded the motion. Motion passed. The meeting adjourned at 4:10PM.