March 2008
President’s
Message
Spring is
certainly turning out to be an exciting
and volatile time. Rain is arriving in
a consistent and somewhat normal pattern
but it brings tornados to downtown
Atlanta. Hopefully the worst is behind
us and the best is yet to come. I want
to take a moment in my first message, to
thank those who have put their faith in
me to guide the club. I had an
opportunity to read the President’s
message from over 20 years ago in an old
newsletter.
“The club can always improve. But it
takes both a positive, constructive
attitude as well as the commitment and
support of enough individuals to get the
job done.”
I couldn’t agree
more. And in that spirit, I have 3
goals for our club this year. First,
maximize our communication within the
club. Second, increase member
involvement in the June show and have
the best show possible. Finally, take a
look at revamping some of our programs
provided by the club.
Communication:
We now have a
fabulous web site maintained by Shannon
Kimes at
http://www.georgia-arabian.com.
If you haven’t checked it out, please
do. Members may post information for
free. This is a tremendous resource for
us and can be a great place to share
information. You will find all show
information posted there. You can
contact Shannon at
fczara@hotmail.com.
We also maintain our own bulletin board
at
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/GeorgiaArabian.
This resource will allow you to get club
news delivered right to your email or
you can opt to access the information
via your web browser. Finally, Tara
Carpio has taken on the responsibility
of publishing our club newsletter and is
doing a great job. But Tara can only
create what we as members send her so
please submit your information to Tara
on a regular basis. Not only does the
information appear on our web-site but
it is also published in the Arabian
News. You can reach Tara at:
taracarpio@aol.com.
Member
Involvement:
Our biggest
project each year is our Class A horse
show. The dates for this year are June
4-8, 2008 at the Georgia International
Horse Park in Conyers, GA. This double
show will qualify competitors for both
Region 12 and Region 14 Championship
competitions. Our show last year was
tremendous and we expect a larger show
this year. So we need your help! If
you have been looking for a way to meet
more people and get involved in the
Arabian horse, this is it! Our
volunteer coordinator for 2008 is
Stephanie Boutwell. No offer of time is
too small. Just contact Stephanie at
connordog@bellsouth.net
and give her your
availability and if you have a specific
interest, let her know that as well.
More than 20 years ago, I first became
involved with the club by being a show
volunteer. I loved it and have been
doing it ever since. I’ve met great
people and I recommend it to everyone.
The show doesn’t put on itself and the
more help we can get, the better it will
run. One new aspect of the show this
year will be amateur clinics put on by
professional trainers on the Friday
between the shows. If you are
interested in getting suggestions on
improving your show ring performance,
watch for more news on these clinics.
Club Programs:
I would like to
thank outgoing President, Connie Green,
for her dedication to Georgia Arabian.
Leadership can be a tough job in this
club but Connie did a great job of
keeping us all on track. She also has
done a great job at keeping together the
High Point Program. I would love to see
this program change to involve more
members. I’d like to put together a
committee to look at this program and
making it a more valuable part of our
membership. If you are interested,
please contact me. Connie is also
working with our first Community Show
which is another program that I am
solidly behind. Please contact Connie
if you would be interested in helping
out with this club event. Due to a lack
of interest in the futurity, we will be
phasing out that program to be replaced
by a jackpot to take place at the June
show. This allows anyone to become
involved with their horses and the
chance to win a large cash prize is
significantly increased. More on this
later. Finally, I would love to see
someone take on the role of Youth
Program Coordinator. We have a lot of
youth in our club and I would love to
see them take a more active role in the
club. I need someone who can represent
their interests at Board meetings. If
you are interested, please contact me.
Well, this has
gone on much longer than expected but I
hope you get an idea of where I am
headed this year. If there is something
that is missing that you would like to
see addressed, please feel free to
contact me. My email is
nan_harley@yahoo.com
I look forward to this year and to
meeting those members that I haven’t yet
met.
