Maryland 4 H Horse Volunteer Advisory Meeting Glenwood Community Center, Cooksville, MD Tuesday, July 14, 2009 Meeting Minutes In attendance: Kathy Drzewianowski, Davina Pruitt Mentle, Bob Shirley, Diana Cullum, Pam Gilmer, Barbara Dobbins, Christa Stibolt, Hope Weber, Donna Umberger, Donna Schmidt, Kathy Axline, Val Willis, Sue Ferrara, Holly Hamilton, Reena Lentz, Ginger LaBarre, Becky Peregoy, Rita Anselmo, Paige Merriam, and Darryl Ann Buschling, Kristen Wilson, and Lauren Mundy. Meeting called to order at 6:40 PM 1) Budget Report Kristen Wilson reported: a. No official statement on Endowment Fund since last advisory meeting was available. b. As of December we had lost approximately $25,000 from Fund; some accounts have regained some since then. c. Usually get spendable income (~$10,000) but didn t take any out because didn t want to pull money from account (this year and last) d. Horsemen Party account balance is $18,000 and we will have money to add from this year s Horsemen s Party. We will get $3,600 from Ag Fair Board again this year. Funding for nationals trip is good to go. e. Foundation has decided to charge 5% administration fee for any events/registration/etc starting July 1, 2009.; due to this we may have to increase cost of competitive events. f. Looking for foundation fundraising ideas because it is getting harder and harder to get sponsorships Ideas: i. County horse show to sponsorship endowment fund ii. Shirts? polo shirt with smaller Maryland 4 H logo; yes interest; embroidery with clover and Maryland 4 H horse program; will do on an as ordered basis 2) Old Business a. Horse World Expo/4 H Horse Art Contest January i. Booth was very organized by Kim Gladwell and very easy for volunteers to run. Volunteers get free entry to Expo if they put in so many hours ii. Art contest entries increased from 51 to 74; Winners in every division received training DVD s from contest judge, Craig Cameron. b. Horse Bowl Contest March 7 i. Numbers for enrollment were down; 10 fewer kids from last year and fewer counties represented; 2008 was a record for how many people participated. ii. Consensus is that the contest ran well; separation of holding rooms worked well; there were some problems with the buzzers (6 new sets) and they are all straightened out now and on the correct setting. iii. There were some complaints from coaches about questions and answers; Kristen stated that the state relies on coaches to make sure the answers are correct and from the correct references; It was suggested that when we send them out to the county to add the statement this is not a reference, this is to help you study only, use at your own risk.
iv. Christa suggested notifying junior parents when their kids are going into the room so that they can watch their kids; Kristen added that coaches should let parents know where their kids are for their holding room and to constantly monitor updated brackets to keep track of when they are going into the competition room. c. Horse Judging Clinic April 18 i. Sabrina most kids seemed to like the format; some changes this year included allowing youth to see examples of what good quality is rather than just judging what is available; trail demonstration and western riding was added, tried to get some different things available; had books and discs available; tried to add more learning and teaching rather than just judging for the afternoon session. ii. 60 in attendance; evaluations were very good iii. Volunteers indicated that by attending the clinic, it made the kids feel more comfortable about judging. iv. Will follow format of every other year in rotation with Hippology Clinic. d. Horse Judging and Hippology Contests June 12 i. Kathy Classes were okay and were very similar to what you would find at Nationals. Classes had evident pairs and were fairly straight forward to place. Overall the day went well and everyone seemed to like the facilities. The weather was nice. ii. Numbers were way down this year at least 20 fewer kids this year; limited participants from Baltimore County and Charles County didn t participate in either contest. iii. Novice was a good idea; only 7 participated in this, but we will do this again next year as it was not an inconvenience and is a great experience for the youth participating to get feedback during oral reasons. iv. First year that juniors judged all of the classes and they liked it v. Group leaders need to make sure that they know where and what kids are supposed to be doing as well as keep a better eye on wondering eyes during judging. e. Horse Jamboree and Horse Communications Contest June 28 30 i. Held in Garrett County again and 102 youth and volunteers in addition to Garret Co. volunteers attended ii. Communication contest was down by about 3 kids and there were some sections that had no entries. We may offer a communications clinic to get more people involved. iii. Everyone thought it was a lot of fun and especially liked evening lectures and demonstrations; good mix of English and western events (eventing and speed events). iv. We had excess money in the budget and were able to get a $500 scholarship for overall senior winner as well as gift certificates from Dover Saddlery and rotational wormer kits from Pfizer Animal Health; Every kid left jamboree with something; Everyone especially liked the folding chairs as high point awards donated by Janie Dell from Carroll County. v. Jamboree next year tentatively going to be hosted by Southern Maryland counties (Charles, Anne Arundel, Calvert and St. Marys); we should know more after the conference call on Thursday, July 16 th. f. Announcement of State Horse Team Coaches i. Same coaches as last year ii. Horse bowl Al Starr iii. Hippology Darryl Ann Buschling
iv. Communications Janie Dell v. Judging Sabrina Ginn vi. Teams will be finalized by August 15 th. Each team member must get $200 worth of sponsorships or items donated for the silent auction/live auction at the Horsemen s Party. If they do not, they will have to pay $200. 3) New Business a. State Fair Horse Show August 27 30, 2009 i. Karol Dyson is the superintendent kdyson1@umd.edu ii. Online registration deadline is July 31 at 11:59 PM, must register ahead of time. iii. English sr. Thursday, English jr/int Friday, Western jr/int Saturday, and Western sr. Sunday; this will be the same schedule for next year as well. iv. Horsemanship Standards requirements excel sheet must be submitted to county by August 15; Testings must be done by august 10 b. State Dressage Show and Combined Test September 13, 2009 i. Diana Cullum is coordinating the show again this year. Bob Shirley is show steward; Darryll Ann Buschling is jump judge. ii. Looking for volunteers to serve as scribes and scorers. iii. Entry information was sent out yesterday; deadline is august 14; limited to first 50 dressage rides; show is English and Western (all same tests listed on registration form) iv. Going to be held at Carroll County Ag Center c. Horsemen s Party October 11, 2009 i. Located at Ten Oaks Ballroom in Clarksville, MD ii. Auction (Rita) donations are still being accepted for silent and live auctions; tickets to Disney Land and from Southwest have been donated; dinner will be the same as last year iii. Official announcement will be sent out shortly. iv. Award winners include Diana Cullum (Maryland 4 H Horse Program Volunteer of the Year) and Christine Johnston (Maryland 4 H Horse Program Youth Development Award) v. Sponsorship form business card ads are cheaper this year; any sponsorships will help; any external funding is great because we just break even with the tickets; vi. Website is updated; forms are online if you get donations for the silent and live auction for tax reimbursement; please get forms back to Rita with the items vii. If anyone is interested in committee or contributing August 17 and September 22 are the next meetings; held at Howard County Fairgrounds at 7PM in the 4 H building; need help with setup as well the day of the event. d. Horsemanship Standards Level 4 Examiner Testings Oct 17 & Nov 14, 2009 i. Eligible examiners will be sent out information shortly ii. Working on evaluation sheets and scheduling iii. Locations Howard and Anne Arundel iv. More than likely we will be taking less for first testing and more for second; will try to accommodate everyone who wants to be tested e. Horsemanship Standards Advisory Committee Meeting October 31, 2009 i. All examiners are invited to attend. ii. Will use this meeting to go into more detail about final decisions for changes and revisions iii. Meeting will be held at Maryland 4 H center in College Park
f. Eastern Nationals 4 H Horse Roundup Trip November 5 8, 2009 i. Horse teams will travel to Louisville, KY g. 4 H Horse Volunteer Advisory Committee Meeting December 5, 2009 i. Next meeting will be on a Saturday at the MD 4 H Center h. 2009/2010 Tentative Calendar of Events see yellow handout i. Animal Science Leaders Forum will replace Horse Leaders Forum offered last year. ii. Horse Bowl will be moved back one week next year so that we don t conflict with Livestock Skillathon Contest iii. No dates for horsemanship standards has been added but will be set by January iv. Check SAT schedules for conflicts with level 5 and 6 testings. i. Horsemanship Standards Proposed Changes for 2010 PowerPoint presentation handout was passed out, proposed changes were gone over and the following items were brought up as concerns or areas that we need to look into more: i. Passing on own pony Some 4 Hers borrow horses for testings because they cannot pass on their personal horse and then show their personal horse at county/state horse shows and have difficulty. Should 4 Hers be required to pass levels on the horse they will be showing? This could be a safety issue. Most felt that the levels program evaluates the rider s abilities and that this should not be required. ii. Knowledge/Riding Level Requirements Option 1: Should we require that knowledge section must be passed before the riding section can be taken for a specific level? OR Option 2: Should we require that the riding level cannot exceed the knowledge level by more than one level? All felt that the knowledge section was just as important as the riding sections and that we should go with option 2. If there are no restrictions, 4 Hers will not take knowledge sections. iii. Time restrictions between tests and for retesting sections not passed It was suggested to either take out all time restrictions or to keep time restrictions between tests and to add a statement that decisions may be made on an individual basis (i.e. to accommodate older kids just starting the program to get through the levels quicker). Most seemed in favor of dropping all time restrictions, especially for the time for retesting sections not passed. iv. Grandfathering in Pony Club Members Most were not in favor of this because the two programs are not exactly the same and more than likely they would not grandfather our kids into their program. However, by dropping time restrictions it would allow them to go through lower levels at a faster pace. v. Multiple Examiners for Higher Level Testings All were in favor of having two examiners and an additional extension staff member in attendance for Level 5 & 6 testings. vi. Awards and Recognition Program 4 Hers will be recognized once a level (knowledge and riding) is passed in its entirety. Levels 1 & 2 will get certificates at county level. Levels 3 and above will be recognized at annual Horsemen s Party. Email will be going out to counties to request names of 4 Hers to recognize at this year s Horsemen s Party. vii. Funds for Recognition Program Funding is needed to implement this. Sponsorships from companies are hard to get. It was suggested we charge a $5 fee per testing that would go towards running the program. Some were in favor and some were not. This will be discussed in more detail at our advisory meeting in October. viii. Examiner Recommendation Form Form for Levels 1 3 would require county educator s signature to verify that the examiner is a MCE volunteer in good standing. Form for Levels 4 6
would possibly require 1) county educator s signature to verify the examiner is still a MCE volunteer in good standing, 2) signature of another club leader as a recommendation, and 3) letter of recommendation from horse industry professional. Another option for the Levels 4 6 form, is instead of the club leader signing the form, to send the person s name out via email to other examiners and see if anyone has any problems with them becoming an examiner for the higher levels. It was suggested to change wording so that the county educator is just ensuring that they are a volunteer and not necessarily recommending them because of their horse knowledge. It was also suggested to change form for upper level to remove blank and put in levels 4 6 examiner ix. Recertification for Examiners It was suggested we do this every 3 years to make sure the examiner was still an MCE volunteer, we had their most up to date address, and that they were keeping up with any rule changes. Options could include sending an information verification sheet, T/F test on testing protocols and rules, and/or requiring proof of continuing education courses attended. x. References Resources & Websites It was suggested to add the AQHA rulebook as a western reference. The idea of listing testing dates online might not be a good idea because examiners only have so much time. Might work better for smaller counties with limited examiners and smaller amounts of 4 Hers. xi. Knowledge Written and oral sections will remain. Some voiced concerns about oral section taking too long. With revisions, oral section should take less time and testing kits should help improve efficiency. xii. Riding All were in favor of changing western patterns to basic western horsemanship patterns. Dressage test requirements will be re evaluated. No patterns with flying lead changes should be required. Flying lead changes aren t required until higher level dressage tests. Grid diagrams will be produced and distributed. Meeting adjourned at 8:52 PM