Catching up on chapter news

Time to catch up on a couple months' activities!

Our November meeting was an educational one. Patty Cameron from Gallops Saddlery in Tigard joined us for a presentation on bits and bitting. She brought a wide variety of bits to pass around as she talked about their structure and uses. The bits in the photo, although quite varied, are all legal for USEF events.

Our December meeting is always our popular Christmas party, one of the highlights of our "social calendar." On December 11 we gathered in Suzi Ronning’s beautifully decorated home for a festive potluck meal, and followed that with a cutthroat gift exchange and drawings for our “Powerball prizes.” For those who don’t know; CMC members put a ticket in a box for every chapter event they attend, and tickets are drawn at our Christmas for cash prizes; it’s a nice incentive for being an involved member!

Our January 11 meeting had to be postponed until January 18 because of the winter weather. We will be working on everything needed to ensure another successful edition of our annual Bears Above the Ground League Show. This year's show is scheduled for February 25 and 26 at the Yamhill Co. Fairgrounds in McMinnville. Our show is a great warm-up for the show season and we hope you’ll join us. If you aren’t interested in competing, we welcome volunteers!

It's just three months away

Gearing up for Bears

Our chapter's annual Bears Above the Ground ODS League show is coming up at the end of February. Entries open next week, so start filling out those entry forms! Volunteers are needed, too. See our prize list below.

The Yamhill County Fairgrounds has a new concessionaire with good food and prices, so we hope everyone will support it. The menu is included after the Bears prize list.

Gearing up for a new show

Our May meeting was held the 11th at Clover Valley Equestrian Center with Vice-President Kris Brown presiding. She is a member of the "new show" committee, which brought us the latest on the new show our chapter voted to hold this fall. Our initial idea was to keep costs as low as possible in order to keep entry fees as low as possible and call it the "Bare Bones League Show." But the Yamhill County Fairgrounds arena was not available in the time frame we desired and no other nearby venues could be secured. So the show committee came up with a totally different show concept to be held the weekend of September 21-22 at Mt Hood Equestrian Center, which is available for a fall two-day show. Saturday schooling show will offer dressage trail, musical freestyle (with no scoring requirements), Prix Caprilli, Western Dressage, a costume class, and if time permits, USDF Test of Choice USDF classes (entry priority will be given for the “fun” classes). We discussed offering a lasagna or spaghetti feed that evening, catered by the concessionaire. The idea is to promote this day as a fun, social event. Sunday will be an ODS League show, and will include the Rider tests and Western Dressage as well as USDF classes. We realize recruiting volunteers may be a challenge due to the distance from our "home base," so we discussed requiring competitors to volunteer for at least two hours each.

  

We then brainstormed at length about a fitting name for our new show. Some of the names suggested:  Harvest Hash, Cornucopia of Dressage, Dancing Bears, Dressage before Hibernation, and Shoulder-in to Autumn. Dressage Do Si Do, with its nod to the Western classes, got the most votes. The show committee is moving forward with the approval process.

Karina introduced the idea of forming a standing committee within the Oregon Dressage Society to promote para-dressage and network between para-equestrians. We moved, voted and approved setting aside a percentage of the profits from our fall show to start a fund for the future needs of a para-dressage program in Oregon. The ODS office has since advised that as long as we are setting aside funds for education or raising awareness of dressage-related issues, we should be fine within the non-profit framework of our organization. This is not a committee that is directly related to our chapter, but is of interest to us all.

Many thanks to Connie for providing pizza and pop to fuel our discussions!

Our next chapter meeting is scheduled for June 10 at Clover Valley Equestrian Center.

Linda Acheson Education Fund Benefit Ride-A-Test

We’ve lined up some great instructors for the July 16 and 17 Ride-a-Test! The instructors that have committed so far are Suzi Ronning, Tracie Bjugan, Ashley Bertell, Debbie Spence, Debbie Spitzenfeil, Estelle Keating, Anne Stevens, Mija Paris, Kathy Casey, and Sarah Gammie. Be sure to thank them when you see them, as we really appreciate their support and couldn’t do this without them. We're still hopeful that other instrutors will sign on with us, but Sharon won't send out another appeal until we see how riders respond to the event with entries. Entry forms have been sent out to all Chehalem Mt. Chapter members and will soon be posted on the ODS website and around area barns and stores. Crossing our fingers for a sold-out benefit to put more money in the coffers of the Education Fund!

To put an event like this on, we need volunteers, so please keep some time open that weekend to help. Sharon would like six people in the morning and six people in the afternoon to cover the various jobs each day, so we’ll need 24 people for the weekend. The jobs are detailed below; the sooner you sign up, the more likely it is that you will get the job you request. Volunteers willing to do whatever is needed are welcome, too. :-)

Scribe: Take notes for the instructor during the test and serve as timekeeper for each lesson. Not as involved as scribing at a show, so it should give you a chance to watch the rides and listen to the instructor. We are looking for one person to scribe in the morning and one person to scribe in the afternoon each day, so four scribes are needed for the weekend.

Parking Attendant: Help in one of three areas to keep trailers moving and the driveway clear. Amanda has graciously offered the use of her facility, so we need keep things clear and moving so as not to disrupt her boarders or her business. Sharon is looking for three morning attendants and three afternoon attendants each day, which might be more than we need, but the facility is quite large so more attendants will mean less running.

Hospitality: Work with riders and observers to be sure people are in the right place at the right time, and answer questions. We need one morning person and one afternoon person each day.

Floater: Fill in for people doing other jobs during breaks, read tests, carry messages, direct lost/confused people. We need one morning person and one afternoon person each day.

We will have a chapter meeting on June 6, 7:00 p.m. at Clover Valley Equestrian Center to discuss final details and review how the sign up is going. See you there!

HHR Show ride times

We're FULL - hurray! The ride times are listed below, as well as a list of costume class entries, which will show as a group during the noon hour. (If you double-click on any of the images, they will "biggify.")



Volunteer schedule:
Office: Janet Kraft, Janis Worrall, Marilyn
Announcers: Cary Kraft, Lou Anne McKown
Scribes: Becki Watt, 8-10 AM; Cheryl Kelly, 10 AM-noon; Robin Stern, 1 PM-end
Scorers: Sharon Knowlton & Carolyn Ritacco, 8 AM-noon; Janet Kraft & Janis Worral, 1 PM-end
Runners: Marilyn Rodriquez, 8 AM-noon; Cary Kraft, 1 PM-end
Competition Gate: Laura Ritacco, 8-10 AM; Chris, 10 AM-noon; Deborah Cummings, 1 PM-end
Warmup Gate: Laura Ritacco, 8-10 AM; Joanne Cook, 10 AM-noon; Jane Baer, 1 PM-end

If you have any questions about the volunteers, contact either Janis or Lou Anne. If you have any questions about the classes or ride times, contact Sylvia.