| THIS 'N THAT |
| I’m sort of excited here. We’re into the second week of February, there’s only about 6” of snow on the ground, temps today are supposed to climb to 40°, my guys have started to shed out – spring must be on the way! Only thing I’m sort of worried about is that sneaky late April blizzard that might show up & drop two feet of snow on us, but I’m not going to let it stop me from being really enthused about what we’ve got in store for activities during the upcoming season.
Our Spring General Membership Meeting is scheduled for March 11th at the Masonic Lodge located on Route 7 out of Newport headed towards Dexter. The Directors will be meeting at 10 AM with the Membership Meeting starting at 11 AM. Once business is completed, we’ll be serving a delicious potluck meal and we can sit and “talk horse” for an hour or so before heading home. The Youth Club will be holding their meeting while the General Members are meeting. Our Regional Show Season will start this year with the CAA Nutmeg Jubilee scheduled for May 5th & 6th. This will be followed two weeks later with our own 33rd Annual Spring Classic Show on May 19th & 20th. We’ll be offering the “Lucky Thirteen” classes again this year. The thirteenth place horse under one of the judges will be awarded $50! Judges this year are Doug Mileham, Melissa Proulx & Rick Warne. If you want to prep for either of these shows, Misty Morning Stables in Cherryfield is hosting a clinic with Don Charest on April 19th & 20th. Jenn Baker-Kennett, President of the Green Mountain ApHC, reports that they will not be hosting their Vermont Maple Classic Show this year. It’s unfortunate that New England is losing a three-judge regional show, but this doesn’t mean that Green Mountain is “out of business.” They are still very active and will be holding a one-day open show this summer. On May 11th – 13th Misty Morning Stables is hosting another clinic specifically for game horse enthusiasts. Top barrel horse trainer Chad Crider will be hand to give riders the scoop on his winning ways that have led to multiple AQHA & APHA World Championships & Reserves in barrel racing and pole bending [Stumps & Stakes for us Appaloosa folks!]. Sounds like this will be a really fun and educational clinic. Western Mass’s Yankee Color Classic will run from June 15th to the 17th. Then, unless you’re planning on heading to the Nationals or shows in NY/NJ, there is a large break in time before our own 43rd Annual Maine ApHC State Show scheduled for August 24th to the 26th. Our State Show has historically been the final show of the New England Regional Season, but that won’t be the case this year. Granite State’s Color Caper Review has booked the only available date at they could find at the Skowhegan Fairgrounds. Their show will be starting late Friday afternoon on August 31 and run thru to Sunday, September 2. They’ve already got a Facebook page up & running for this event! January was a very busy & productive month for Kent Gray & John Hamel as they assembled the scrapbook for our 2011 Exemplary Regional Application. They brought the book to the January Board Meeting for us to look thru before they shipped it off to Moscow. There were still a few pages to be added to it after the meeting, but John tells me that it arrived at the ApHC office on January 30th so we’re good to go. The National Directors will be reviewing all the regional applications at their March Meeting [9th thru 11th]. Hopefully we’ll once again win the award for Territory VI. We can always hope for the top spot, but that Calizona club is hard to beat! All the regionals are awarded points in various categories, and there are a number of catagories that we cannot earn points in as we have had no members who participate in ACAAP [Appaloosa Competitive All-Breed Activities Program], we haven’t had a club Trail Ride for years, we have no Stallion Service Auction nor do we have members with stallions enrolled in the Breeder’s Trust Program. These are all areas where Calizona earns points & we don’t. Those of our members out there who participate in open shows should check out the ACAAP and considering enrolling. You can find information about ACAAP in your ApHC Handbook or online at the ApHC website. In this issue of the Newsletter, you will find a write-up about Joanne Hale’s experience working in the ApHC booth at the Equine Affaire last fall that was included in our Scrapbook application. This issue of the Newsletter holds information about advertising in the 2012 Maine ApHC Membership Directory. We hope you will consider taking out an ad or trying to sell one to your farrier, vet, or anyone else who might be interested. I’d like to point out a change in our In-State & Regional Point Enrollment Forms this year. All Point Enrollment Forms are to be sent to Treasurer Kent Gray. You can send them in with your membership application if you want to kill two birds with one postage stamp. We also have a new Point Keeper this year, as Brooke Clancy will be taking over the spot vacated by Donna Osborne who held that position for sixteen years or so. That’s it for information this month. Please remember that if you’ve got any actual “news” [new horses, plans for this show season, etc] you should send an email to Pat Grass our Publicity person. If you want to read about some “news” in the Newsletter, you’ve got to send it to her [grasslands252@gmail.com]. Margo Carter Condon President, MeApHC |
| February, 2012 |